Undated picture handed out by the Egyptian Antiquities Department shows a sarcophagus dated from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. A Japanese archeological team has discovered three painted wooden coffins in Egypt, including two from the little-known Middle Kingdom period dating back more than 4,000 years.(AFP/HO)
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WOW! That sarcophagus would make an interesting conversation piece in my living room.
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Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
That's in better shape than my furniture. Helluva find.
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Hmmm, I thought the mummiform (man-shaped) type of coffin that we associate with Egypt didn't appear until the XVII dynasty, a few years before the New Kingdom started. The Middle Kingdom sarcophagi that I've seen elsewhere were simple rectangular boxes, with hieroglyphics and a pair of eyes painted on the outside. Do you think the picture from that article was mislabeled?
And I resent them saying that the Middle Kingdom was a little-known era. It may not have been as glamorous as the Old Kingdom with its pyramids, or the New Kingdom with all the accomplishments of its pharaohs, but the best Egyptian literature was written during the Middle Kingdom. Nowadays, if you learn hieroglyphics, it's likely you'll be given Middle Kingdom texts to study/practice with. And we certainly know more about the Middle Kingdom than we do about any of the intermediate periods, or the archaic era before the first pyramid was built.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/10/10103261.html
Published: 10/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
http://archive.gulfnews.com/images/07/02/10/10_rg_egypt_ap_4.jpg
Zahi Hawass, head of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Three ancient Egyptian sarcophagi unearthed
Gulfnews: Three ancient Egyptian sarcophagi unearthed
Cairo: Three ancient sarcophagi have been found south of Cairo, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement on Saturday.
The three Egyptian coffins were found "in a very well preserved condition inside three burial shafts" at a site south of the Saqqara pyramids.
Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the council, said that the first sarcophagus dates back to Egypt's 1500 BC-1000 BC New Kingdom and is a black anthropoid.
It carries paintings portraying the four sons of the falcon-headed god Horus and its inscription says it to belongs to a person called "Waya-ly."
Anthropoid or person-shaped coffins were particularly important to Ancient Egyptians, who believed them to act as a substitute body for use after death.
The second and the third sarcophagi date back to the Middle Kingdom, 4,000 years ago, and are decorated with black pieces of glass.
Wooden coffin with the remains of a skeleton from Tarkhan, Egypt, 1st Dynasty, around 3000 BC
Wooden coffin with the mummy of Ankhef, 12th Dynasty, around 1900 BC, Asyut, Egypt
Outer coffin of Gua, 12th Dynasty, 1985-1795 BC, Deir el-Bersha, Egypt
Wooden coffin of the Libyan Pasenhor, Late Third Intermediate Period, 730-680 BC, Thebes, Egypt
Painted wooden coffin of Bakrenes, 25th Dynasty, around 680 BC, Thebes, Egypt
Wooden coffin of a child, Ptolemaic Period, 332-30 BC
Mummy case and portrait of Artemidorus, Roman Period, around AD 100-120, Hawara, Egypt
http://www.ansamed.info/en/egypt/news/ME09.@AM12230.html">http://www.ansamed.info/en/egypt/news/ME09.@AM12230.html
Archaeology: Egypt; Three Sarcophagi Found In Saqqara
(ANSAmed) - CAIRO, FEBRUARY 12 - Three wooden sarcophagi from the Middle and New Kingdoms have been found in Saqqara necropolis by Japanese excavators from Wassida University during routine excavation work. Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass explained that three sarcophagi were found in a very well preserved condition inside three burial shafts located south of saqqara. He added that the one that goes back to the New Kingdom (15 century BC.) is an Anthropoid black sarcophagus painted with scenes featuring the four sons of horus and belongs to a person called "Waya-Iy". The two other satcophagi date back to the Middle Kingdom (20 century BC.) the first belongs to a person called Sebek Hetep and the second to a lady called "Snet-It-Ess". Both sarcophagi are decorated with black pieces of glass. The Japanese mission has been working in Saqqara since the early 1990s in an attempt to discover Middle Kingdom tombs south of Saqqara specially that all discoveries found in Saqqara dated back to the Old and New Kingdoms as well as the Late Periods and the Graeco-Roman era.(ANSAmed).
2007-02-12 12:23
