Strata: Do You Remember?

Where were these anthropoid sacrophagi found?

A. Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip

B. Lachish, Israel

C. Tell el Yehudieh, Egypt

D. Petra, Jordan

Aniba, Nubia

Answer: (A) Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip

These anthropoid sarcophagi (coffins with human features carved on them) appeared in the May/June 1998 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.^a The late Philistine expert Trude Dothan uncovered several of these intriguing ceramic coffins from the cemetery at Deir el-Balah—about 10 miles southwest of Gaza. Nearly 50 others came from the market.^b They average 4 feet in height. Strong Egyptian influences can be clearly seen from the stylized representations of the faces, hands, arms, and the occasional beard of Osiris—the Egyptian god of the dead.