Technology along the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Boats

In the first part of the story we saw how the first boats on the river Nile were built from papyrus reeds. Much of the evidence we have for these boats has to be interpreted from early paintings and crude clay models. A major development was the introduction of wood for making the hulls of boats and we are lucky to have not just the usual reliefs and paintings, but a large number of tomb models and even some rare full-sized examples of the actual boats writes Bob Partridge in the second of this two-part series.

We know that in ancient times it was difficult to obtain large pieces of timber from native Egyptian trees and the use of wood on a larger scale had to wait until the technology was available to cut, shape and join the timbers. This involved skilled woodworking techniques and the use of fairly advanced tools, skills that were not really available until just before the beginning of the dynastic period, which is when the first evidence for wooden boats appears. In its simplest form, a wooden boat consists of a bottom and two side planks lashed to the bottom by rope. This type of construction is remarkably effective, for when wet the wood expands and the rope shrinks, providing a watertight seal.

Many of the early wooden boats are ‘papyriform’ in shape, i.e. identical to the shape of papyrus boats. To some extent, the similarity in shape may be coincidental, in that boats tend to be ‘boat’ shaped the world over, but the builders probably copied the designs and shapes with which they were readily familiar. The decorated bows and sterns of the wooden boats imitated tied bundles of papyrus, although the features became more stylised. The first boat builders in wood even reproduced the appearance of the rope and the individual reeds.

Many boat graves have been found in Egypt, although most are empty. The earliest dates to the reign of Hor Aha (around 3050 B.C.). A relatively recent find, currently still being excavated, has been made at Abydos. What appears to be a number of relatively intact wooden boats have been found near the funerary enclosure of King Khasekhemwy of the First Dynasty. These promise to reveal a wealth of information about early boat-building techniques.

Khufu’s wooden boat

The best-known actual example of a large papyriform wooden boat was discovered in the 1950’s in a sealed pit adjacent to the Great Pyramid of Khufu, Pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty (2589 - 2566 B.C.) at Giza.

Several empty boat pits had been found at Giza, but when the sealed pit was opened it was found to contain a huge, well-preserved, dismantled boat. The timbers lay in thirteen clear layers, along with huge quantities of rope. The contents of the pit had been placed there in some order and gradually some idea of the nature of construction was revealed. The excavators were faced with an enormous three-dimensional jigsaw, whose unique pieces, whilst in good condition, were fragile because of their age.

One of the Dahshur boats (photograph R. Partridge)

The restored boat of Khufu is large by any standards, with a length of 43.63 metres and a width of 5.66 metres. As a comparison, the keel length of H.M.S. Victory, Nelson’s flagship at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805 A.D., is 45.7 metres. The boat is built of cedar planks, some fourteen centimetres in thickness. Cedar, which could provide planks up to 20 metres in length, was imported from the Lebanon.

The hull, with the planks lashed together by rope, not pegged or nailed, is elegantly papyriform. The boat has no mast or sail and was provided with twelve oars and steered by two larger oars at the stern, one on either side of the vessel.

On the deck, near the bows, is a small wooden baldachin’ or canopy. This would have provided shelter from the sun for any lookouts at the bow of the ship. The windowless wooden cabin has two chambers inside, and would have offered some privacy for its occupant. It has a curved roof, and a wooden framework, which was probably covered with a linen canopy, making it well insulated against the heat. The high bow and sternposts are carved to imitate tied bundles of papyrus. Both are purely ornamental and are made to fit over the end timbers of the bow and stern. The boat could be used without these decorative features, which may have been reserved for special occasions.

Wear on parts of the boat indicate that it was actually used on the river. It may have been the boat the king used in life, buried for use in his afterlife to sail the heavens as a God, or it may have been used only at his funeral. A second sealed pit has been found at the site that, it is known, contains a second dismantled boat. Plans are currently awaited for its excavation.

Working vessels

For evidence of other Old Kingdom vessels, we have to refer to the many reliefs that have survived. Most of the boats shown in connection with the kings or in religious scenes appear to be similar in appearance to the boat of Khufu. Working sailing boats, which carried the produce and people on the river are smaller and stronger, with forked supports at either end of the central cabin, used to support the mast when it was lowered. The mast was not fixed permanently into place and could be raised when the use of the sail was required and lowered when the boat was propelled by oars. Steering of these vessels was by means of oars and some are shown with multiple steering oars, instead of the usual pair.

By the Sixth Dynasty, the working boats appear to be built with flat bottoms, which gave them far more space below decks for cargo and also made them easier to construct. Many tomb scenes survive which show small loaded cargo boats propelled by oars and larger vessels under sail.

Six actual Middle Kingdom boats were discovered in the 1890’s at Dahshur, plus a sledge that had been used to drag the boats from the water. These boats have been associated with King Senuseret III because of their discovery in part of his funerary complex and they were probably royal barges, used either in his lifetime or for his funeral. The hulls of the boats are all about ten metres in length, with a broad cross-section, shallow body and narrow tapered ends.

The bows and sterns of the boats have slots that were for the attachment of decorative stem and sternposts, now missing from all the boats.

Unlike the boat of Khufu, the planks of the hull of the Dahshur boats are not held together by rope, but by wooden butterfly shaped pieces of wood. With the surviving examples of the boat of Khufu and the Dahshur boats, we have evidence of how the larger and smaller vessels were made. The skills of the boat builders in constructing a hull from large or small pieces of timber can be seen and these techniques were probably used for the remainder of Egyptian boat building history.

Model boat from the tomb of Tutankhamun

Sea cargoes?

It would have been the wooden boats that undertook the long sea journeys and which carried the heaviest cargos on the river Nile, including stone for building from Aswan.

To give additional strength, the hulls of larger vessels from the end of the Old Kingdom onwards were equipped with thick ropes running around the hull, just below deck level. These rope strengtheners are known as ‘truss-girdles’. Yet more rigidity was provided by a ‘hogging-truss’, a thick rope that ran above the deck, from the bow to the stern. The hogging-trusses could be tightened as necessary and helped to prevent the bows and sterns of the ships from sagging.

We know that the ancient boats were capable of carrying large cargoes. Queen Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty organised a large trading expedition to the land of Punt (which is presumed to be on the Red Sea coast). Detailed scenes from her funerary temple at Deir el Bahri show the boats and their cargoes. Probably built of cedar, her boats were around twenty-five metres long, with room on either side for fifteen oarsmen. The shape of the hull is semi-papyriform and the sternpost of the boats ends in a large, decorative papyrus flower. A small platform is provided at the bow and the stern, but there is no central cabin. A large, thick hogging-truss runs the length of the hull to both strengthen it and keep its shape. The ends of the large deck beams can be seen projecting through the hull above the water level. We know that Egyptian wooden boats must have also sailed on the open sea, trading with the countries around the eastern Mediterranean.

It is also from the reign of Hatshepsut that we have records of the building of some of the largest wooden vessels in Ancient Egypt, or indeed in the Ancient or Modern world. Huge barges were built to transport her obelisks from Aswan, where they were quarried, to Thebes, where they were set up in the Temple of Amun at Karnak.

The surviving standing obelisk of Hatshepsut at Karnak is 29.6 metres high and, with an estimated weight of 323 tons, is amongst the largest obelisk ever erected.

It is estimated that the obelisk barge may have been over ninety-five metres in length and thirty-two metres wide. Too large to be equipped with a sail and not very manoeuvrable, the barge would have been towed downstream by smaller vessels, also using the current, from Aswan to Thebes.

Hatshepsut’s relief showing the barge is very detailed, but it is still unclear if it was built to carry one or two obelisks. A new discovery of a docking area in the granite quarries at Aswan may, when fully studied, give some indication as to the size of the barge it could hold.

Naval battles

In the reign of Ramesses III (1182 - 1151 B.C.), boats were used in a naval battle as is known from scenes recorded on the walls of the King’s funerary temple at Medinet Habu. Constructed along traditional lines, these boats nevertheless show several new developments, specifically for their use in battle. A small platform was built at the top of the mast for the use of lookouts and also for archers. This is the first recorded example of a ‘crow’s-nest’ in the history of boats. The boats were fitted with high sides or gunwales, to protect the rowers from enemy attack, in particular from enemy arrows and spears. In the contemporary illustrations, the rowers are hardly visible.

A raised gangway appears to run the length of the vessel to provide a fighting platform for the soldiers, whose main weapon was the bow and arrow. The sails of boats from this period onwards are smaller and a lower yard is no longer used. To furl the sail, it was pulled upwards to be tied to the upper yard. This has the effect of leaving the deck area clear for fighting. It is considered that this innovation may have been introduced from a neighbouring country, such as Greece.

Boats for the remainder of Egypt’s history appear to have continued to be built along the traditional times, certainly up to the time of the Ptolemaic Period (332 - 30 B.C) although, with trading links around the Eastern Mediterranean, it is likely that any new developments in ship building techniques in one country were soon adopted by others.

The boats constructed by the Ancient Egyptians were both functional and elegant.

The boat builders never lost their sense of style and proportion and even the most practical of vessels, such as the obelisk barges, have fine lines and decorated bow and sternposts. This decoration serves no practical purpose and the ships would have functioned just as well without them, but their builders added just that little bit extra, turning the boats, on which the prosperity of Egypt depended, into things of beauty.

The author is chairman of the Manchester Ancient Egypt Society and lectures on various aspects of Egyptology all around the country. He is a regular contributor to Ancient Egypt Magazine and has written several books, including Transport in Ancient Egypt and Fighting Pharaohs: Weapons and Warfare in Ancient Egypt.

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