Model of a wooden boat with rowers. Ancient Egypt, Middle Kingdom, circa 2050-1750 B.C.

Model of a funerary boat with five rowers, two masts (incomplete), a rudder and a stylized cabin. This type of boat is characteristic of the funerary offerings of the Early Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom. Its purpose was to ensure the bodily well-being and mobility of the deceased in the afterlife. In ancient Egypt, the origins of navigation date back to the Predynastic period. Sailing and rowing boats were the most commonly used means of transportation on the Nile. In addition to their practical use, these boats were used to transport the mummy of the deceased on its last journey, but also to allow post mortem navigation in the afterlife.

The funeral boat is a traditional Egyptian offering created to symbolize the transport of a deceased person from life to the afterlife. Scholars believe that the Egyptians imagined death as a boat trip across the Nile River, the sacred river that ran through the center of the country and was respected as a resource for agriculture, trade, transportation and a symbol of fertility.