Wooden face to be attached to a coffin, eyes and brows originally inlaid. New Kingdom,18th Dynasty.

The hyperarid climate of the desert in Egypt is perfect for preserving wood. Although Egypt has no forests today, there were wooded areas in antiquity, and, despite a lack of larger strong timbers, there were active industries of carpentry including boat-making. There is no other ancient civilisation from which so many wooden artefacts have survived.

The main trees that grew in Egypt in Pharaonic times of which the wood was used in carpentry and joinery were the acacia, the sycomore-fig, and the tamarisk. The wood of other trees, however, was also sometimes used, particularly that of the date- palm, the dum-palm, the sidder, the persea and the willow.