DOI Heft:
Egypt
DOI Artikel:Zych, Iwona: Wooden coffins from cemetery A in Naqlun
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42090#0214
NAQLUN
EGYPT
this type and it remains to be seen whether
they were an inspired local invention, mak-
ing use of an ubiquitous Egyptian contain-
er3 for a less than ordinary contents, or were
generally used in this particular capacity.
Naturally, the vagaries of preservation in the
case of organic materials limit substantial-
ly any remarks of a more general nature.
The absolute majority of the coffins re-
presents a wooden-box type, but in a sur-
SIZE Ah
The coffins come in three general sizes:
small, medium and large. Apart from cases
of mothers being buried together with their
babies, the boxes were intended as contain-
ers for individual dead bodies and hence it is
only natural that they were made in more or
prising variety of forms. The set can be con-
sidered in terms of physical characteristics
like size, shape, and material. It can also be
looked at from the point of view of wood-
cutting and assembly techniques, construc-
tion and quality of execution. The end ana-
lysis should add to our understanding of the
differentiated status of the dead buried in ce-
metery A at Naqlun, as well as provide infor-
mation on the carpenter's trade in the oasis.
> SHAPE
less standard sizes reflecting people's bulk at
death. Hence, the small boxes, apparently
for pre-teen children, were under 100 cm
long, those for juveniles between 130 and
140 cm long, and those for adults between
180 and 190 cm long.
Fig. 2. Schematic coffin shapes: A. trapezoid (top and side sections) with cross sections (1: regular
box, box with gable roof, pentagonal box with gable roof); B. rectangular (top and cross-
section) (Drawing I. Zych, R. Mahler)
3 Cf. W. Wendrich, The World According to Basketry (CNWS: The Netherlands 1999), 163.
212
EGYPT
this type and it remains to be seen whether
they were an inspired local invention, mak-
ing use of an ubiquitous Egyptian contain-
er3 for a less than ordinary contents, or were
generally used in this particular capacity.
Naturally, the vagaries of preservation in the
case of organic materials limit substantial-
ly any remarks of a more general nature.
The absolute majority of the coffins re-
presents a wooden-box type, but in a sur-
SIZE Ah
The coffins come in three general sizes:
small, medium and large. Apart from cases
of mothers being buried together with their
babies, the boxes were intended as contain-
ers for individual dead bodies and hence it is
only natural that they were made in more or
prising variety of forms. The set can be con-
sidered in terms of physical characteristics
like size, shape, and material. It can also be
looked at from the point of view of wood-
cutting and assembly techniques, construc-
tion and quality of execution. The end ana-
lysis should add to our understanding of the
differentiated status of the dead buried in ce-
metery A at Naqlun, as well as provide infor-
mation on the carpenter's trade in the oasis.
> SHAPE
less standard sizes reflecting people's bulk at
death. Hence, the small boxes, apparently
for pre-teen children, were under 100 cm
long, those for juveniles between 130 and
140 cm long, and those for adults between
180 and 190 cm long.
Fig. 2. Schematic coffin shapes: A. trapezoid (top and side sections) with cross sections (1: regular
box, box with gable roof, pentagonal box with gable roof); B. rectangular (top and cross-
section) (Drawing I. Zych, R. Mahler)
3 Cf. W. Wendrich, The World According to Basketry (CNWS: The Netherlands 1999), 163.
212