The Khufu ship is an intact full-size

solar barque Solar barques were the vessels used by the sun god Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology. During the day, Ra was said to use a vessel called the Mandjet ( egy, mꜥnḏt) or the Boat of Millions of Years ( egy, wjꜣ-n-ḥḥw), and the vessel he ...

from ancient Egypt. It was sealed into a pit at the foot of the

Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World ...

of pharaoh Khufu around 2500 BC, during the Fourth Dynasty of the ancient Egyptian

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning c. 2700–2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth ...

. Like other buried Ancient Egyptian ships, it was apparently part of the extensive grave goods intended for use in the

afterlife The afterlife (also referred to as life after death) is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's identity or their stream of consciousness continues to live after the death of their physical body. The surviving es ...

. The Khufu ship is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved vessels from antiquity. It is long and wide, and has been identified as the world's oldest intact ship, and described as "a masterpiece of woodcraft" that could sail today if put into a lake or a river. The ship was preserved in the Giza Solar boat museum, but was relocated to the Grand Egyptian Museum in August 2021.

History

Function

The history and function of the ship is not precisely known. It is of the type known as a "

solar barge Solar barques were the vessels used by the sun god Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology. During the day, Ra was said to use a vessel called the Mandjet ( egy, mꜥnḏt) or the Boat of Millions of Years ( egy, wjꜣ-n-ḥḥw), and the vessel he ...

", a ritual vessel believed by ancient Egyptians to carry the resurrected king across the heavens with the sun god Ra. However, it bears some signs of having been used in water, and it is possible that the ship was either a funerary "barge" used to carry the king's embalmed body from Memphis to Giza, or even that Khufu himself used it as a "pilgrimage ship" to visit holy places and that it was then buried for him to use in the afterlife. It contained no bodies, unlike northern European

ship burials A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguishe ...

Discovery and description

The ship was one of two rediscovered in 1954 by Kamal el-Mallakh—undisturbed since it was sealed into a pit carved out of the Giza bedrock. It was built largely of Lebanon cedar planking in the "shell-first" construction technique, using unpegged tenons of Christ's thorn. The ship was built with a flat bottom composed of several planks, but no actual

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

, with the planks and frames lashed together with Halfah grass, and has been reconstructed from 1,224 pieces which had been laid in a logical, disassembled order in the pit beside the pyramid. It measures long and wide. It was thus identified as the world's oldest intact ship and has been described as "a masterpiece of woodcraft" that could sail today if put into a lake, or a river. However, the vessel may not have been designed for sailing, as there is no rigging, or for rowing, as there is no room. Its discovery was described as one of the greatest Ancient Egyptian discoveries in Zahi Hawass's documentary '' Egypt's Ten Greatest Discoveries''.

Reconstruction

It took years for the boat to be reassembled, primarily by the Egyptian Department of Antiquities' chief restorer, Ahmed Youssef Moustafa. Before reconstructing the boat, Moustafa had to gain enough experience on Ancient Egyptian boat-building. He studied the reliefs carved on walls and tombs as well as many of the small wooden models of ships and boats found in tombs. Moustafa visited the Nile boatyards of Old Cairo and Maadi and went to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

, where wooden river boats were still being made. He hoped that modern Egyptian shipwrights had retained ship-building methods that would suggest how Ancient Egyptians built their ships. Then he investigated the work of shipwrights who built in a different tradition.

Exhibition

The Khufu ship was put on public display in a specially built museum at the

Giza pyramid complex The Giza pyramid complex ( ar, مجمع أهرامات الجيزة), also called the Giza necropolis, is the site on the Giza Plateau in Greater Cairo, Egypt that includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Me ...

in 1982; the museum was a small modern facility resting alongside the Great Pyramid. The first floor of the museum took the visitor through visuals, photographs and writings on the process of excavating and restoring the boat. The ditch where the main boat was found was incorporated into the museum ground floor design. To see the restored boat, the visitor ascended a staircase leading to the second floor. Floor to ceiling windows allowed for much sunlight and the wooden walkway took the visitor around the boat where the visitor could get a closer view of its impressive size. In August 2021, the ship was relocated to the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Gallery

File:Barque solaire-Decouverte2.jpg, The Khufu ship shortly after its discovery File:Barque solaire-Decouverte3.jpg, The boat pit in which the Khufu ship was discovered, now inside the Solar Boat Museum File:Cordes-originales-barque-khéops.jpg, Original rope discovered with the Khufu ship File:Солнечная ладья.jpg, The Khufu ship in the Solar boat museum File:GizaBoatPit.jpg, Solar boat pit,

Giza Plateau The Giza Plateau ( ar, هضبة الجيزة) is a plateau in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, site of the Fourth Dynasty Giza Necropolis, which includes the Great Pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, the Great Sphinx, several ceme ...

, Egypt File:Kheops-boat-pit.JPG, One of the boat pits on the east side of the Great Pyramid

References

External links

The Smell of Time

* Web archive backup

* ttp://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/PROJ/GIZ/Giza.html The Giza Mapping Project
A Visitors Perspective of the Khufu Boat Museum

Khufu ship free high resolution images
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khufu Ship Great Pyramid of Giza Ancient Egyptian ships Ships preserved in museums Ship burials Khufu Ancient ships 1954 archaeological discoveries