| Khufu ship | |
|---|---|
 The reconstructed "solar barge" of Khufu | |
| Type | Solar barque |
| Material | Lebanon cedar |
| Length | 43.4 metres (142 ft) |
| Width | 5.9 metres (19 ft) |
| Created | c. 2500 BC |
| Discovered | 1954 Giza pyramid complex |
| Discovered by | Kamal el-Mallakh |
| Present location | Grand Egyptian Museum,Giza,Egypt |
| Culture | Ancient Egypt |
 | |
TheKhufu ship is an intact full-sizesolar barque fromancient Egypt. It was sealed into a pit alongside theGreat Pyramid of pharaohKhufu around 2500 BC, during theFourth Dynasty of the ancient EgyptianOld Kingdom. Likeother buried Ancient Egyptian ships, it was part of the extensivegrave goods intended for use in theafterlife. The Khufu ship is one of the oldest, largest, best preservedvessels from antiquity. It is 43.4 metres (142 ft) long, 5.9 metres (19 ft) wide, and 1.78 meters (5.83 ft) deep, and is the world's oldest intact ship. It has been described as "a masterpiece of woodcraft" that could sail today if put into a lake or a river.
The ship was preserved in theGiza Solar boat museum, but was moved to theGrand Egyptian Museum in August 2021.
The history and function of the ship is not precisely known. It is of the type known as a "solar barge", a ritual vessel believed by ancient Egyptians to carry the resurrected king across the heavens with the sun godRa. 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 fromMemphis 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 Europeanship burials.[1]
The ship was one of two[2] rediscovered in 1954 byKamal el-Mallakh—undisturbed since it was sealed into a pit carved out of the Giza bedrock. It was built largely ofLebanon cedar wood, bending the planks[3] in the "shell-first" construction technique, using unpeggedtenons ofChrist's thorn. The ship was built with a flat bottom composed of several planks, but no actualkeel, with the planks and frames lashed together withHalfah grass, and has been reconstructed from 1,224 pieces which had been laid in a logical, disassembled order in the pit beside the pyramid.[4]
It measures 43.4 meters (142 ft) long and 5.9 metres (19 ft) 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.[5] 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 inZahi Hawass's documentaryEgypt's Ten Greatest Discoveries.
It took years for the boat to be reassembled, primarily by theEgyptian Department of Antiquities' chief restorer, Ahmed Youssef Moustafa.[1] Before reconstructing the boat, Moustafa had to gain enough experience on Ancient Egyptian boatbuilding. 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 andMaadi and went toAlexandria, where wooden river boats were still being made. He hoped that modern Egyptian shipwrights had retained shipbuilding methods that would suggest how Ancient Egyptians built their ships. Then he investigated the work of shipwrights who built in a different tradition.[6]
The Khufu ship was put on public display in a specially built museum at theGiza pyramid complex 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's 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.[1][7]
In August 2021, the ship was relocated to theGrand Egyptian Museum.[8][9]
Archaeologists have begun excavating a 4,500-year-old wooden boat found next to the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of Egypt's main tourist attractions, Egypt's top antiquities official said Thursday.
29°58′41″N31°08′04″E / 29.97806°N 31.13444°E /29.97806; 31.13444
