New dating based on luminescence analysis of the granite at the base of the Pyramid of Menkaure has yielded a date of 3450 ± 950 BC, opening up a much broader chronological window than the one typically associated with the "Small Pyramid." At the same time, Egyptian religious texts describe the Great Pyramid not merely as a place for the interment of the dead, but as a space where the pharaoh was to undergo transformation, ascend to the heavens, and continue his existence amo