Saving Khufu’s second boat

A Japanese-Egyptian team is reconstructing Khufu’s second solar boat, 4,500 years after it was buried to ferry the pharaoh to eternity, writes Nevine El-Aref

The southern side of Khufu’s Great Pyramid on the Giza Plateau is a hive of activity these days. Dozens of workers, Egyptologists and restorers are removing piece by piece the wooden beams of the pharaoh’s second solar boat, which has remained in situ for 4,500 years after it was buried to ferry him to eternity.

Restorers are cleaning the timber, oars and beams, while Egyptologists are busy documenting them in the laboratory recently established at the site to rescue the different parts of the boat.

The boat was discovered along with the first one inside two pits neighbouring each other in 1954, when Egyptian archaeologists Kamal Al-Mallakh and Zaki Nour were carrying out routine cleaning on the southern side of the Great Pyramid.

The first pit was found under a roof of 41 limestone slabs, each weighing almost 20 tons, with the three westernmost slabs being much smaller than the others leading them to be interpreted as keystones. On removing one of the slabs, Al-Mallakh and Nour saw a cedar boat, completely dismantled but arranged in the semblance of its finished form, inside the pit. Also inside were layers of mats, ropes, instruments made of flint, and some small pieces of white plaster, along with 12 oars, 58 poles, three cylindrical columns and five doors.

The boat was removed piece by piece under the supervision of restorer Ahmed Youssef, who spent more than 20 years restoring and reassembling the boat. The task resembled the fitting together of a giant jigsaw puzzle, and the completed boat is now on display at Khufu’s Solar Boat Museum on the Giza Plateau.

Archaeologists Recover Ancient Boat Near Great Pyramid in Egypt

Wed, Sep 11, 2013

Team races time to uncover 4,500-year-old royal bark.

It was like looking at wood planks and timbers that were cut from their trees and shaped just a few decades ago. But these pieces were thousands of years old. About 4,500 years old, in fact. 

With a sense of urgency, a team donned in special white hazmat-like suites, gloves and face-masks, like surgeons, swiftly yet methodically removed, handled and examined scores of carefully and artfully cut pieces of wood. They were priceless, because these specimens were as old as the pyramids of Egypt and they were in danger of beginning to disappear before their excavator's eyes, like phantoms, if they weren't handled and processed appropriately. These were parts of Pharaoh Khufu's solar funerary vessel, anciently disassembled and packed meticulously into a stone pit grave beneath the sand at the foot of Khufu's great pyramid over 4,500 years ago. Khufu was ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom pharaoh at that time, or WAS before this boat was buried. But in 1987 the seal of the entombed boat had been breached and water, insects and fungi began to degrade the ancient, vulnerable wood. Severe damage had occurred as a result to some parts of the wood, and scientists found themselves in a race against time to recover the vessel before the outside world did more damage.

Wooden sheets of 1st Dynasty funerary boat found at Egypt's Abu Rawash

French archaeological mission discovers remains of two funeral boats of King Den – dating from roughly 3000 BC – northeast of Egypt's Giza Plateau

by Nevine El-Aref , Tuesday 9 Jul 2013

During excavations near the Archaic-era necropolis located at Abu Rawash northeast of the Giza Plateau, a French archaeological mission from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) has unearthed wooden sheets of two funerary boats of First Dynasty King Den (dating from around 3000 BC).

The first sheet is 390 centimetres tall, while the second is 70 centimetres in height. A third 120-centimetre-tall sheet was also found, but initial studies suggest that this belonged to a first boat, discovered last year in the same area.

Mostafa Amin, secretary of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Ahram Online that the wooden sheets, found in very bad condition, were transported to laboratories in the planned Grand Egyptian Museum for restoration.

The IFAO started its excavation works at Abu Rawash in the early 1900s, where several archaeological complexes have since been found.

At the complex of King Djedefre, son of the Great Pyramid King Khufu, archaeologist Emile Chassinat discovered the remains of a funerary settlement, a boat pit and numerous statue fragments bearing the name of Fourth Dynasty King Djedefre.

Under the direction of Pierre Lacau, the IFAO continued its excavation work, discovering new structures to the east of the Djedefre Pyramid. However, objects bearing the names of First Dynasty Kings Aha and Den found near the pyramid suggest an earlier presence at Abu Rawash.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/76106/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Wooden-sheets-of-st-Dynasty-funerary-boat-found-at.aspx

Sails set for eternity

The oldest funerary boat ever found was discovered early this week at the Abu Rawash archaeological site, Nevine El-Aref reports.


Situated eight kilometres northwest of the Giza plateau, Abu Rawash contains vestiges of archaeological remains that date back to various historical periods ranging from the prehistoric to the Coptic eras.

Abu Rawash displays exclusive funerary structures relating not only to the different ancient Egyptian periods but also their places of worship until quite late in time.

There at the prehistoric necropolis dating from the archaic period and located at the northern area of Mastaba number six (a flat-roofed burial structure), Egyptologists from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) have uncovered 11 wooden panels of a funerary boat used by ancient Egyptians to transport the soul of their departed king to the afterlife right through eternity. It is the earliest such boat ever found.

"The boat is in a very well-preserved condition and is almost intact, thanks to the preservation power of the dry desert environment," Minister of State for Antiquities Mohamed Ibrahim said. He added that each panel was six metres tall and 1.50 metres in width.

Ibrahim continued that early studies of the panels revealed that the boat belonged to King Den of the First Dynasty, who was not buried in Abu Rawash but whose tomb was found at the royal necropolis of the Early Dynastic kings in the Upper Egyptian town of Abydos.

Because of his young age, King Den shared the throne with his mother, Meritneith. It was said that Den was the best archaeologically attested ruler of his period. He brought prosperity to the land, and many innovations were attributed to his reign. He was the first to use granite in construction and decoration, and the floor to his tomb is made of red and black granite.