The Nile River bisected Egypt and provided a lifeline in the arid conditions of Northeast Africa. The river's annual flood created black silt which Egyptians depended on to grow crops. Irrigation programs arose up and down the river to water large tracts of agricultural lands. The river was also used as source of food, and papyrus and for transportation. However, the river was not used as a mass evacuation route.  

Evidence suggests that theoretically anyone could attain a high office, which dispels the notion that the Old Kingdom was a total dictatorship. Researchers have also uncovered evidence of markets where people could sell produce and crafts. The notion of an Old Kingdom in which people slaved away building pyramids with no independent local life is fading.  

Despite centuries of historical focus and inquiry, our understanding of much of ancient Egyptian history remains limited. This is primarily because much of the archaeological record has since been wiped out. There are many reasons for this: The annual flooding and receding of the Nile naturally erodes and conceals archaeological sites; the movement of the Nile’s path over time means that some settlements are lost and other’s cannot be placed with any certainty; the destruction of monuments by later conquerors and the desecration of monuments by tomb raiders have also contributed to the loss of evidence. As a result, Egyptologists are forced to extrapolate many of their conclusions about Egyptian life and our understanding remains incomplete.

Mummification was first commonly practiced in Egypt during the rule of the fourth dynasty, at the height of the power of the Old Kingdom. The practice of mummification evolved over time, but the fundamental procedures originated with the powerful rulers of the fourth dynasty.

King Unas was the last ruler of the fifth dynasty during the Old Kingdom. His royal mortuary complex is notable because it contains the earliest known example of the Pyramid Texts. The Pyramid Texts would appear on the burial tombs of rulers throughout the rest of the Old Kingdom. The Pyramid Texts were a series of inscriptions written on the walls of Pharaoh’s burial tombs and were intended to protect the Pharaoh in the afterlife and discourage tomb raiders.

The first pyramid was built during the reign of King Djoser, in the third dynasty. But the origins of pyramid construction can be traced to the reign of Khasekhemwy in the second dynasty. Khasekhemwy was the first Egyptian ruler to be built in a mastaba tomb. A mastaba tomb looks like the base of a pyramid and later Egyptian rulers would extrapolate outwards and upwards from this simplistic design.

Although there are many notable exceptions, throughout ancient Egyptian history, Egyptians were most likely to build burial tombs and monuments on the west bank of the Nile. This is because the Egyptians believed that the deceased entered the afterlife from the west (imitating the behavior of the setting sun) and therefore needed to be buried on the west of the Nile in order to gain entrance into heaven.

A mortuary complex is a building, or series of buildings, designed to house the Pharaoh’s body after he has died. Mortuary complexes were first built during the early years of the dynastic era and were henceforth common throughout ancient Egyptian history. The purpose of a mortuary complex was to ensure the survival and prosperity of ancient Egyptian rulers in the afterlife. Many Pharaohs provided substantial endowments for the maintenance of their mortuary complexes after they had died and many settlements sprang up to provide for the needs of the deceased Pharaohs.

Before pyramids were first developed, the mastaba was a small, flat-roofed structure that sat above the underground chamber known as a serdab, which held the statue believed to hold the spirit of the deceased, or ka. These were often grouped together in one location known as a necropolis.

The mastaba, or flat-topped funerary structure, at the Funerary Complex of Djoser eventually was expanded into the large, stepped pyramid that characterizes the complex.