The symbolism in Ancient Egyptian culture was complicated, but the pyramid shape certainly has a deep and important meaning, related to the Primordial Mound, the Heliopolis Benben Stone, the Bennu bird, the creator god, the sun god and the god of rebirth and regeneration.
It’s therefore no surprise that it was a custom in the Old Kingdom for a king to build his own pyramid, royal construction projects that continued in the Middle Kingdom.
But why did pyramid-building come to an end? Well, the pyramid evolved. It went from a constructed stone monument, to a mudbrick monument and ended up as a monument built by nature. Natural pyramids were the final evolution of the Egyptian pyramid, with the most famous example being El-Qurn, the huge natural pyramid that sits above the famous Valley of the Kings necropolis.
Watch this video to learn more about Natural Pyramids, an aspect of Egyptology that is very under-studied but could be the key to some fantastic new discoveries.