<Li> c. 2100 BCE--First Coffin Texts, developed from the Pyramid Texts and for a time painted on the coffins of commoners . Many spells of the Book of the Dead are closely derived from them </Li> <Li> c. 1600 BCE--Earliest spells of the Book of the Dead, on the coffin of Queen Menthuhotep, a descendent of kings from the New Kingdom </Li> <Li> c. 1550 BCE--From this time onward to the beginning of the New kingdom, papyrus copies of the Book of the Dead are used instead of inscribing spells on the walls of the tombs </Li> <Li> c. 600 BCE--Approximately when the order of the spells became standard </Li>

The selection and arrangement of scenes that actually happened on stage is called the