Welcome to Book of the Dead in 3D

Every image and piece of text has a purpose...

Egyptian coffins are inscribed with spells and images which stand in for spells. All function together as a machine to resurrect the deceased and to guide them safely through the next world. Given this function, its perhaps surprising that the texts from coffins are usually published completely divorced from their position on the coffin. Any additional meaning conferred on the texts by their placement on the surrogate body or relative to each other and the vignettes is lost. In order to understand a coffin as a magical machine, it's necessary to view the spells in 3D so that this relationship can be taken into account.
The aim of this project is to explore the relationship between texts and their positioning on a magical object through building annotated 3D models of coffins displaying the texts and translations.

Recent Additions and News

The coffin of Tadinanefer was purchased on the art market by the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in 1985. Like most pieces...Read more

The coffin of Padiusir was bought by the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in 2008. Its collection history gives us...Read more

by Matt Whealton

The sarcophagus of Psamtik-Seneb (CMA 71.2254) (Harrison 2007) was excavated by Henri Gaulthier at Heliopolis in 1931...Read more