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About the lecture
Ancient Egyptians employed many strategies to secure an afterlife. Tombs, funerary equipment, preservation of the body, religious texts and burial containers all served one goal: the deceased's rebirth and eternal life. Burial containers were integral to this equipment and symbolically associated above all with Nut, the sky goddess who protected the deceased and ensured resurrection. Depending on social status and resources, they were made from expensive stone, local or imported wood, or cheaper materials such as fired or unfired clay and plant fibres. Wood remained the most common material. The lecture examines the development of wooden burial containers in ancient Egypt, considering both their practical function and symbolic meaning, and the potential of their study to deepen our understanding of Egyptian ideas about the afterlife.
Marie Peterková Hlouchová completed a master's degree in Egyptology and History at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, followed by a doctorate in Egyptology. She researches Old Kingdom religion and wooden coffins from the Old Kingdom, First Intermediate Period and first millennium BCE, including examples found at Abusir. She has participated in archaeological expeditions to Egypt and Sudan since 2015. In 2020–2023 she held a postdoctoral position in KREAS (Creativity and Adaptability as Conditions of the Success of Europe in an Interrelated World). For 2023–2025 she is principal investigator of Czech Science Foundation project 23-04989S, ‘Ancient Egyptian Burial Containers of the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period: Evolution, Contextualisation and Significance’.
The lecture will take place online; watch it HERE:
Lecture date and time: 12. 11. 2025 at 17:30 – 19:00
The lecture series was supported using public funds by the Slovak Arts Council.
