Recycling for Death: Coffin Reuse in Ancient Egypt and the Theban Royal Caches

Kara Cooney investigates the extensive reuse of coffins in ancient Egypt during the Ramesside and early Third Intermediate periods, with particular attention to the Theban royal caches. More than nine hundred illustrations support a detailed study of how coffins were altered, reassigned and redeployed in changing economic and funerary circumstances.

Signs of reuse remain on the objects themselves: gilding and inlay stripped away, earlier decoration covered, and new painted scenes added for different owners. Cooney examines what these alterations reveal about tomb robbery, workshop practice, insecurity and the strategies used by elites during periods of upheaval. After analysing the wider social history, the book presents annotated photographic studies of more than sixty coffins from the royal caches, allowing their complicated material histories to be examined closely.