drill holes | In the Artifact Lab

This week, we finally finished the treatment of the lower half of our 21st/early 22nd Dynasty yellow coffin.

A view of the interior of the coffin before (left) and after (right) conservation treatment.

The treatment mostly involved cleaning the interior surfaces to remove dust using a soft brush and HEPA-filtered vacuum, and cosmetic sponges. Here’s another view to give you a better sense of just how much grime had accumulated in the interior of the coffin:

A detail of the head of the interior of the coffin before (left) and after (right) conservation treatment.

There was also a fair amount of flaking and lifting paint, which needed to be stabilized. We used 1-2% methylcellulose in 50:50 water/ethanol to consolidate flaking paint, and Japanese tissue paper and 5% methylcellulose to fill gaps.

In the course of the treatment, I have also continued to research the significance of the holes drilled into the bottom of the coffin, which can clearly be seen in the overall images at the top of this post, but here is another look:

An overall shot of the coffin bottom, with a detail of 4 of the holes.

I’m anxious to start working on the lid of this coffin, which will inevitably provide more information about this object and it’s history. We should be able to bring the lid from storage up to the lab sometime this summer, and I’ll post images of it as soon as it arrives. In the meantime, I have enjoyed researching these types of coffins and finding images of similar ones in other collections (like this one at the Petrie Museum, this one at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and this “remuddled” coffin at Stanford University) which is helping me gain a better understanding of these coffins and the contexts in which they were made.

Update – this post contains blurred images of human remains. To read more about this decision, follow this link.

It is impossible not to see this object when you enter the Artifact Lab, as it’s front and center, and immediately impressive, due to its well-preserved painted details:

This is the lower-half of a Third Intermediate Period (21st Dynasty?) painted wooden coffin, that recently came up to the Artifact Lab. Our visitors are always commenting on how vibrant the colors are, and that is mostly based on what they can see from the exterior. But the interior of this coffin is fully decorated, and arguably even more impressive, and I promised some people this week that I’d post photos of the interior soon. Here they are:

Overall view of the interior of the coffin from above

coffin right side — View of the right side

coffin left side — View of the left side

The only areas on the coffin that are not decorated are the exterior of the back, and both sides of the foot/base.

All in all, this coffin is in great condition, but it needs some treatment, including surface cleaning and stabilization of the wood and paint in some areas.

There are also a few mysterious things about it, in particular, these drilled holes in the back – what the heck are these all about?

There are 8 rows of holes drilled through the back of the coffin

Stay tuned as we investigate further.

In the Artifact Lab

Tag Archives: drill holes

The treatment of (half of) a yellow coffin

Views inside a painted wooden coffin