Dendara (Upper Egypt) is best known for its temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor. A new research project brings together KU Leuven and the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) to study the large cemetery where the inhabitants of Dendara were buried for almost three millennia. The preliminary results of this archaeological program on the necropolis already shed new light on the origins of Dendara at the dawn of the Pharaonic period.