“This cartouche… this is the name of King Khafre.” — Lead Archaeologist Mohamed
For 4,500 years, the Pyramids of Giza have guarded their secrets with unbreakable silence.

Built as eternal fortresses for Egypt’s most powerful kings, these colossal monuments were designed to protect the pharaohs’ mummies and treasures forever.

And yet—Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, the three pyramid builders—are missing.

Their bodies vanished without a trace.

Now, deep beneath a forgotten patch of desert known as the Southern Field, archaeologists have uncovered evidence that could finally explain one of the oldest cold cases in human history.

A Discovery Beneath the Sand: The Cartouche That Changed Everything
Only inches below the desert surface, workers uncovered a beautifully carved limestone block.

A single symbol changed the course of the entire excavation:
The cartouche of King Khafre — the builder of the second pyramid.

This block was not random debris.

It was ancient.

Royal.

Intentional.

And it suggested something astonishing:
The Southern Field may be directly connected to the pyramid pharaohs themselves.

For decades, this one-square-mile desert zone remained untouched.

But with each shovel of sand removed, the landscape transformed into a sprawling necropolis with shafts, tombs, coffins, and ancient treasures hidden beneath thousands of years of dust.

What else was buried here?
And could it finally lead archaeologists to the lost bodies of the pyramid kings?

The Coldest Case in Archaeology: Where Are the Pyramid Pharaohs?
The Great Pyramid of Khufu—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—was designed to be impenetrable.

But it failed.

Looters tunneled through 100 feet of solid stone to reach the king’s burial chamber.

The sarcophagus was found empty.

Khafre’s pyramid?
Also empty.

Menkaure?
Same fate.

Archaeologists believe the robberies happened soon after construction—possibly by workers who knew the secret passages.

But there was a twist no one expected: thieves often left mummies behind.

They feared the wrath of the dead.

So why were these bodies missing?
Where did the pharaohs go?

The Southern Field: A Cemetery on Top of a Cemetery
As Ashraf Mohie El Din’s team dug deeper, they found:
Dozens of shafts
Mudbrick tombs
Pottery jars filled with ancient offerings
Bones wrapped in bandages
Burial chambers carved into bedrock
But the timeline shocked them.

These were Late Period burials—over 2,000 years younger than the pyramids themselves.

This meant one thing:
Late Period Egyptians reused the ancient necropolis.

Why?
Because they worshipped the pyramid pharaohs as gods.

They wanted to be buried near the divine kings of Giza—Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure.

And if the Late Period Egyptians found the violated tombs of the pyramid builders…
…would they have moved the sacred mummies to protect them?

The Golden Coffin That Revealed Ancient Secrets
In a hidden chamber, the team uncovered something remarkable:
A coffin covered in sheets of gold.

Inside lay a mummy, preserved with care.

Could this be a pharaoh?
Osteoarchaeologist Dr.Amira Shahin examined the remains.

The verdict:
Not a pharaoh, not male, not Old Kingdom
Instead, it was a young woman — with signs of ancient skull surgery.

A hole above her eye had healed smoothly, proof of medical trepanation by an ancient physician.

A discovery extraordinary in its own right.

But it raised a bigger question:
If Late Period Egyptians buried a woman of status here…
what else might they have buried?

The Clue Hidden in Menkaure’s Pyramid
The key to solving the mystery came from an unlikely place:
Menkaure’s wooden coffin, found in 1837.

The coffin was carved in Late Period style
Was inscribed with Menkaure’s name
Stated it contained the king’s sacred mummy
Was 2,000 years newer than the pyramid
Meaning—Late Period Egyptians re-wrapped and reburied Menkaure inside his own pyramid.

If they did this for Menkaure……they may have done the same for Khufu and Khafre.

But where would they hide them?
In the Southern Field — the cemetery they carved directly into the Old Kingdom necropolis.

The Final Theory: Did Late Period Egyptians Save the Pharaohs?
We now know:
Late Period Egyptians idolized Khufu, Khafre, Menkaure as gods
They reused ancient Giza cemeteries
They buried their elite near the pyramids for protection
Menkaure’s coffin proves they reburied at least one pyramid king
The Southern Field is filled with Late Period shafts
This leads to a powerful possibility:
The missing bodies of the pyramid pharaohs may lie somewhere in the Southern Field—hidden inside an unmarked shaft, wrapped in white linen, waiting to be discovered.

Just as the New Kingdom pharaohs were secretly moved to protect them, the pyramid kings may have received the same sacred treatment—2,000 years later.

Ashraf is convinced:
“Maybe the mummies of the pyramid pharaohs are here… maybe not. But we will never stop looking.”