This dissertation addresses the importance of the archeological history within the Osiris Temple Enclosure in North Abydos, Egypt prior to and including excavations undertaken by the University of Pennsylvania Museum-Yale University-Institute of Fine Arts, New York University Expedition to Abydos in 2002-2004. Abydos held great religious significance in ancient Egypt. The Old Kingdom god Khentyamentiu was revered here, while in subsequent dynasties he was superceded by the god Osiris, whose cult prospered until the very latest phases of Egyptian history. The central focus of the cult would have been at the temple of Osiris, where daily offerings were made to the god and rituals carried out.

Flinders Petrie excavated at Abydos in 1902/03 and found references to the Osiris temple indicating that it was located within enclosure. Some scholars believe that Petrie went on to find phases the actual Osiris temple, despite a high level of architectural informality. Others believe the architecture to be royal ka-chapels, with the remains of (presumably successive) Osiris temples as yet undiscovered, possibly below a mound of debris identified as the remains of a 30^th Dynasty temple located to the southwest of Petrie's excavations.

Prior to the Penn-Yale-IFA, NYU excavation, systematic archaeological investigation of the mound of temple debris within the enclosure, had yet to be undertaken. Excavation from 2002-2004 revealed two phases of architecture: one dating to the pharaohs Nectanebo I and II of the 30^th Dynasty and an earlier phase possibly dating to the 18^th Dynasty, with extensive evidence of Tuthmosis IV. Analysis of the in situ architecture as well as fragments of decorative and architectural elements from both phases suggests that the architecture represents the remains of two separate phases of the actual Osiris temple. Although not fully excavated, work at the site indicates that perhaps earlier temples might lie below the two phases already discovered.