Sculpted Face Peers Out from Ancient Coffin
Source: livescience.com
A newly discovered coffin that dates back 3,300 years likely belonged to a wealthy elite, perhaps an Egyptian army officer, archaeologists have announced.
The grave site, uncovered in Israel, was filled with food storage vessels, animal bones and tableware, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported today (April 9). A clay coffin with a lid sculpted to look like a person contained an adult skeleton surrounded by hammered pieces of bronze, as well as a bronze dagger and bowl. The skeleton was also buried with a gold ring bearing the name of Seti I, an Egyptian pharaoh who ruled from around 1290 B.C. to 1279 B.C.
"Since the vessels interred with the individual were produced locally, we assume the deceased was an official of Canaanite origin who was engaged in the service of the Egyptian government," the IAA archaeologists reported. Canaan is an ancient region that roughly encompassed modern-day Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.
Grave discovery
The IAA conducted excavations in advance of the construction of a natural gas pipeline by the Israel Natural Gas Lines Company. The archaeologists, led by Edwin van den Brink, Dan Kirzner and Ron Be’eri, discovered the Late Bronze Age coffin and grave offerings, as well as four nearby graves containing two men and two women who may have been relatives of the person in the clay coffin.
The man-shaped coffin was in the Egyptian style. At the time of the burial, Egyptian rule extended into Canaan, and the wealthy elite followed Egyptian traditions.
"An ordinary person could not afford the purchase of such a coffin," van den Brink and his colleagues said. "It is obvious the deceased was a member of the local elite."
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Read the full article at: livescience.com
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