The Saqqara necropolis is situated in the Western Desert approximately 24km south of Cairo and immediately southwest of the modern village of Abusir (29°53E) And The site of Saqqara is the central portion of the Memphite necropolis which stretches from the northernmost sites of Abu Rawash, Giza to Zawiyet el Aryan, Abusir, Saqqara, South Saqqara and finally Dahshûr and Mazghuna in the south, for more than 30 kilometers. The Early Dynastic tombs excavated at Saqqara/Abusir can be divided into three groups:
 (1) The large 1st and 2nd Dynasty, Mastaba, tombs occupying the eastern edge of the North Saqqara plateau.
 (2) Two areas of smaller tombs in the Abusir Valley; and (3) a series of underground galleries of the 2nd Dynasty (but no surviving superstructures) in the area of the Unas pyramid and pyramid temple (5th Dynasty). Excavations at North Saqqara by English archaeologists J.E. Quibell, C.M. Firth and W.B .Emery have exposed a series of large 1st and 2nd Dynasty tombs along the 55m contour line on the eastern edge of the desert plateau, a location which would have made such structures highly visible from the cultivation, North Saqqara was the focus of almost unbroken mortuary activity for a period exceeding 3000 years, and as development of this important site progressed it became necessary for the construction of new tombs and temples to take account of existing features.