Shabtis
About 4,050 years ago the ancient Egyptians began putting shabtis in the tomb. They believed that the gods would make them work in the Afterlife. The shabtis would do this work when the right chapter was recited from the Book of the Dead. Shabtis were used for about 1,500 years. A standard inscription was; 'O shabti, if X be summoned to do any work which has to be done in the realm of the dead - to make the arable fields, to irrigate the land or to convey sand from east to west: here am I, you shall say, & I shall do it.'