Ancient Egyptian Coffins Craft Traditions and Functionality British Museum Publications on Egypt

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.