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

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.