The Leiden Mastaba Project was initiated in 1998 to develop a coherent database of iconographic programmes in Old Kingdom elite tombs from the Memphite area (c. 2600-2150 BCE). The project, directed by Dr. René van Walsem from Leiden University, resulted in the original MastaBase on cd-rom in 2008. It has since proven to be an indispensable research tool.
In 2022, the MastaBase has been uploaded to Zenodo, opening it up for researchers, students and interested people to use.