of his mortuary temple. The act of mass animal sacrifice testifies to the importance that royal funerary cults had in Ancient Egyptian society, and also shows that vast agricultural resources were devoted to an activity judged unproductive by Verner, something they propose possibly contributed to the decline of the Old Kingdom. The main beneficiaries of these sacrifices were the cult's priests, who consumed the offerings after the required ceremonies. The funerary cult of Neferefre seems to have ceased at the end of the Old Kingdom or during the First Intermediate Period. Traces of a possible revival of the cult during the later Middle Kingdom are scant and ambiguous. During the Twelfth Dynasty, a certain Khuyankh was buried in the funerary temple of Neferefre. It remains unclear if this was to associate himself closely with the deceased ruler or because other cultic activities in the area constrained the choice of location for Khuyankh's tomb. Notes, references and sources Notes References Sources 25th-century BC Pharaohs Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt Ancient Egyptian mummies