Skeleton in the remains of a basketwork coffin, First Dynasty from Tarkhan

Coffins began to be used in Egyptian graves from about 3000 BC, and could be made of wood, basketry, or pottery. Their use was designed to improve (tic conditions in which the dead were buried, but by isolating the body from the drying effects of the surrounding sand the good preservation of the body (as shown in the opposite case) was lost, resulting in the decay of the soft tissue.