In fact, alabaster vessels and earthen jars with black ink inscriptions with very similar font design showing Nynetjer's name were found in Peribsen's tomb.

[20] Nynetjer is commonly identified with the Ramesside cartouche names Banetjer from the Abydos King List, Banetjeru from the Sakkara table and Netjer-ren from the Royal Canon of Turin.

This name appears already on artefacts surviving from Nynetjer's lifetime and Egyptologists such as Wolfgang Helck and Toby Wilkinson think that it could be some kind of forerunner of the golden-Horus-name that was established in the royal titulature at the beginning of 3rd dynasty under king Djoser.

[21] The relative chronological position of Nynetjer as the third ruler of the early Second Dynasty and successor of Raneb makes consensus among Egyptologists.

These annals were likely first compiled during the early Fifth Dynasty, possibly under Neferirkare Kakai (mid-25th century BC) around whose reign the record stops.

[34][35] These annals are considered to be a reliable witness to Nynetjer's rule notably because they correctly give his name "in contrast to the corrupt, garbled variants found in later king lists" (Wilkinson).

[36] The surviving fragments of the annals record the main events and Nile flood levels from what is likely the seventh year of Nynetjer's reign until the 21st.

[37] The most recent reconstruction of the royal annals by Wilkinson in 2000 concludes that Nynetjer's reign as recorded on the Palermo stone was most probably of 40 complete or partial years.

Therefore, most of the events are illegible, except for the "birth" (creation) of an Anubis fetish and parts of a "Appearance of the king of Lower- and Upper Egypt".

Egyptologists such as Walter Bryan Emery assume that this reference was an obituary to the queens Meritneith and Neithhotep from the early 1st dynasty, both of whom are believed to have held the Egyptian throne for several years because their sons were too young to rule.

[42] The biennial event "Following of Horus" referred to on the Palermo stone most probably involved a journey of the king and the royal court throughout Egypt.

[48] The responsibility for the supervision of state revenues was under the authority of the chancellor of the treasury of the king,[49] who directed three administrative institutions introduced by Nynetjer in replacement of an older one.

[54] This, in turn, required increasing quantities of commodities to be regularly collected as the Second Dynasty royal tombs were modelled after the king's palace, incorporating a large number of storage rooms for wine and food.

[60] Three hypotheses have been put forth to explain these observations: first there could have been a political breakdown and a religious conflict; second this could result from a deliberate choice on Nynetjer's behalf following administrative considerations; or third an economic collapse might have led to Egyptian disunity.

For Erik Hornung, the troubles originate from an Upper Egyptian reaction to the migration of power and royal interest towards Memphis and Lower Egypt, leading to a breakdown of the unity of the state.

[10][61] Egyptologists such as Wolfgang Helck, Nicolas Grimal, Hermann Alexander Schlögl and Francesco Tiradritti believe instead that Nynetjer left a realm that was suffering from an overly complex state administration.

Consequently, Nynetjer could have decided to split Egypt between his two successors, possibly his sons, who would rule two separate kingdoms in the hope that the two rulers could better administer the states.

[62][63] In contrast, Egyptologists such as Barbara Bell believe that an economic catastrophe such as a famine or a long lasting drought affected Egypt around this time.

Therefore, to address the problem of feeding the Egyptian population, Nynetjer split the realm into two and his successors ruled two independent states until the famine came to an end.

Bell points to the inscriptions of the Palermo stone, where, in her opinion, the records of the annual Nile floods show constantly low levels during this period.

Bell had overlooked that the heights of the Nile floods in the Palermo Stone inscriptions only takes into account the measurements of the nilometers around Memphis, but not elsewhere along the river.

[66] The tomb of Nynetjer was discovered by Selim Hassan in 1938 while he was excavating mastabas under the aegis of the Service des Antiquités de l'Egypte in the vicinity of the Pyramid of Unas.

[73] The tomb is located out of sight of Memphis,[74][75] next to a natural wadi running west to east[75] which may have functioned as a causeway from the valley up to the local plateau.

This location was not only convenient—the wadi serving as an accessway for bringing construction materials to the tomb—but also ensured that the tomb remained hidden from the Nile valley[76] and set within a desert backdrop symbolizing death which the king would finally overcome.

Another room produced the fragments of a further 420 unfinished and unsealed wine jars which seem to have been deliberately broken in a ceremony at the time of burial.

[94] In addition, some pieces of carved wood suggest the presence of a tent or canopy in the mortuary equipment of the king, similar to that found in the later tomb of queen Hetepheres I (fl.