Wood has always been relatively scarce in Egypt, and thus some of the wood needed, particularly large pieces, was imported. This was common practice as early as the Old Kingdom; from the time of Seneferu (4th Dynasty) comes a reference to forty ships that came to Egypt loaded with wood. Trees and bushes are easily recognizable in depictions on the walls of many tombs. Many of them, such as the sycamore (Egyptian fig) and the date palm, were grown for their fruit, but the wood was also used. Acacia, sycamore and tamarisk are the most commonly used native woods, right from prehistoric times. Acacia, for example, was used to make boats, among other things. Most imported woods came from western Asia. The most important of these was cedar, which was already used in Egypt in the prehistoric period. It came mainly from Lebanon and was used to make sarcophagi, among other things, at least from the Middle Kingdom on, but also for sea-going ships. According to Egyptian texts, ebony came from Punt and other southern lands such as Nubia and Kush. It was mainly used to make furniture and veneer and inlay. Punt also supplied fragrant woods. Because wood was a costly material it was reused wherever possible. Small and irregular pieces were joined together to make panels for sarcophagi, for example, and then covered with a layer of plaster and decorated. All kinds of tools for working wood are known from Egypt. In addition to the actual objects, we also have depictions of them on tomb walls and sarcophagi as well as the tiny examples belonging to models of workshops from the Middle Kingdom.