Coffins of the early Ptolemaic Period are very similar to the examples of the Late Period. In course of the Ptolemaic period more and more attention was paid to the decorations directly attached to the mummy (mummy mask, cartonnage). Coffins often only seem to have the function of chests for protecting the body: the decoration becomes unimportant. Many roughly anthropoid stone chests from the period are not decorated at all.

In the absence of more detailed research it remains difficult to date examples such as that illustrated below.