# Treetrunk coffin

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Coffin made from a single log

Treetrunk coffin from the early mediaeval graveyard of [Oberflacht](/source/Seitingen-Oberflacht), Germany

Treetrunk coffin from the [Egtved Girl](/source/Egtved_Girl)

Reconstruction of the place of two treetrunk coffins at the *Archäologischer Wanderpfad in der Fischbeker Heide*, [Neugraben-Fischbek](/source/Neugraben-Fischbek)

A **treetrunk coffin** is a [coffin](/source/Coffin) hollowed out of a single massive [log](/source/Treetrunk). Such coffins have been used for [burials](/source/Burial) since prehistoric times over a wide geographic range, including in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

## History

Treetrunk coffins were a feature of some [prehistoric](/source/Prehistoric) elite burials over a wide geographical range, especially in [Northern Europe](/source/Northern_Europe) and as far east as the [Balts](/source/Balts), where [cremation](/source/Cremation) was abandoned about the 1st century [CE](/source/Common_Era), as well as in central Lithuania, where elites were also buried in treetrunk coffins.[1] The practice survived [Christianisation](/source/Christianisation) into the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages).[2]

## Examples by country

### UK

The coffin that contained the body of [King Arthur](/source/King_Arthur) is said to have been discovered at [Glastonbury Abbey](/source/Glastonbury_Abbey) in 1191. It was described by the contemporary chronicler [Giraldus Cambrensis](/source/Giraldus_Cambrensis) as being made of a massive [oak](/source/Oak) treetrunk.

For [Bronze Age](/source/Bronze_Age) Britain, examples have been recorded at Wydon Eals, near [Haltwhistle](/source/Haltwhistle), and at [Cartington](/source/Cartington) (formerly [County Durham](/source/County_Durham), now [Northumberland](/source/Northumberland))[2] as well as in [Scotland](/source/Scotland), [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire), [East Anglia](/source/East_Anglia), and [Hampshire](/source/Hampshire). In 2018 a 4,000-year-old treetrunk coffin, along with human remains and an axe, were discovered beneath a golf course at [Tetney](/source/Tetney) near [Grimsby](/source/Grimsby) in [Lincolnshire](/source/Lincolnshire). The find has been conserved at a specialist facility of [York Archaeology](/source/York_Archaeological_Trust) in York, with the help of a £70,000 grant from [Historic England](/source/Historic_England).[3][4]

An example from Yorkshire is the "[Gristhorpe Man](/source/Gristhorpe_Man)",[5] a well-preserved human of the second millennium BCE, who was found on 10 July 1834 under an ancient [burial mound](/source/Burial_mound), buried in a hollow oak tree trunk and conserved at the [Rotunda Museum](/source/Rotunda_Museum), [Scarborough](/source/Scarborough%2C_North_Yorkshire). He was wrapped in an animal skin with a [whalebone](/source/Whalebone), bronze [dagger](/source/Dagger), and food for his journey.

### Belgium

At [the abbey of Munsterbilzen](/source/Munsterbilzen), Belgium, ten graves with massive treetrunk coffins were discovered in 2006.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

### Denmark

The [Egtved Girl](/source/Egtved_Girl) was buried in a treetrunk coffin near [Egtved](/source/Egtved), [Denmark](/source/Denmark) in around 1370 BCE.[6]

### Egypt

The phenomenon was not restricted to regions where massive timber was abundant. In Egypt, the conservation of a 1st-century [cypresswood](/source/Cypress) coffin hollowed from a single log, from a burial at [Touna El Gebel](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Touna_El_Gebel&action=edit&redlink=1), has been described.[7]

### Canary Islands

In 1957, a log-coffin was found in [El Maipés Necropolis](/source/El_Maip%C3%A9s_Necropolis), Agaete, northwest Gran Canaria. The coffin was made of a pine trunk, buried inside a tumulus and contained the human remains of an adult, dated 1016-1169 CE.[8]

### Australia

Memorial poles at the [National Gallery of Australia](/source/National_Gallery_of_Australia)

Main article: [Memorial pole](/source/Memorial_pole)

The [hollow log coffin](/source/Hollow_log_coffin) (also known as memorial poles, lorrkkon, ḻarrakitj, or ḏupun) has been used in burials of [Yolngu](/source/Yolngu_people) and [Bininj](/source/Bininj) peoples of [Arnhem Land](/source/Arnhem_Land) in the [Northern Territory](/source/Northern_Territory) of Australia for millennia. They vary in size: those made for a burial ceremony are large, while smaller logs may hold the bones of a person, to be kept by their family for some time. They can also represent the deceased person, with designs mirroring those painted on the body during the [burial rites](/source/Burial_rites). Sometimes there is a small painted or carved hole near the top, provided to allow the deceased's soul to look out on the land.[9] Traditionally, the log is that of the [stringybark](/source/Stringybark) *[Eucalyptus tetrodonta](/source/Eucalyptus_tetrodonta)* which has been naturally hollowed out by [termites](/source/Termite).[10][11] The poles are painted with elaborate and intricate designs, which relate to the deceased's clan, and are believed to help guide the soul to its home, where spirits and ancestors would then recognise it.[12]

In recent decades, the larrakitj have been created as artworks,[12] and have been exhibited in many major Australian galleries. The [National Gallery of Australia](/source/National_Gallery_of_Australia) in [Canberra](/source/Canberra) holds an [installation](/source/Art_installation) called the *[Aboriginal Memorial](/source/Aboriginal_Memorial)*, originally created in 1988.[13]

### China

Because hollowed trunks suggest [dugout boats](/source/Dugout_(boat)), such burials are sometimes described as **boat burials**. In Yanjinggou Developing Zone of [Chengdu](/source/Chengdu) such a "boat burial" in a hollowed-out treetrunk found in 2006 was dated to the [Warring States](/source/Warring_States) Era (475–221 BCE); it contained copper objects, bronze weapons, pottery and lacquer wares, seeds and peach pits. Its burial was the most recent of eight burials in coffins hollowed out of single treetrunks one and a half metres in diameter, five meters in length, with tapered ends bow and stern.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Marija Gimbutas](/source/Marija_Gimbutas), *The Balts* (1963) ch. V, p. 112 ([on-line text](http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-05.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20061017184342/http://www.vaidilute.com/books/gimbutas/gimbutas-05.html) October 17, 2006, at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-durham_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-durham_2-1) "The Cartington Early Bronze Age burial was discovered in 1913 during ploughing operations. Beneath a block of stone was found an oak "trough" or tree trunk coffin, 1.67m (5 ft 6 in) long and 0.5 to 0.63m (20 to 25 in) wide. Some teeth and a cast of a leg bone in the clay filling were all the human remains. Other items included fragments of stitched calfskin, a drinking cup, and a flint scraper. Radiocarbon dating gave a date range 2400-2200 BCE ([on-line text](http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N2737)). [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20071007090324/http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N2737) 2007-10-07 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Tetney Golf Club Bronze Age coffin to be displayed"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-58491917). *BBC News*. 10 September 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Digging for Britain - Series 9: Episode 6"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013fc4) – via www.bbc.co.uk.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Stone Pages Archaeo News: Gristhorpe Man: a Bronze Age warrior chieftain?"](https://www.stonepages.com/news/archives/002055.html). *www.stonepages.com*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Remains of Bronze-Age Cultic Priestess Hold Surprise"](http://www.livescience.com/50911-bronze-age-danish-burial.html). *[LiveScience](/source/LiveScience)*. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015. The girl's final resting place was first unearthed in 1921, in a large burial mound made of peat bog.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Y. Zidan et al., "The conservation of a wooden Graeco-Roman coffin box""](http://www.morana-rtd.com/e-preservationscience/2006/Zidan-27-10-2005.pdf) (PDF).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** [""El Museo Canario""](https://x.com/elmuseocanario/status/1293824334994313217).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-nga2022_9-0)** ["The Aboriginal Memorial"](https://nga.gov.au/first-nations/the-aboriginal-memorial/). *[National Gallery of Australia](/source/National_Gallery_of_Australia)*. 31 May 2022. Retrieved 6 July 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-aboutaa_10-0)** ["About hollow log coffin art"](https://www.australia-aboriginal-art.com/hollow-log-coffin-art). *Aboriginal Gallery*. 17 November 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Schorpp, Lesley (5 July 2022). ["Hollow log coffins"](http://www.columbia.edu/~sf2220/Thing/web-content/Pages/lesley2.html). *Thing Theory 2006*. [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-aga_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-aga_12-1) Com, Managedartwork. ["Memorial Pole - N.E.Arnhemland Artists"](https://aboriginalartgalleries.com.au/artwork/10643?artistsid=890). *Aboriginal Art Galleries*. Retrieved 6 July 2022.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-eccles2018_13-0)** Eccles, Jeremy (10 October 2018). ["The Aboriginal Memorial – A Smouldering Reproach at News Aboriginal Art Directory"](https://news.aboriginalartdirectory.com/2018/10/the-aboriginal-memorial-a-smouldering-reproach.php). *Aboriginal Art Directory*. Retrieved 6 July 2022.

Authority control databases GND

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Treetrunk coffin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treetrunk_coffin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treetrunk_coffin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.