Notes on the inscribed Old and Middle Kingdom coffins in the Egyptian Turin Museum

The Turin collection of the coffins of the Old and Middle Kingdom, subject of a project of research by the author, mainly derives from the digging of Ernesto Schiaparelli at Asyut, Qaw el-Kebir and Gebelein at the beginning of the 20th century. The analysis of the materials offers several suggestions for a funerary tradition, which covers the period between the end of the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom; at the same time, the textual collection is coherent with these traditions, that go to be the main features of the funerary culture of the Middle Kingdom. Among the others, some topics of the research are here exposed: - Archaeological context: these coffins confirm the prestige of the necropolis investigated by E. Schiaparelli. - Textual data: due to the origin of the coffins, the Turin collection offers some case-studies of the funerary doctrine between the Old and Middle Kingdom. The diffusion of the Coffin Texts, well known by the textual collection from the coffins of Iqer from Gebelein, is confirmed by other unpublished sources, mainly from Asyut. - Epigraphical data from First Intermediate Period and Middle Kingdom scribal traditions.