An ancient Egyptian coffin was given a new life after it has been returned to Swansea University's Egypt Center in Wales.
The artifact, believed to date from about 650 BC, is now back at the university after thousands of hours of conservation work at Cardiff University, where it was painstakingly cleaned, reconstructed and consolidated to prevent it from deteriorating further, according to BBC.
The coffin, originally made for a man called Ankhpakhered in the Greek city of Thebes, was transported back under the watchful eye of the center’s curator Dr. Ken Griffin.
Staff described the finished project as “beyond our wildest dreams.”
“The coffin was gifted to us by Aberystwyth University in 1997 but details about its history are sketchy,” Griffin said.
He added: “It actually ended up being used as a storage box at one time, with other Egyptian objects placed in it for safekeeping.”
The university’s Phil Parkes explained that the wooden coffin was covered in textile and then had a thin layer of decorated plaster over the top.
He said: “Much of that textile had become detached over time and was just hanging loose.”
Parkes added that the separate wooden head was detached and there were a couple of large pieces of wood missing, the side of the base had fallen off and it was in a very sorry condition overall.
