Levantine Terracotta Coffin

Levantine Terracotta Coffin

A terracotta coffin fused with a large naturalistic body resting on the chest dates from the Late Bronze Age dating from the 14th to the late 13th centuries BC. The Exodus from Egypt occurred around 1250 BC. A terracotta coffin with a human face lid and crossed arms is a distinctive shape at Deir el-Balah It is characterized by a mummy-like form a unique burial ritual. The prominent head and shoulders in proportion and form blend Egyptian and Near Eastern concepts Found at Deir el-Balah dating from the 14th to the 10th centuries BC exhibit several Egyptian features through the mask-like drawings on the lids. These coffins demonstrate Egyptian influence in the ancient Near East.

The human-shaped coffin evolved from mummies and mummy-shaped boxes in Middle Kingdom Egypt The Exodus from Egypt occurred around 1250 BC. Another group the head and shoulders were shaped like mummies This early unblemished form is the most common human-shaped coffin in Egypt and the only one to have been found in Palestine In Deir el-Balak a city in the central Gaza Strip Palestine burial in human-shaped coffins continued into the New Kingdom in Egypt spreading from the upper classes to other classes although overall the use of this type of coffin was not widespread

Human-Shaped coffins II / image : Egisto Sani

Excavations of human coffins in the Gaza Strip show that the coffins can be divided into two groups based on their shape The first group has no clear demarcation lines on the head and shoulders and the top of the coffin has a rounded shape. The other group has a mummy-like shape and no traces of mummification in the Deir el-Balac necropolis indicating that the faces came from the same craftsman The first type uses the same pattern The faces can be classified according to the method of attaching them to the coffin lid In the second type the faces are not drawn separately There is no mask and the eyes nose and mouth are drawn separately on the surface of the eyelids There is no separate facial outline giving the faces a creepy almost caricature-like appearance

The Deir el-Balac cemetery excavations revealed human coffins buried in groups of three or more spaced about 10 or 12 feet apart. The graves were all oriented roughly westward towards the Mediterranean Sea This burial pattern is a phenomenon that archaeologists have not yet been able to explain and with the help of the Arabs the Israelis were able to find two more coffins from the single human coffin