A survey of astronomical tables on Middle Kingdom coffin lids

Diagonal star tables on 12 Middle Kingdom coffin lids and one monument were described in 1960 in Neugebauer and Parker’s Egyptian Astronomical Texts Volume 1. Since then, the number of published tables on coffins has more than doubled, with additional examples being excavated and, chiefly, identified in museum collections. No additional monumental examples have been found. The McMaster Ancient Egyptian Astronomical Tables Project was conceived with the goal of re-assessing all the coffin-based tables and collating existing and new information in one place. The work included museum visits and photographic requests, careful collation with previous publications, and the construction of an online resource acting as a data repository. This paper summarizes the findings of the Project’s survey of diagonal star tables.