Naqada III tomb - Minsjat Abu Omar - Eastern Delta - ca. 3300 BCE.
From Naqada II onwards, highly differentiated burials are found in cemeteries in Upper Egypt (cf. Gerzean, ca. 3600 - 3300 BCE). These élite burials contained large quantities of grave goods, with exotic materials such as gold and lapis lazuli. These burials point to an increasing hierarchical society and the wish of the deceased to keep their status in the afterlife, of prime important in the funerary theology under the Pharaohs. In short, the royals had access to the sky of Re, whereas commoners were spirits unable to leave the kingdom ofOsiris.