Rare Ancient Coffin in Jezreel Valley Holds Egyptian Pharaoh’s Signet Ring

Photo Credit: Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority

“An ordinary person could not afford the purchase of such a coffin,” they added. “It is obvious the deceased was a member of the local elite.”

The graves of two men and two women who may have been family members were located nearby, researchers said, noting the find is evidence of Egyptian control of the Jezreel Valley in the 13th century BCE (Late Bronze Age).

The IAA has said it may try to sample the DNA of the skeleton in the coffin to determine whether the deceased was of Canaanite or Egyptian ancestry.