Ship Building In Ancient Egypt

Early Egyptians were proficient shipbuilders as early as 3000 BC, using wooden planks to construct ship hulls.

The Abydos boats are some of the oldest vessels discovered to date. This group of 14 ships, unearthed in Abydos, were built from wooden planks “sewn” together. Egyptologist David O’Connor of New York University noticed that woven straps were used to bind the planks together, with reeds or grass stuffed between the planks to seal the seams.

These boats were all found buried together near a mortuary associated with Pharaoh Khasekhemwy. The initial assumption was that the Abydos boats belonged to him. However, one of them dates back to around 3000 BC, and pottery jars buried with the vessels suggest even earlier dates.

One of the most famous ancient Egyptian boats is the Khufu Boat. This vessel is one of the best-preserved and largest boats ever discovered from antiquity. Measuring 43 m long and 5.9 m wide, it is thought that this boat might not have been intended for practical sailing but may have served as a “solar barge”.

A Solar Barge was a ritual vessel used to carry the “resurrected” Pharaoh and the Sun God across the sky. However, recent studies suggest that it may have also been used to ferry the Pharaoh across the river after his death.

This boat was discovered in 1954 in a pit carved out of the Giza bedrock. It was built largely of Lebanon Cedar planking, with a flat bottom composed of several planks. However, it lacked a proper keel, suggesting it was not designed for open-sea navigation.