Umm el-Qa'ab

Umm El Qaʻāb (also Umm el-Qaab, Umm al-Qaab, or Umm El Gaʻab; Arabic: أم القعاب) is an archaeological site located at Abydos, Egypt. Its modern name, meaning "Mother of Pots", refers to the mound made of millions of broken pieces of pots which defines the landscape. Umm el Qa'ab contains evidence that the site is the cemetery for Egypt's predynastic proto-kings along with rulers of the 1st and 2nd dynasties. In addition to early royal tombs, evidence also suggests a link between the site, the cult of Osiris, and Osiris' annual festival. It is located 1,5 kilometers to the west of Temple of Seti I at Abydos. The main temple to the god Khenti-Amentiu lies one mile to the south. The cemetery was likely founded during the Naqada I period (4,000 BCE) as evident from the tomb structures, pottery, and seal impressions excavated from the site. The location continued as a royal cemetery through the First Dynasty (2,950-2,775 BCE) and ended with the burial of only the last two kings of the Second Dynasty, Peribsen and Khasekhemy (2,650 BCE). Development of Umm el-Qaab necropolis occurred in three stages, moving from north to south:

Cemetery U – Pre-Dynastic Cemetery B – royal tombs of Dynasty 0 and early Dynasty I Tomb complexes – six kings and one queen of Dynasty I, and two kings of Dynasty II The Pre and Early dynastic royal cemetery at Umm el-Qa'ab became a site of veneration and cu

Archaeological site data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).