The pyramid was never finished, with a mason's inscription showing that works on the stone structure were abandoned during or shortly after the king's second year of reign.

Neferefre was nonetheless buried in his pyramid, hastily completed in the form of a mastaba by his second successor and presumably younger brother, pharaoh Nyuserre Ini.

They constitute a written source near-contemporaneous with his reign, which not only confirmed the existence of Neferefre's pyramid complex at a time when it had not yet been identified,[29] but also gives details regarding the administrative organisation and importance of the funerary cult of the king in Ancient Egyptian society.

[33] Neferefre's prenomen was in all probability also given on the Turin canon (third column, 21st row), which dates to the same period as the Saqqara tablet, but it has since been lost in a large lacuna affecting the document.

[3][5][35] This is shown by a relief on a limestone slab discovered in a house in the village near Abusir[36] and depicting Neferirkare and his wife Khentkaus with "the king's eldest son Ranefer",[note 5][37] a name identical with some variants of Neferefre's own.

[41] Finally, yet another brother,[42] possibly younger[43] than both Neferefre and Nyuserre has also been proposed: Iryenre, a prince iry-pat[note 6] whose filiation is suggested by the fact that his funerary cult was associated with that of his mother, both having taken place in the temple of Khentkaus II.

[41][47] Late in that year, the mastaba of Khentkaus III was discovered by archaeologists from the Czech Institute of Egyptology working in Abusir, south east of Neferefre's pyramid.

[51] Indeed, not only was Khentkaus III presumably buried during the few decades following Neferefre's reign, but her mastaba is also in close proximity to his pyramid,[note 7] and she bore the title of "king's wife", proving that she was a queen.

[54] Krejčí notes the lack of the titular "king's son" in relation to Kakaibaef, thereby emphasizing the conjectural nature of Verner's assertion.

Relying on historical sources, most notably the Saqqara king list and Manetho's Aegyptiaca, where Neferefre is said to have succeeded Shepseskare,[34] many Egyptologists such as Jürgen von Beckerath and Hartwig Altenmüller have traditionally believed[55] that the following royal succession took place: Neferirkare Kakai → Shepseskare → Neferefre Isi → Nyuserre Ini.

[5][57] This view was challenged at the turn of the millennium, most notably by Verner,[58][59][60] who has been responsible for the archaeological excavations of the Fifth Dynasty royal necropolis of Abusir since 1976.

[62] Consequently, as the previous king's eldest son, in his late teens to early twenties, Neferefre was in optimal position to ascend the throne.

[63] Thirdly, archaeological evidences indicate that Shepseskare most likely reigned for only a few weeks to a few months at the most rather than seven years as credited to him in the Aegyptiaca,[13][55] a hypothesis already supported by Nicolas Grimal as early as 1988.

Before the results of the extensive excavations in Abusir were fully published, Egyptologists following the traditional succession hypothesis credited Neferefre with around a decade of rule, based on the paucity of attestations contemporaneous with his reign.

[23] His conclusion is based on archaeological evidence: the unfinished state of his intended pyramid, and the general paucity of documents datable to his rule.

[note 9][84] Planned with a square base of 108 m (354 ft), the pyramid of Neferefre was to be larger than those of Userkaf and Sahure, but smaller than that of his father Neferirkare.

[86] Subsequently, Nyuserre hastily completed the monument by filling its central part with poor quality limestone, mortar and sand.

[87] The external walls of the building were given a smooth and nearly vertical covering of gray limestone at an angle of 78° with the ground so as to give it the form of a mastaba, albeit with a square plan rather than with the usual rectangular shape.

[89] The monument was used as a stone quarry from the New Kingdom period onwards,[90] but was later preserved from further damages as its appearance of a rough unfinished and abandoned pyramid did not attract the attention of tomb robbers.

[92] Behind was the earliest hypostyle hall of Ancient Egypt the remains of which can still be detected, its roof supported by wooden columns in the shape of lotus-clusters resting on limestone bases.

Two narrow rooms on either sides of the central altar in front of the false door in the main hall may have housed 30 m (98 ft) long[80] solar boats similar to Khufu's.

[99] Fragments of mummy wrappings and cartonnage, as well as scattered pieces of human remains, were discovered on the east side of the burial chamber of the pyramid.

[15] The body of the king was probably dried by means of natron and then covered with a thin layer of resin, before being given a white calcareous coating.

[110] Incidentally, an earlier discovery by the German archaeological expedition of 1905 under the direction of Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing may vindicate Verner's theory.

His plans were cut short by his death and the duty of finishing the monument fell on Nyuserre's shoulders, who abandoned the task of covering the pyramid face and instead concentrated on building the mortuary temple in bricks and wood.

A 10-day yearly festival was held in honor of the deceased ruler during which, on at least one occasion, no less than 130 bulls were sacrificed in the slaughter house of his mortuary temple.

[30] The act of mass animal sacrifice testifies to the importance that royal funerary cults had in Ancient Egyptian society, and also shows that vast agricultural resources were devoted to an activity judged unproductive by Verner, something they propose possibly contributed to the decline of the Old Kingdom.

It remains unclear if this was to associate himself closely with the deceased ruler or because other cultic activities in the area constrained the choice of location for Khuyankh's tomb.