Karl Richard Lepsius visited the site in 1843,[21] providing brief description and cataloguing it as 'Steinpyramide XXIX' in his pyramid list.

[22][3][5] Gaston Maspero entered the underground chambers in 1881,[3] searching the ruins for evidence of pyramid texts.

[3] The descending passage was probably 7.6 m (25 ft) long, though its original entrance point now lies under a house and thus cannot be completely excavated.

The antechamber has been obliterated and retains no walls, but its size could be estimated by outlines left on the ground, indicating the chamber was 3.2 m (10 ft) long.

[28] Inside the burial chamber, the intact lid of a sarcophagus made of grey schist was uncovered.

[5][1] To the south, bounded by the enclosure wall, were the remains of another smaller building presumed to be the cult pyramid.

[32][31] Vito Maragioglio and Celeste Rinaldi affirmed the hypothesis further after finding the substructure access corridor offset east of the north–south axis – a distinct feature of pyramid substructures between Neferirkare Kakai's and Djedkare Isesi's reigns – and on failing to uncover any pyramid texts.

[34] Stadelmann further suggests that the presence of a Third Dynasty mastaba breaching the wall of the Headless Pyramid indicates that the construction predates it.

[35] A systematic excavation of the substructure was conducted between 2005 and 2008 led by Zahi Hawass which corroborates the assignment to the Fifth Dynasty.

[29] Hawass cites the lack of pyramid texts to indicate a dating prior to the end of the Fifth Dynasty or to the Middle Kingdom, the architectural style of the complex to dating to around Djedkare-Isesi, the style of the portcullis stones to pre-dating Djedkare-Isesi, the extensive use of quality materials indicative of the economic abundance of the Fifth Dynasty, and the presence of tombs connected to Menkauhor's mortuary cult as evidence for ascribing the pyramid to Menkauhor.

[36] Firth's excavations retrieved slight material that led him to ascribe the pyramid to an ephemeral pharaoh Ity,[21] attributed to the Eighth Dynasty.

[23][37][38] Firth, however, believed that Ity was contemporaneous to Teti, of the Sixth Dynasty, being either a preceding or succeeding king.

Josef Wegner adds that the presence of the mortuary cult for Teti during the Middle Kingdom might be another indicator for a dating to the reign of Amenemhat I.