This is a headrest - a type of Egyptian pillow. You slept on it lying on your side so that it propped up your head and kept your neck straight and comfortable. This one is made out of a soft kind of wood called cedar so it would be easy to shape. It's made in three parts so that the middle part can be longer or shorter, depending on how big you were. It doesn't look very comfortable because the padding is missing from the part that touches your head. Some were plain and some were beautifully carved. Headrests were also used to support the heads of the dead to keep evil spirits from entering from the ground.