This broad-based investigation offers new perspectives on stick shabtis and their role in the cultic milieu of Thebes in the late 17th and early 18th dynasties. Developed from a case study of examples in the Petrie Museum, and drawing upon excavation reports, archival material and a comparative examination of their physical characteristics, the work reconsiders the generally held view, epitomised by Flinders Petrie, that stack shabtis are "mere sticks of wood".