Sixteen ceramic coffins from a late bronze age cemetery near Deir el-Balah, Israel, were analyzed by neutron activation analysis, and their compositions compared with pottery of local Canaanite style of the 13th century B.C., which had been excavated from the same site. The pottery sherds were found to fall into two groups. Both groups showed the same composition pattern, but each value of one group was some-what lower than the corresponding value of the other. The compositions of the coffins fell into two very similar groups. It was concluded that if local provenience of the pottery could be assumed, the coffins also were of local manufacture. Z.G. Address of first author -- AATA