Deir el-Bahari as a provenance zone for a distinct class of Roman period wooden coffins
2025, 34, No. 3
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Abstract
This paper seeks to associate a specific category of coffins, discovered in the 19th century, with the Deir el-Bahari area. These coffins date to the Roman era, specifically between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. The aim is to describe the type of coffins produced by Theban workshops for the necropolis active at Deir el-Bahari during this time. The author analyzes supporting evidence drawn from discoveries made by the Metropolitan Museum’s expedition in the 1920s, as well as from ongoing research on coffins sharing the same stylistic and iconographic features, whose provenance from the necropolis at Deir el-Bahari is based on other forms of evidence. Although these coffins have rarely been the subject of in-depth analysis with respect to their provenance —often due to the lack of contextual information— recent investigations provide a plausible framework suggesting that Deir el-Bahari functioned as a broader area of origin for these finds.
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