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oai:figshare.com:article/33970663 2026-09-23T04:50:22Z category_127 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Table 1_Environmental factors in the preservation of human remains and funerary textiles in the late Old Kingdom burials at Saqqara West, Egypt: burial microenvironments, taphonomy, and preservation bias.xlsx Iwona Kozieradzka-Ogunmakin (8270085) Magdalena M. Woźniak (25094143) Archaeology 4.2 ka event Ancient Egypt climate change environmental conditions funerary textiles human remains Old Kingdom Saqqara Introduction<p>This paper investigates a link between intra-regional climatic changes and the preservation of human remains and funerary textiles in a representative group of burials from the late Old Kingdom/early First Intermediate Period cemetery (5th–8th Dynasties; c. 2498–2160 BCE) at Saqqara West, Egypt.</p>Methods<p>The study integrates geological, geoarchaeological, and archaeological evidence from the site, contemporary with the 4.2ka BP aridification event, with macro- and microscopic bioarchaeological assessment of human remains, funerary textiles, and burial conditions.</p>Results<p>Human remains exhibited excellent preservation, with little to no evidence of weathering or cortical erosion. The varying state of textile preservation reflects a spectrum of burial microenvironments driven by a complex interplay between anthropogenic factors (underground shaft-tomb design; coffin materials) and environmental variables (bedrock porosity and permeability; pluvial water accumulation).</p>Discussion<p>By synthesizing multidisciplinary findings from the Saqqara West cemetery, this study demonstrates that the preservation of funerary textiles depended on the interaction between microclimatic events and burial attributes. These findings refine current understanding of the Old Kingdom burial practices, highlighting the value of organic remains as proxies for environmental and cultural changes.</p> 2026-09-23T04:50:22Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fearc.2026.1954640.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Table_1_Environmental_factors_in_the_preservation_of_human_remains_and_funerary_textiles_in_the_late_Old_Kingdom_burials_at_Saqqara_West_Egypt_burial_microenvironments_taphonomy_and_preservation_bias_xlsx/33970663 CC BY 4.0