11 (Re)Connecting Artefacts and Thinking in the Afterlife: The Case of Wooden Funerary Models
In: Variability in the Earlier Egyptian Mortuary TextsSearch for other papers by Gersande Eschenbrenner Diemer in
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Abstract
Wooden funerary models emerge in the funerary equipment of the Egyptian elites during the sixth Dynasty and disappear completely during the reign of Sesostris III, in the 12th Dynasty. Long considered as sympathetic but insignificant, these objects actually occupied a central place in religious thought between the end of the Old Kingdom and the second half of the Middle Kingdom. Thus, their production and the themes treated are closely linked to the evolution of funerary thought during this key period in Egyptian history. Moreover, the wooden funerary models “embody” the new concepts related to the deceased and his status in the afterlife, themes that are at the heart of contemporary funerary literature.