In how many coffins was Pharaoh Tutankhamun buried?
064
Answer: Eight
Similar to Russian dolls and Chinese boxes, the elite in ancient Egypt were buried in a series of coffins stacked one inside the next, the outermost layer(s) formed by a sarcophagus or sarcophagi—a rectangular, box-like container of stone or wood. Important figures, such as Pharaoh Tutankhamun who ruled Egypt in the 14th century B.C., were buried in as many as eight coffins and sarcophagi, each decorated with materials and symbols with religious significance and elements from temple architecture. As such, they defined a protected and sacred space around the deceased in which the afterlife transformations could take place.
While few burials of Egyptian Pharaohs have survived intact, all eight coffins and sarcophagi were recovered from the tomb of Tutankhamun during Howard Carter’s famous excavation in the Valley of the Kings in 1922. Becoming increasingly elaborate, the burials include, from the outside in:
A sarcophagus of gilded wood (Shrine I)
A sarcophagus of gilded wood (Shrine II)
A sarcophagus of gilded wood (Shrine III)
A sarcophagus of gilded wood (Shrine IV)
A sarcophagus of quartzite with a granite lid
An anthropoid (human-shaped) coffin of gilded wood
An anthropoid coffin of gilded wood, including large sections with inlays of glass and semiprecious stones
An anthropoid coffin of solid gold
The layering continues at both ends of the list: Inside the innermost coffin was the famous gold mask, which, together with gold trappings, constitutes still another layer, i.e., the facade of the mummy. Thereafter follows the many layers of the mummy-bandaging, separated by jewelry and personal equipment that probably made up full ceremonial costumes, nested inside one another like the coffins. Due to the fragile state of the textiles on the mummy, only one such costume has been identified with certainty, but there can be little doubt that there were others. Likewise, the layering continues beyond and outside the outermost sarcophagus (Shrine 1), with the decoration of the sarcophagus chamber itself and perhaps also the antechamber and the corridor leading to the outside world.—Anders Bettum
Anders Bettum holds a Ph.D. from the University of Oslo, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages. His dissertation Faces Within Faces: The Symbolic Function of Nested Yellow Coffins in Ramesside Egypt (December 2012), further explores the burial practice of nesting coffins in ancient Egypt.
In how many coffins was Pharaoh Tutankhamun buried?
064 Answer: Eight
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