Coffin

[6] The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek ko-pi-na, written in Linear B syllabic script.

[note 1] The earliest evidence of wooden coffin remains, dated at 5000 BC, was found in the Tomb 4 at Beishouling, Shaanxi.

[8][9] The thickness of the coffin, as determined by the number of timber frames in its composition, also emphasized the level of nobility, as mentioned in the Classic of Rites,[10] Xunzi[11] and Zhuangzi.

In parts of Sumatra, Indonesia, ancestors are revered and bodies were often kept in coffins kept alongside the longhouses until a ritual burial could be performed.

In northern Sulawesi, some dead were kept in above ground sarcophagi called waruga until the practice was banned by the Dutch in the 19th century.

In China, coffins made from the scented, decay-resistant wood of cypress, sugi, thuja and incense-cedar are in high demand.

Certain Aboriginal Australian groups use intricately decorated tree-bark cylinders sewn with fibre and sealed with adhesive as coffins.

[14] Sometimes coffins are constructed to permanently display the corpse, as in the case of the glass-covered coffin of the Haraldskær Woman on display in the Church of Saint Nicolai in Vejle, Denmark or the glass-coffins of Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, which are in Red Square, Moscow and Tiananmen Square, Beijing, respectively.

[16] Continental Europe at one time favoured the rectangular coffin or casket, although variations exist in size and shape.

However, no coffin, regardless of its construction material (e.g., metal rather than wood), whether or not it is sealed, and whether or not the deceased was embalmed beforehand, will perfectly preserve the body.

There is emerging interest in eco-friendly coffins made of purely natural materials such as bamboo, X-Board, willow or banana leaf.

These include printing or painting of peaceful tropical scenes, sea-shells, sunsets, cherubim, and patriotic flags.

Some manufacturers have designed them to look like gym carry bags, guitar cases, cigar humidors, and even yellow dumpster bins.

Other coffins are left deliberately blank so that friends and family can inscribe final wishes and thoughts upon them to the deceased.

[22] Since then coffins of Kane Kweis successors Paa Joe, Daniel Mensah, Kudjoe Affutu or Eric Adjetey Anang and others have been displayed in many international art museums and galleries around the world.

[24][25] Kane Kwei and Ataa Oko had only continued a tradition that already existed in Accra where the kings were using figurative palanquins in the forms of their family symbol.

For them design coffins have no longer a spiritual function, their appeal is more aesthetic, aimed at surprising mourners with strikingly innovative forms like automobiles or aeroplanes, fish or pigs, onions or tomatoes.

Traditionally, in the Western world, a coffin was made, when required, by the village carpenter, who would frequently manage the whole funeral.

In past centuries, if a pauper's funeral was paid for by the parish, the coffin might have been made of the cheapest, thinnest possible pine.

The funeral home may not add any extra charges or fees to the overall bill if a family decides to purchase a casket elsewhere.