Ancient Egypt

Egyptian Sea Vessel Artifacts

Archaeology News "" Egyptian Sea Vessel Artifacts Discovered At Pharaonic Port of Mersa Gawasis Along Red Sea Coast. Discovery includes steering oars, other evidence of Egypt's sea-faring past. (Boston) -- When Kathryn Bard reached through the small hole that opened in a hillside along Egypt's Red Sea coast, her hand touched nearly 4,000 years of...

Read More

Ancient Egyptian Ships and Shipping

JSTOR: Ancient Egyptian Ships and Shipping By William Edgerton. University of Chicago. The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Jan., 1923), pp. 109-135 (article consists of 27 pages) Structurally speaking all boats known to have been employed by the Ancient Egyptians may be divided into two classes: reed boats and...

Read More

Queen Hatshepsut's Trading Vessel

A seagoing ship of the Empire Period. One of a fleet of five ships represented in a scene in the temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri (ca 1500 B.C.), this vessel shows clearly the hogging truss that seems to have been characteristic of Egyptian seagoing craft. The stem-post at the bow reflects the foreign origin of the prototype, whereas the...

Read More

Queen Hatshepsut's State Barge

A state barge of Queen Hatshepsut. Carved on the walls of Queen Hatshepsut's funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri, opposite modern Luxor, are several representations of Egyptian fleets... One scene shows a group of state barges being rowed on the Nile; one of the barges is pictured here. The hull is of a traditional style resembling that of the dwa-tow...

Read More

World's Most Ancient Ship Timbers Found in Egypt

UsaToday.com World's Most Ancient Ship Timbers Found in Egypt Ship timbers from a mothballed Middle Kingdom industrial shipyard at Wadi Gawasis in Egypt provide the most ancient direct evidence for seafaring in complex watercraft anywhere in the world. In addition to marine incrustations and destruction by marine mollusks (shipworms), the technolo...

Read More

Eternal Egypt - Ancient Egyptian Nile Boats

Boats and ships were very important means of transport on the River Nile. Egyptians traveled within the country and to the Sudan and to other African countries to bring back animals such as lions, elephants, leopards, baboons, and cattle. They also imported exotic products such as leather, gold, ivory, ebony, electrum, ostrich feathers, and incense...

Read More

Ancient Egypt: Ships and Boats

The slow flowing Nile was ideal for transportation and from earliest times Egyptians built boats for transportation, fishing and enjoyment. Their importance in everyday life is reflected in the role they played in mythology and religion. Little is left of actual boats. Remains of Old Kingdom boats were found at Tarkhan and Abydos, and King Khufu's ...

Read More

Queen Hatshepsut's Trading Vessel

A seagoing ship of the Empire Period. One of a fleet of five ships represented in a scene in the temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri (ca 1500 B.C.), this vessel shows clearly the hogging truss that seems to have been characteristic of Egyptian seagoing craft. The stem-post at the bow reflects the foreign origin of the prototype, whereas the...

Read More

Ancient Egypt: River Boats

Fishing Boats, Transportation Barges and Pleasure Boats. While some Egyptians thought fish to be unclean, dried fish were nevertheless a staple food for most of the population. Reed rafts served for fishing. Nets and weir baskets were made from willow branches. The Nile didn't just feed the Egyptians, it was both an obstacle and the main highway. T...

Read More

Ancient Egypt: Early Ship Construction

Khufu's Solar Boat. In modern ship construction a skeleton is built first which is then covered with a skin. During the Old and Middle Kingdoms ships were built from the outside in. This way of doing things was mostly due to a lack of timber suitable for keels, but continued for centuries after they began importing cedar wood from Byblos which was ...

Read More