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those who, for thousands of years, came to visit the pyramid prior
to our modern era. In reality, modern scholars for the most part
probably find this pyramid less interesting than many other
ancient structures in Egypt, mostly because it is not decorated
with reliefs and inscriptions (though parts of its subsidiary
structures were), and is otherwise, except for some parts of its
internal structure, a fairly typical pyramid complex. Other
pyramids are almost as large, and many pyramids are really more
enigmatic. Khufu's pyramid was not the first, nor was it even the
first true pyramid. Other pharaohs, such as Sneferu, Khufu's
father, had moved probably as much stone, building three
different pyramids himself.
Yet, Khufu's pyramid was, in a line of astonishing
architectural leaps forward, a significant link in Pyramid
building's evolution. In terms of its size, the technical
accomplishments of its construction, the great concern for
cardinality and the organization required for its construction, this
pyramid represents a phenomenal effort. Like later pyramids, it
encompasses all of the standard elements of the pyramid
complex, though most have since disappeared. The finished
pyramid, which included a superstructure and substructure, was
surrounded by an enclosure wall of fine Turah limestone, which
enclosed a court paved in limestone. There was a valley temple, a
causeway from it leading to a mortuary Temple that was itself
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