During the 'Opening of the Mouth' ritual, various tools were used to symbolically open the mouth of the deceased, so they could be reanimated. The tool displayed here is called mesekhtiu and is shaped like a miniature carpenter's axe. The names of Ahmose-Nefertari and Amenhotep I, the royal founders of Deir el-Medina, are written in a cartouche on both sides of the object.
