This collection of papers by leading international experts on the subject of ancient Egyptian coffins, builds on a project based at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, to study and record in detail its collection. Papers address a series of topics including: the development of coffins in antiquity, including iconographic and text-based studies, providing new insights into ancient Egyptian belief systems at different periods and regional differences in coffin presentation; the post-antiquity history of coffins, including their acquisition and subsequent treatment in museums around the world; developments in technical examination and methods of studying coffins, especially the use of multispectral imaging to provide non-invasive analysis of materials, and what this tells us about construction and decorative techniques at different periods and in response to the availability of different materials and increasing evidence of the re-use of materials and complete re-working of coffins for new owners, leading us to question fundamental attitudes to the purpose of coffins as a containers of human remains and the practices of craftsmen in the funerary industry. The papers stem from a conference held at the Museum to accompany a major new exhibition.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Bibliography
• Identifying ancient Egyptian coffin woods from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge using scanning electron microscopy
• Beyond the Visible . Merging scientific analysis and traditional methods for the documentation of the anthropoid coffin of Amenemhat
• Middle Kingdom mummy-shaped coffins . Investigating meaning and function
• Black coffins with yellow decoration of the New Kingdom. An original iconographic study
• The outer coffin of Pa-seba-khai-en-ipet. New insights on manufacture, history and treatment
• Multi and hyperspectral imaging and 3D techniques for understanding Egyptian coffins
• Noble burials? Notes on the use of black coffins in KV40
• Coffins of the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Dynasties: the sacred landscape of Western Thebes
• The coffin of Somtus from Abusir el-Meleq (Cairo, Egyptian Museum JE 36806): Egyptological Study
• Nesimenjem and the Valley of the Queens’ Coffins
• Patterns of coffin reuse from Dynasties 19 to 22
• Cartonnages with painted and moulded decoration from the Twenty-second Dynasty
• A Libyan singer in the Karnak temple choir. The cartonnage of Shauamunimes (Egyptian Museum Cairo TR 21.11.16.5)
• The rediscovery and conservation treatment of Tanetmit’s outer coffin (Louvre N 2588) – Twenty-second Dynasty
• Non-invasive diagnostic techniques in the authentication and study of Egyptian coffins. The case of the anthropoid coffin of Pakharu, son of Panehesy and the cartonnage of Asetirdis in the Stibbert Museum, Florence
• A coffin lid of an unidentified person from the Late Period. Observations on the wood and construction
• The coffin of the Anthropology Museum in Padua and others. A peculiar type of Late to Ptolemaic Period wooden anthropoid coffins
• Late Period Coffins from Qubbet el-Hawa Tomb 33
• Regional identification of Late Period coffins from Northern Upper Egypt
• Further investigation of a Ptolemaic wooden coffin lid from Abusir el-Meleq in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
• Posters
• Contributors to this volume