Anthropoid Coffin from Ancient Gaza

January 23, 2025

This post shows an Anthropoid Coffin from Deir el-Balah, south of Gaza, one of the cities of the Philistines. Scholars date this artifact to the 13th century BC. It demonstrates Egyptian influence reaching into the SW coast of Canaan. The patriarch Joseph may have been put in a coffin such as this.

Anthropoid Coffin, south of Gaza of the Philistines. Israel Museum. Photo ©Leon Mauldin.