Timeline

•   ca. 3100-2686 BC. Egyptian royalty are buried in brick mastabas.
•   ca. 2700 BC. Egyptians develop mummification.
•   ca. 2686-2613 BC. Sakkara Step Pyramid is constructed.
•   ca. 2550-2470 BC. The three Pyramids at Giza are built by pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure.
•   ca. 2050-1800 BC. Middle Kingdom; a prince of Thebes reunites the cities and rulers of the Egyptian lands.
•   ca. 1570-1085 BC. Pharaohs rely less on pyramids and create burial sites in the rock tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
•   800s AD. Al-Mamun and an expedition of scientists, architects, engineers, and workers explore the Pyramids of Giza; his team breaks into Khufu's pyramids, discovering the empty burial chamber of the pharaoh.
•   Early 1500s. Turks invade Egypt and use the Great Sphinx for target practice for their cannon.
•   1818 AD. Burial chamber of pharaoh Khafre is discovered by European pyramid explorer Giovanni Belzoni.
•   1837-1838 AD. British archaeologist Richard Howard-Vyse discovers the burial chamber of pharaoh Menkaure.
•   1880-1914 AD. Noted English Egyptologist Flinders Petrie directs archaeological excavations at Giza.
•   1954 AD. Archaeologists discover a great funeral boat buried next to the Great Pyramid of Khufu to provide the pharaoh transportation in the afterlife.
•   1990s AD. Nearly 2 million tourists visit the Pyramids of Giza annually.