During class, towards the  beginning we learned about the Khufu ship. The Khufu ship is one of the oldest and biggest ships that was found.  The ship measures 143 ft long and 19.5 ft wide. It was found by Kamal el-Mallakh during the mid fifties in a pit inside the Giza pyramid. The ship was reconstructed, all 1,223 pieces. To reconstruct the boat it took several years. Ahmed Youssef Moustafa, the restorer of the boat had to study several ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics to understand the construction of the boat. This shows how much craft went into building a ship like Khufu’s ship. The boat has outstanding wood craftsmanship. The ship dates back to 2500 B.C. The ship was built for the pharaoh Khufu, also known as king Cheops who ruled during the fourth dynasty during the old kingdom, but how the boat was exactly used is not clear like much of ancient Egypt’s history.

The boat was discovered alongside other grave goods that belonged to the pharaoh, which means it probably was used to help the pharaoh find himself in the afterlife. The boat mostly was made with Lebanon cedar, Christ’s thorn, and halfah grass. In fact, about 95% of the boat was made with Lebanon cedar. I thought it was interesting that the boat had no nails or joints; it was held together only by ropes in slots carved in the wood.

There is some evidence that the boat was in the water. Mark Lehner theorizes that the boat was not only symbolic for carrying Khufu with the sun god Ra, but actually used during a funeral voyage then buried as a grave good afterwards. If it was used in a funeral voyage that would be interesting because I do not think any other pharaoh had a ceremony like this one. Several boats found around Egypt were similar to Khufu’s ship. They are called solar ships because they represented the sun riding in the boat guiding the pharaoh to the heavens.

In the Giza pyramid, actually two boats were found that belonged to Khufu. The other one was discovered in the late eighties, however, this boat did not have the same quality that the one discovered in the fifties did. Khufu’s boat that was discovered in the fifties is special because of how well it was preserved for its age and because of the boat’s large size. It is incredible that a boat from the 2000 B.C could preserve as well as it did. It also enlightens how ships in ancient Egypt were constructed. The Khufu ship is a beautiful and exquisite treasure that  remains to intrigue people all over the world.