The ushabti (also called shabti or shawabti, with a number of variant spellings) funerary figurines were placed in tombs among the grave goods and were intended to act as substitutes for the deceased, should he be called upon to do manual labor in the afterlife. They were used from the Middle Kingdom (around 1900 BC) until the end of the Ptolemaic Period nearly 2000 years later. Etymology and usage of the terms The term shabti applies to these figures prior to the Twenty-first dynasty of Egypt… (More on Ushabti)