Den-1dy

A sequence and number of rulers of this Dynasty is pretty well established. Some doubts arise in case of queen Merytneith who lived in time of Den. Some scholars identify her with the pharaoh Merneith. Unfortunately, for lack of any serekh with his name the identification remains suspect. The length of reign of Dynasty I kings is hardly to establish because of lack of any reliable evidence save the very questionable transcriptions from Manetho and fragmentary records on the Palermo Stone. Until now the scholars are not thoroughly unanimous as to the burial place of the I dynasty pharaohs. Already Manetho favored the opinion that cemetery of rulers of that period was at Abydos in Upper Egypt, or more precisely: Umm el-Qaab necropolis located nearby. In years 1938-58, at Memphite necropolis, north Sakkara, had been discovered a cemetery dated back to the I dynasty period. Number and size of mastabas discovered at Sakkara suggest that was a burial place of the kings of the unified land while tombs at Abydos are merely cenotaphs (empty tombs). At Sakkara, around almost all royal tombs (excluding Aha and Semerkhet), there are numerous tombs of higher court nobles. Both theories have as much followers as opponents, however in light of recent analysis and excavations of the German expedition at Umm el-Qaab necropolis, it can be assumed that kings of the archaic period were buried just in the Umm el-Quaab necropolis in Upper Egypt.