Talking Pyramids

There are few new additions to that great web resource Giza Archives that readers will be interested in. Two of these relate to the solar boat of Khufu and the pit in which it was found in 1954.

Inside the Boat Museum, located on the south side of Khufu's pyramid. Photo by Guy Flaneur.

The Boat Beneath the Pyramid. King Cheops Royal Ship, by Nancy Jenkins, 1980.

“More than a quarter of a century ago a young Egyptian archaeologist, clearing a site just south of the Great Pyramid at Giza, broke through a massive slab of limestone to reveal a vault beneath his feet. For the first time in 4,500 years the sun’s rays were shining down on the timbers of a great papyriform ship, built for a king and then dismantled and buried here at the height of the Egyptian Old Kingdom. Astonishingly well preserved, it was by far the most ancient vessel ever to come to light.

Nancy Jenkins is the first to tell the full story of this Royal Ship — its discovery, excavation and reconstruction. She tells also who built it and why, how it has survived intact for so long, and what connection it may have had with the age-old Egyptian myth of the Sun-god, eternally journeying cross the heavens in his Reed Float. But this is also a story of modern Egypt and of one man in particular, Ahmed Youssef Moustafa, Chief Restorer of the Department of Antiquities, who almost single-handedly put back together the 1,223 pieces of .the ship. Working with a giant jigsaw puzzle—though a puzzle without a picture on the box—Ahmed Youssef devoted fourteen years to the immense task of reconstruction.

The triumphant result is not only an aesthetic masterpiece to rival the Great Pyramid but also a vital source of information about the design and construction of ancient ships and a tribute to one of the greatest periods in the history of civilization.”

Download the PDF (41.6 MB)

Khufu's boat and the pit in which is was found. Photo by Guy Flaneur.

The Cheops Boat, Part 1, by Mohammed Zaki Nour, Zaky Iskander, Mohammad Salah Osman, Ahmad Youssof Moustafa, Cairo, 1960.

Contents:

• A Preliminary Report on the Newly Discovered Boat at Giza
• Report on the Engineering Works in the Newly Discovered Boat
• The Scientific Study and Conservation of the Objects and Materials Found in the Discovery in the Wooden Boat at Giza
• The Lifting up of the Wooden Parts of the Giza Boat

The book contains several old photographs of the excavation as well as some diagrams showing the inscriptions that were found on the peices of wood and side of the pit.

Download the PDF (88.8 MB)

Thanks to the Egyptologist’s Electronic Forum and Michael Tilgner who notified the EEF of these and more new additions to the Giza Archive.

Photos used with the photographer’s permission. All rights reserved.

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Tags: boat

This entry was posted on Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 6:05 pm and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.