Fake – boat model FAK-0015

Date : 19th–20th century

Several arguments can be made against the production of models of boat containing a deceased person during the 4^th millennium BC in Egypt. Funerary boats do not appear until the pharaonic period, particularly the Middle Kingdom in the context of the development of the Osirian religion. It is at this time that wooden models are developed, of which some are funerary boats loaded with a coffin. During the Predynastic period, the boat is never represented as a vehicle carrying the body of the deceased to the grave. Even in the Old Kingdom, not a single boat is shown carrying a corpse among their numerous representations on mastabas reliefs. They are often simple boats used for hunting and fishing, while in religious iconography, processional boats and well-known solar boats are depicted. Those painted  on D-Ware vessels (Naqada IIC–D), which are generally found in tombs, never contain a deceased person, except on a few artefacts that are considered modern, forged decoration applied to genuine ceramics.

Addtionaly to the presence of a sarcophagus, the snake-shape of the boat is not consistent with a Predynastic or Early Dynastic date.