New Thoughts on Egyptian Pot Burials

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—Science News reports that bioarchaeologist Ronika Power and Egyptologist Yann Tristant of Macquarie University reviewed studies of burials in ceramic pots at 46 archaeological sites, most of which were found near the Nile River and dated to between 3300 and 1650 B.C. It had been thought that such pot burials were a make-do effort for poor children, but the researchers found that more than half of the sites in the study contained adult remains in pot burials. And of 746 children’s burials in the study, 338 employed wooden coffins, while 329 used pots. The rest of the children were buried in baskets or limestone containers. One pot held an infant along with beads covered in gold foil. Other pots held offerings of gold, ivory, clothing, and ceramics. Power and Tristant suggest that rather than a necessity, a pot may have been chosen as a burial vessel to represent the womb, and symbolize rebirth into the afterlife. For more, go to “A Pharaoh’s Last Fleet.”