Abstract
The archaic necropolis at North Saqqara has been the subject of archaeological activity that has yielded hundreds of tombs and mastabas, dating as early as the First to the end of the Third Dynasty. While other sites in the general area of Memphis show some earlier finds from Naqada IIIB onwards, the use of the Saqqara necropolis started with the reign of King Aha.
The tombs were first excavated by James Edward Quibell, Cecil M. Firth, and Walter Brian Emery, and later by Geoffrey Martin, Paul Nicholson, and Barry Kamp as well as Mohamed Hagras, but exploration has ceased by the late 1990s.
Recently activity returned to the area with the work of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Scientific Center for Archaeological Training of Cairo and Giza at North Saqqara. This resulted in the uncovering of a new Second Dynasty mastaba, S 3537, which is the subject of the present article.