"We are extremely fortunate in discovering the dismantled ship in perfect condition, having survived the tempestuous vicissitudes of thousands of years encased in several tons of stone blocks." "The gigantic jigsaw puzzle comprised more than 1,200 pieces, and took 12 years of restoration under the direction of Hag Ahmed YusseJ MustaJa. It was assembled in a specially-made air-conditioned pavilion at the site where it had been discovered. The conditions of the exhibition do justice to the find and provide a perfect opportunity for thorough research." "I mention here that not long after the excavation many began to describe the Great Boat of Khufu as the black box to the construction of the pyramids, and that its contents would reveal all the information that would bring us in proximity to the solution of the great mystery. With this I am in complete agreement, if only because this strange water vehicle, or I should say construction machine, plays a central role in my own theory. While I quite understand if you are somewhat mystified, I beg of you to continue on this exciting road of discovery." "Perhaps it cannot be overstated that the Great Boat of Khufu is nothing other than a water crane. In my opinion, the entire craft was specifically designed to lift objects. Its size allowed it to easily hoist stone blocks of two or three tons, and on open water it could transport these to wherever they were needed. "
What an interesting thought! I saw a documentary about how at one time the pyramids were actually closer to water before the land began to dry up.
I spoke to a British Egyptologist during my last trip to Cairo, and he said the Cheops Pyramid was a public works project, financed by a guy named Eddie. Hal
May 26, 2019 65th Anniversary of the Khufu Ship Discovery "On this day in 1954, one of the oldest and largest boats on earth was found buried near Egypt’s biggest pyramid. Today’s Doodle celebrates the discovery of the Khufu Ship, which has survived more than 4,600 years, although its true purpose remains a mystery." "Digging under a stone wall on the south side of the Great Pyramid of Giza, archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh unearthed a row of massive limestone blocks covering a rectangular pit. Inside the airtight enclosure were neat piles of cedar planks, along with the ropes and matting needed to rebuild the vessel." "The painstaking process of reassembling over 1,200 pieces was overseen by Haj Ahmed Youssef, a restorer from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, who studied models found in ancient tombs as well as visiting modern shipyards along the Nile. Over a decade later, the ingeniously designed vessel, measuring 143 feet long and 19.6 feet wide (44.6m, 6m), was fully restored without using a single nail." "Experts agree that the ship was built for Khufu (known to the Greeks as Cheops), the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt, who is entombed inside the pyramid. Some say the ship was used to ferry the pharaoh’s body to his final resting place. Others think it was placed in the location to help transport his soul to heaven, similar to “Atet,” the barge that carried Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun across the sky." "Still others believe the ship is a sort of “black box” containing clues to the construction of the pyramids. These scholars argue that the asymmetrical ship was designed to be used as a floating crane capable of lifting large stone blocks. Wear and tear on the wood suggests that the boat had more than a symbolic purpose. While the mystery is still up for debate, the ancient ship can now be viewed at the Giza Solar Boat Museum, located just a few meters away from where it was found 65 years ago."
Khufu ship "The ship was one of two rediscovered in 1954 by Kamal el-Mallakh – undisturbed since it was sealed into a pit carved out of the Giza bedrock. It was built largely of Lebanon cedar planking in the "shell-first" construction technique, using unpegged tenons of Christ's thorn. The ship was built with a flat bottom composed of several planks, but no actual keel, with the planks and frames lashed together with Halfah grass, and has been reconstructed from 1,224 pieces which had been laid in a logical, disassembled order in the pit beside the pyramid." Picture of the discovery location of the solar boat pit covered by stones inside the solar barge museum Solar bark of Cheops; condition when discovered
Salvaging Khufu’s Second Solar Boat (LINK) A boat in danger The second boat's final destination will be in the Grand Egyptian Museum. © Khufu Second Boat Project "Archaeologists have known of this boat’s existence since 1954, when an Egyptian team found two pits during cleaning, according to Mamdouh Taha, project supervisor and chief inspector of excavations at the Giza plateau. Both pits contained one carefully dismantled wooden boat, stacked neatly, with hieroglyphics directions inscribed on the planks. Ancient Egyptians beliebed the inscriptions helped reconstruct the boats in the afterlife. " "Before a single piece of wood could be removed, the team needed to create a comprehensive conservation plan. " "Given its better preservation, the earlier archaeologists chose to excavate the first boat – that is now on display in the Solar Boat Museum at Giza. " "As Taha points out, these boats are the only objects ever found that definitively belonged to Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid, making these boats historical important." "The boat’s fate changed in 1987, when the National Geographic and the Ministry of Antiquities drilled a tiny hole through the second pit’s limestone cover and sent a small camera on an exploratory mission. " “When they put the camera inside they were astonished … because they found some black beetles moving. It meant that there were cracks, giving insects the chance to get inside, Taha says." "The boat was also damaged by water that might have leached in from the construction of the Solar Boat Museum only a few meters away, according to Eissa Zidan Abd ElBadie, supervisor of conservation at Khufu Second Boat Project and general director of first aid conservation at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM). These cracks also altered the pit’s temperature and humidity, further destabilizing the boat. " "Khufu’s second boat was in a dire situation until 2009 when Waseda University – with JICA funds – approached the Ministry of Antiquities with a plan to save the boat. With technological advancements in materials conservation and a steady stream of funding, the ambitious plan to save Khufu’s boat began."