There are several surviving artifacts such as the Abydos King List, the Saqqara Tablet and the Turin King List that egyptologists rely on to establish the timeline of the pharaohs.
Harrell and Bown believe that blocks were loaded onto barges during the dry season, then floated over to the Nile during the floods to be shipped off to the monument sites at Giza and Saqqara.
However, there is no question that, as far as Egypt is concerned, it began with one monument to one king designed by one brilliant architect: the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.