Reconstructions of the Great Pyramid often show it glistening and smooth with an enormous gilded capstone. But how realistic is this?

The history of how Egyptian pyramids lost their casing stones is a tale of physics and greed, with only the Bent Pyramid of Dahshur escaping the fate of being entirely plundered.

But were the tips of the pyramids really covered in gold? How big could the capstones (pyramidions) really have been?

We examine the history of these pyramidions and what the evidence suggests about how they might have looked on top of the 4th dynasty megaliths.