From the Old Kingdom period (between about 2686 to 2181 BCE), the Egyptians made wooden model figures to provide food and whatever their owner needed in the Afterlife. The model figures were shown doing different jobs, from ploughing the fields to weaving linen. A boat model meant that the tomb owner could travel on the Nile. The group here are making bread and beer (Egyptian beer was made from bread dough), and one of the other figures, a butcher, has a long knife in his hand.