These anthropoid sarcophagi (coffins with human features carved on them) appeared in the May/June 1998 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.a The late Philistine expert Trude Dothan uncovered several of these intriguing ceramic coffins from the cemetery at Deir el-Balah—about 10 miles southwest of Gaza. Nearly 50 others came from the market.b They average 4 feet in height. Strong Egyptian influences can be clearly seen from the stylized representations of the faces, hands, arms, and the occasional beard of Osiris—the Egyptian god of the dead.
The sarcophagi date to the Late Bronze Age (c. 14th–13th centuries B.C.E.), a period when Canaanite city-states served as vassals to the Egyptian pharaohs. In the decades following the expulsion of the Semitic Hyksos (pharaohs of the 15th Dynasty who ruled during Egypt’s Second Intermediate period) from Egypt, the pharaohs of the 18th Dynasty subjugated the lands of their former oppressors, the Hyksos, and created an empire (the beginning of Egypt’s New Kingdom) that would last throughout the course of the Late Bronze Age. Deir el-Balah served as an administrative center for Egyptian officials in Canaan.
From priceless discoveries such as these, one can clearly see that Egyptian influence reached beyond the realm of politics. Similar sarcophagi have been found at sites throughout Canaan, including Beth Shean, Lachish, and Tell Farah South.
Where were these anthropoid sacrophagi found?
A. Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip
B. Lachish, Israel
C. Tell el Yehudieh, Egypt
D. Petra, Jordan
Aniba, Nubia
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