Ancient Egyptian Coffins: Craft Traditions and Functionality

This volume contains the proceedings of the twenty-third Annual

Egyptological Colloquium, held at the British Museum in 2014, augmented

by additional papers. The twenty-three contributions investigate

functionality, iconography and manufacture of ancient Egyptian coffins

from the First Intermediate Period to the eighth century AD. The authors

explore the conceptual aspects which lay behind the production of

coffins through the study of iconography and texts, examining the

functional role of these complex objects as ‘structured compositions’

which were designed to play an important part in transforming the

deceased occupants and perpetuating their existence beyond death.

Reinstating coffins in their archaeological and societal contexts, the

papers reflect on the circumstances in which they were made, considering

workshop practices and regional variability, and studying coffins not

only individually but also as components of larger conceptual entities

in which the mummy, the burial chamber and the tomb itself all had

specific meanings. Several contributions focus on areas of current

interest, such as the post-burial adaptation and reuse of coffins,

considering how these issues relate to the economic environment in which

they were made and to changing attitudes towards the immutability of

burial arrangements.