The tekenu is a mysterious figure often depicted in burial scenes. Scenes from tombs dating to the early New Kingdom, for example Reneni in Elkab, depict the tekenu as a man wearing an animal skin or sack, seated on a sledge being drawn by cattle as part of a burial ritual. The interpretation is problematic. It has been suggested that the sack contains body parts of the deceased that did not fit into the canopic jars, but were still needed for life in the hereafter. It is also possible that we are dealing here with what was originally a 'Hockerleiche' (squatting body) wrapped in an animal skin, which continued to be involved in the rituals in a symbolic way even after burial practices had long since changed. It is most unlikely that we are dealing here with a human sacrifice. It is possible that the figure is related to the symbolism of regeneration, or that it is a sem-priest in a trance, even though this cannot be proved from the accompanying texts.