A fake door, also known as a sunken niche, is an artistic portrayal of a door that does not function in the same way as a genuine door. They can be carved into or painted on a wall. They are a typical architectural element in Egyptian tombs, but they may have occurred earlier in certain Pre-Nuragic Sardinian graves. In ancient Egypt, they were often used to disguise storage areas in walls or ceilings. False doors were popular in Ancient Egypt and are still found in many modern buildings. They were usually made of wood with ivory or stone accents. The word "false" comes from the fact that they did not open out onto a hallway, but instead led into a small recess or compartment. The purpose of these doors was to provide privacy for a storage area inside the wall or ceiling. There are two main types of false door: one with flat panels and another with grooves running the length of the door. Both types would have been painted black. The key difference between them is that the second type would have had wooden pegs set into the groove at regular intervals to hold it in place when it was closed. People would have used false doors to store items such as jewelry, spices, and food supplies. False doors were often included in tomb paintings to indicate where treasures were hidden in the burial chamber.