Existing comment:
Funerary Figurines:
The grave goods deposited in Egyptian tombs included numerous figurines that could be called upon to do the menial tasks required of the dead in the afterlife. These figurines were called, in different periods of Egyptian history, ushabtis, shabtis, and shawabits. The root of all three words probably comes form wesheb, "to answer."
The figurines first appeared around 2000 BC, the beginning of the Middle Kingdom. During the New Kingdom, their number increased so dramatically that some tombs contained hundreds of them. The most common material for these figurines was faience, but they were also made from wax, terracotta, stone, metal, and other materials. In later periods, they were mass-produced using molds. |