Definition of The Woods Used With Wooden Coffins From The Late Period Aga Khan Excavation in Western Aswan: A Case Study From The Archaeological Storages in Aswan

This study aims to identify the anatomical structure of the wooden coffins and the types of wood used in the Late Period coffins preserved in the Archaeological Storages in Aswan, excavated by the Egyptian Aga Khan Mission in western Aswan. In this study, light microscopy was used to identify the type of wood used in the coffins. It was found that sycamore wood was the most commonly used type of wood for the wooden panels due to its availability in the surrounding environment and its ease of shaping and carving. Sycamore wood is considered a local wood and is one of the most important trees that have grown in Egypt since the predynastic era. Other types of wood were also used in the manufacture of wooden beams, such as tamarisk wood and Ziziphus spina-christi wood, which were used to assemble wooden boards together. Tamarisk and Ziziphus spina-christi wood are considered local (hard) woods, and these types are characterized by being denser and harder than sycamore wood, which indicates that the ancient Egyptian carpenter was aware of the physical and chemical properties of wood that give it the ability to resist environmental factors. Therefore, they were used in making wooden beams, and all of them are local woods whose cultivation is widespread in Upper Egypt.