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The ancient Egyptians once again reached out of the past to awe the world
with another of their buried secrets - the Abydos ships. In 1991 in the desert
near the temple of Khentyamentiu, archaeologists uncovered the remains of 14
ships dating back to the early
 first
dynasty (2950-2775 BC), possibly associated with King Aha, the first ruler of
that dynasty. These 75 foot long ships are buried side by side and have wooden
hulls, rough stone boulders which were used as anchors, and "sewn"
wooden planks. Also found within their desert graves were remains of the woven
straps that joined the planks, as well as reed bundles that were used to seal
seams between planks. The Abydos ships have the honor of being the world’s
oldest planked boats.
No one knows exactly when the first ship was built, but we do know that the
ancient Egyptians were creating ships with technological skills far beyond their
time, well before the invention of the wheel. Egyptologists suspect that simple
light rafts made from bundled papyrus reeds may have been made by
hunter-gatherers who moved to the Nile Valley during the Upper Paleolithic
period; of course, no specimens remain today. However, there is evidence of the
presence of boats in the Naqada II culture, which immediately preceded the
dynastic period. Archaeologists have unearthed red painted pottery with designs
that include boat motifs as important symbols, and some interpretations stress
the boats were used in a religious or ritual capacity. Further evidence for the
early use of boats lies in tomb reliefs (ship building scenes were among the
most popular motifs in tombs), paintings, and model boats dating from
predynastic times through the New Kingdom.
The most ancient Egyptian boat appears to have been the papyrus raft, which
was originally used to travel on the Nile, but not in open seas or rough waters.
These fragile rafts were made from the papyrus reeds growing along the Nile, but
because the reeds were so delicate the rafts required constant repairs or
replacement. Travel along the Nile with these rafts was ideal, since the river
had a steady northerly wind to propel the rafts upriver, while rafts going down
the river simply flowed with the current.
 Papyrus rafts appeared to gain
a somewhat sacred significance as far back as the first dynasty because of their
association with the sun god. The earliest depictions of the sun god show him
travelling on a reed float made of bound papyrus, a portrayal so ancient that it
predated Egyptian knowledge of wooden ships. It is because of this connection
with the sun god that the papyrus raft gained its religious significance, and
even though it was used for more practical purposes in Egyptian civilization,
the sacred and royal association stuck.
Over time, ancient Egyptians created and utilized three types of boats, each
with its own purpose. Simple reed rafts were used mostly for hunting in marshes
and as time progressed, they were used less frequently on the Nile. Wooden boats
generally replaced papyrus rafts for Nile travel, and, since they were faster
and more stable than rafts, they were also used for transport. Eventually
stronger wooden boats were used for lengthy ocean excursions as well as to
transport boulder blocks weighing many tons and obelisks weighing hundreds of
pounds from quarries to pyramid and temple building sites. The third type of
boat was the papyriform boat, made technologically similar to wooden boats but
with the shape of an elaborate papyrus raft in order to maintain the connection
to royalty and gods. These ships appear to have been used as pleasure boats and
transportation for royalty; they were also used as funerary boats and burial
boats, as well as in religious events like pilgrimages and transporting the
statue of a god.
 The famous
Royal Ship of King
Cheops (fourth dynasty ruler of the Old Kingdom), more formally known as Khufu,
is a perfect example of a papyriform boat. Discovered around 1954, the Royal
Ship is still considered to be one of the world’s most outstanding
archaeological artifacts. The ancient boat had been dismantled into 651 separate
parts, and its nearly perfectly preserved timbers were found in 13 scrupulously
arranged layers that were buried in a sealed boat pit which was carved into the
Giza plateau’s limestone bedrock. It took years for the boat to be
painstakingly reassembled, primarily by the Egyptian Department of Antiquities’
chief restorer, Ahmed Youssef Moustafa (later known as Hag Ahmed Youssef). Once
completed, the Royal Ship measured approximately 150 feet in length. The timbers
were made of Lebanese cedar while the pegs and other small parts were made from
native acacias, sycamores and sidders.
Cedar was not new to the Egypt of Cheops' time - it had been found in
predynastic graves, indicating to modern archaeologists that trade had occurred
with Lebanon at least as far back as the end of the fourth millennium BC.
Egyptians had what has been termed as an "emotional need" for trade
with Lebanon because of that country’s large supply of the invaluable resinous
woods and oils so necessary in Egyptian funerary customs. Trade with Lebanon had
to be conducted over water, because the Egyptians had neither wheeled
transportation nor heavy draft animals, and the brutal desert regions through
which they would have had to travel hosted hostile tribes.
The supposition is that heavy ships and smaller trading ships were most
likely constructed in the Nile Valley, then dismantled and carried piecemeal to
Qoseir where they were reassembled and put in the sea. In general, sea-going
boats were referred to by the ancient Egyptians as "Byblos boats"
because the earliest seaworthy boats’ initial trade was with the Lebanese port
town of Byblos.
Transportation and trade were not the only reasons for seaworthy boats to be
built in ancient Egypt. The pharaohs also recognized the need for a powerful
navy, as is evidenced in this account written by Ramses III to Amen:
I built you ships, freight ships, arched ships with
rigging, plying the Big Green (the sea). I manned them with archers,
captains and innumerable sailors, to bring the goods of the Land of Tyre and
the foreign countries at the end of the world to your storage rooms at
Thebes the Victorious.
Many pharaohs achieved incredible feats with their fleets, such as Queen
Hatshepsut’s voyage to Punt, but from the 20th dynasty on, they
improved their ships even more by copying some of the more advanced models used
by other cultures. Herodotus describes the Egyptians as having boats "in
great numbers" and carrying "many thousands of talents’
burden".
Equally important was the funerary boat, which transported a mummy to its
final resting place or, if buried with the deceased, took soul of the dead on
its eternal journey. Ahmed Youssef Moustafa believed that the Royal Ship was
specifically built as a funerary barque for Cheops and was never part of the
royal fleet. Part of the reason for this belief is that ocean-going vessels were
usually painted green on the body with yellow ochre at the ends and the
protective wedjat eye painted on both sides of the bow. This is in direct
contrast to the hull of the Royal Ship, which is unpainted, indicating that the
ship was built quickly and specifically for the king’s burial.
Papyriform boats were also used to transport images of important gods, but
these vessels were never intended to be put in the water. The image of the god
would be placed upon a gold encrusted papyriform barque studded with gems that
was carried on the shoulders of priests who took it to its place of honor. If
this journey included a trip on the Nile, the golden barque was put on a
papyriform transport boat and taken to its destination.
From boat pits such as those of Cheops and at Abydos, we know that actual
full-sized boats were buried with the dead to take them on their journey in the
afterlife, but by the twelfth dynasty this practice became too expensive. So
instead, models of boats were placed in the tombs, which would serve the same
purpose as the full-sized vessels. In addition to models of boats, there were
also miniature models of daily life, including bakeries, butcher shops, and
potters’ studios. These models have given archaeologists wonderful glimpses
into ancient life.
While royal papyriform vessels remained relatively unchanged throughout the
centuries, the hundreds of model boats found in private tombs show a tremendous
variety of shapes. Unlike court artisans who were strictly held to tradition,
private artists could customize their clients’ models according to their
wishes or they could produce models with their own creative touches, as long as
they stayed within certain basic limits.
Even lighthouses were developed in ancient Egypt under Ptolemy Soter (circa
290-270 BC). The Pharos lighthouse of Alexandria may have been the first
Egyptian lighthouse, as
 there are
no records describing earlier ones. The Pharos lighthouse was over 100 meters
high and contained a mirror that reflected the sun during the day, while at
night the light of a fire was used to warn incoming and passing vessels. The
light could be seen at a distance of 50 kilometers.
For ancient Egyptians, the Nile could have been an obstacle that kept them
pinned to one location. But with their seemingly endless creativity and
resourcefulness, they turned their watery boundary into an open highway of
opportunity.
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