Editing Shepseskaf (section)

===Duration===
The duration of Shepseskaf's rule is uncertain but it is generally taken to have lasted probably four{{sfn|Hayes|1978|p=58}} but perhaps up to seven years. Explicit archaeological evidence on this matter is reduced to six documents. Four of these are inscriptions dated to the year of his accession to the throne, three found in tombs of the [[Giza pyramid complex|Giza necropolis]] and one from the Palermo stone.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=383}} The last two contemporary inscriptions mention his second regnal year,{{efn|group=note|During the Old Kingdom period, the Egyptians did not record time as we do today. Rather, they counted years since the beginning of the reign of the current king. Furthermore these years were referred to by the number of [[Cattle count (Egypt)|cattle count]]s which had taken place since the start of the reign. The cattle count was an important event aimed at evaluating the amount of taxes to be levied on the population. This involved counting cattle, oxen and small livestock.{{sfn|Katary|2001|p=352}} During the first half of the fifth dynasty, this count might have been [[wikt:Special:Search/biennial|biennial]]{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=391}} although it may not always have happened at regular intervals.{{sfn|Spalinger|1994|p=297}} Following these principles, these inscriptions talk of the year after the first cattle count of Shepseskaf's reign. If the count was indeed biennial, which is uncertain, this would correspond to his second regnal year.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=383}}}} one of which is found on the decree of Shepseskaf concerning Menkaure's pyramid town.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=383|loc=footnotes 182 & 183}}{{sfn|Sethe|1903|loc=entry 160}}

Two historical sources report the duration of Shepseskaf's reign. The Turin canon credits him with a reign of four years,{{sfn|Verner|2001a|pp=383 & 416}} while Manetho's {{transliteration|grc|Aegyptiaca}} gives him seven years on the throne.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=383}}{{sfn|Waddell|1971|pp=46–47}} Although this figure is compatible with the Palermo stone which may have had up to seven compartments relating Shepseskaf's reign according to [[Georges Daressy]],{{sfn|Daressy|1912|p=26}} this is considered an overestimate according to modern consensus. Verner points notably to the unfinished state of his [[mastaba]] to conclude Shepseskaf's rule did not exceed the four years attributed to him by the Turin canon.{{efn|group=note|A mastaba takes time to build and the unfinished state of the tomb gives some indication on the reign duration as works on the royal tomb started in the king's first year of reign and either stopped or were interrupted at the death of the king. Depending on the final state of the originally planned tomb one can thus estimate on the maximum duration of the king's reign. Had Shepseskaf reigned longer than four years, his mastaba would have been more advanced at his death than it is, according to Verner.{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=384}}}}{{sfn|Verner|2001a|p=384}} A reappraisal of the Palermo stone by [[Jürgen von Beckerath]] limits the space available on it for Shepseskaf's rule to five or six compartments, corresponding to that many years.{{sfn|Hornung|2012|p=484}} Manetho's count may be explained by a conflation of the four full years attributed to Shepseskaf by the Turin king list plus two full years and a significant monthly fraction credited to his anonymous successor on that list. This successor could correspond to Manetho's Thampthis, to whom Manetho gives nine years of reign, although as observed by Verner archaeological evidence for this ruler is nil.{{sfn|O'Mara|1997|p=51}}{{sfn|Verner|2001a|pp=384 & 416}}