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14 - Funerary Practices in the Great Oasis during Antiquity

from Part IV - An Oasis Culture?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2019

Roger S. Bagnall
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York
Gaëlle Tallet
Affiliation:
Université de Limoges
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Summary

Only a few of the cemeteries in the Great Oasis from Ptolemaic and Roman times have been published: Kellis (Dakhla), Dush, Labakha, El-Deir (Kharga). There are mainly family tombs, often reused. People are usually mummified. In every cemetery funerary equipment was present (painted coffins and cartonnages, painted or gilded masks), as well as votive offerings, mainly ceramics. Traditional Egyptian practices were preserved till major changes in the late third to fourth century AD. Individual pit-graves normally disposed west/east took the place of collective tombs; mummification was practiced, but many bodies were naturally dried out; funerary equipment became rare (no coffins nor cartonnages). This new type of funerary practice is related to Christianisty’s expansion. A funerary textile is an archaeological object and must be studied in its context. At El-Deir we can follow the tradition and the changes, also thanks to the textiles. The three fibers highlighted on the site are flax, cotton, and wool. They reflect the evolution of funerary practices and daily life, and their economy, and pose questions on the origin and appearance of textile novelties, during a complex period, in a specific context.

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Chapter
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The Great Oasis of Egypt
The Kharga and Dakhla Oases in Antiquity
, pp. 237 - 268
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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