ABSTRACT
There is nothing unusual in a king starting a new cemetery for the building of his pyramid and the tombs of his officials; every king did this. But the move of Old Kingdom kings from one site to another, sometimes separated by miles, and the return of later kings to earlier cemeteries, is curious. Following the use of Saqqara by Djoser, the royal burials moved to Zawiyet el-Aryan, Maidum, Dahshur, Giza, Abu Rawash, back to Giza, then back to Saqqara by Userkaf, followed by a move to Abusir by his Fifth Dynasty successors until Djedkare/Isesi, or perhaps Menkauhor, returned to Saqqara where the remaining monarchs of the Old Kingdom chose to be buried. Surely these moves were not without reasons, nor were they haphazard; some dynastic, political or religious motives may well have been behind each of the moves.
