View source for Khufu ship

{{short description|Intact vessel from Ancient Egypt}}
{{Infobox artifact
| name              = Khufu ship
| native_name       = 
| native_name_lang  = 
| image             = Giseh Sonnenbarke 07.jpg
| image_size        = 260
| alt               = 
| image2            = 
| image2_size       = 
| alt2              = 
| image_caption     = The reconstructed "solar barge" of Khufu
| type              = [[Solar barque]]
| material          = [[Cedrus libani|Lebanon cedar]]
| size              = 
| height            = <!-- {{convert|}} -->
| width             = {{Convert|5.9|m|ft}}
| weight            = <!-- {{convert|}} -->
| long              = {{Convert|43.4|m|ft}} 
| writing           = 
| symbols           = 
| created           = c. 2500 BC
| discovered        = <!-- Deprecated; use the following, separate, parameters -->
| discovered_place  = [[Giza pyramid complex]]
| discovered_coords = 
| discovered_date   = 1954
| discovered_by     = [[Kamal el-Mallakh]]
| location          = [[Grand Egyptian Museum]]
| classification    = 
| culture           = [[Ancient Egypt]]
| id                = 
| map               = 
| website           = 
}}

The '''Khufu ship''' is an intact full-size [[solar barque]] from [[ancient Egypt]]. It was sealed into a pit alongside the [[Great Pyramid of Giza|Great Pyramid]] of pharaoh [[Khufu]] around 2500 BC, during the [[Fourth dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]] of the ancient Egyptian [[Old Kingdom]]. Like [[Ancient Egyptian solar ships|other buried Ancient Egyptian ships]], it was part of the extensive [[grave goods]] intended for use in the [[afterlife]]. The Khufu ship is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved [[Marine vessel|vessels]] from antiquity. It is {{Convert|43.4|m|ft}} long and {{Convert|5.9|m|ft}} wide, and is the world's oldest intact ship. It has been described as "a masterpiece of woodcraft" that could sail today if put into a lake or a river.

The ship was preserved in the [[Giza Solar boat museum]], but was moved to the [[Grand Egyptian Museum]] in August 2021.

== History ==

===Function===
The history and function of the ship is not precisely known. It is of the type known as a "[[solar barge]]", a ritual vessel believed by ancient Egyptians to carry the resurrected king across the heavens with the sun god [[Ra]]. However, it bears some signs of having been used in water, and it is possible that the ship was either a funerary "barge" used to carry the king's embalmed body from [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] to Giza, or even that Khufu himself used it as a "pilgrimage ship" to visit holy places and that it was then buried for him to use in the afterlife. It contained no bodies, unlike northern European [[Ship burial|ship burials]].<ref name="Jenkins2">{{Cite book |last=Jenkins |first=Nancy |url=http://www.gizapyramids.org/static/pdf%20library/jenkins_boat.pdf |title=The Boat Beneath the Pyramid |year=1980 |isbn=978-0030570612 |pages=}}</ref>

=== Discovery and description ===
[[File:Model_of_Khufu's_solar_barque_with_top_removed.jpg|thumb|Model of the Khufu ship in the [[Giza Solar boat museum]], with the deck removed, showing the rope stitching that holds the planks together]]
The ship was one of two<ref>{{cite news |date=23 June 2011 |title=Egypt Excavates Ancient King's 4,500-Year-Old Ship |newspaper=[[Fox News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |url=http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/23/egypt-excavates-4500-year-old-pharaohs-boat/ |url-status=dead |access-date=25 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110626161813/http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/06/23/egypt-excavates-4500-year-old-pharaohs-boat/ |archive-date=2011-06-26 |quote=Archaeologists have begun excavating a 4,500-year-old wooden boat found next to the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of Egypt's main tourist attractions, Egypt's top antiquities official said Thursday.}}</ref> 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 [[Cedrus libani|Lebanon cedar]] planking in the "shell-first" construction technique, using unpegged [[Mortise and tenon|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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Liesl |last2=Tyson |first2=Peter |title=Explore Ancient Egypt |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/explore-ancient-egypt.html |access-date=28 December 2012 |work=Nova |publisher=PBS}}</ref> 

It measures {{Convert|43.4|meter|ft}} long and {{Convert|5.9|m|ft}} wide. It was thus identified as the world's oldest intact ship and has been described as "a masterpiece of woodcraft" that could sail today if put into a lake, or a river.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Royal Ships of Egyptian Pharaohs |url=http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/ships.html |access-date=2019-01-17 |publisher=Cwo.com}}</ref> However, the vessel may not have been designed for sailing, as there is no rigging, or for rowing, as there is no room. Its discovery was described as one of the greatest Ancient Egyptian discoveries in [[Zahi Hawass]]'s documentary ''[[Egypt's Ten Greatest Discoveries]]''.

===Reconstruction===
It took years for the boat to be reassembled, primarily by the [[Ministry of Antiquities (Egypt)|Egyptian Department of Antiquities]]' chief restorer, Ahmed Youssef Moustafa.<ref name="Jenkins2" /> Before reconstructing the boat, Moustafa had to gain enough experience on Ancient Egyptian boatbuilding. He studied the reliefs carved on walls and tombs as well as many of the small wooden models of ships and boats found in tombs. Moustafa visited the Nile boatyards of Old Cairo and [[Maadi]] and went to [[Alexandria]], where wooden river boats were still being made. He hoped that modern Egyptian shipwrights had retained shipbuilding methods that would suggest how Ancient Egyptians built their ships. Then he investigated the work of shipwrights who built in a different tradition.<ref>{{cite web |last=Jenkins |first=Nancy |date=May 26, 1954 |title=The Smell of Time |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/the.smell.of.time.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120507175242/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/the.smell.of.time.htm |archive-date=2012-05-07 |access-date=2012-12-27 |work=Saudi Aramco World |publisher=Aramco Services Company}}</ref>

=== Exhibition ===
The Khufu ship was put on public display in a specially built museum at the [[Giza pyramid complex]] in 1982; the museum was a small modern facility resting alongside the Great Pyramid. The first floor of the museum took the visitor through visuals, photographs and writings on the process of excavating and restoring the boat. The ditch where the main boat was found was incorporated into the museum ground floor design. To see the restored boat, the visitor ascended a staircase leading to the second floor. Floor to ceiling windows allowed for much sunlight and the wooden walkway took the visitor around the boat where the visitor could get a closer view of its impressive size.<ref name="Jenkins2" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Sarman |first=Danee |date=March 1, 2010 |title=Did Pharaohs Get Seasick?: Khufu Boat Museum: Giza, Egypt |url=http://www.museumchick.com/museum-chick/2010/03/khufu-boat-museum-giza-egypt-felucca.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100414182401/http://www.museumchick.com/museum-chick/2010/03/khufu-boat-museum-giza-egypt-felucca.html |archive-date=April 14, 2010 |access-date=2012-12-27 |publisher=MuseumChick.com.}}</ref>

In August 2021, the ship was relocated to the [[Grand Egyptian Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A team from the Grand Egyptian Museum succeeded in the first trial run conducted to test the vehicles that will be used in the transferring the first Khufu Solar Boat from its current location |url=https://egymonuments.gov.eg/news/a-team-from-the-grand-egyptian-museum-succeeded-in-the-first-trial-run-conducted-to-test-the-vehicles-that-will-be-used-in-the-transferring-the-first-khufu-solar-boat-from-its-current-location/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=2021-08-07 |title=In pictures: Egypt pharaoh's 'solar boat' moved to Giza museum |work=[[BBC News]] |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-58088867 |accessdate=2021-08-07}}</ref>

==Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Barque solaire-Decouverte2.jpg|The Khufu ship shortly after its discovery
File:Barque solaire-Decouverte3.jpg|The boat pit in which the Khufu ship was discovered, now inside the [[Giza Solar boat museum|Solar Boat Museum]]
File:Cordes-originales-barque-khéops.jpg|Original rope discovered with the Khufu ship
File:Солнечная ладья.jpg|The Khufu ship in the [[Giza Solar boat museum|Solar boat museum]]
File:GizaBoatPit.jpg|Solar boat pit, [[Giza Plateau]], Egypt
File:Kheops-boat-pit.JPG|One of the boat pits on the east side of the Great Pyramid
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Atet]]
* [[Abydos boats]]
* [[Ancient Egyptian technology]]
*[[Dahshur boats]]
* [[Ships preserved in museums]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Nancy Jenkins (1980). ''The boat beneath the pyramid: King Cheops' royal ship''  {{ISBN|0-03-057061-1}}
* Paul Lipke (1984). ''The royal ship of Cheops: a retrospective account of the discovery, restoration and reconstruction. Based on interviews with Hag Ahmed Youssef Moustafa''. Oxford: B.A.R.,   {{ISBN|0-86054-293-9}}
* Björn Landström (1970). ''Ships of the Pharaohs: 4000 Years of Egyptian Shipbuilding''. Doubleday & Company, Inc., {{LCCN|73133207}}
* Weitzman, David (2020 [2009]). ''Pharaoh's Boat'' Reissued by Purple House Press, {{ISBN|9781948959148}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120507175242/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198001/the.smell.of.time.htm The Smell of Time]
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/egypt/dispatches/990306.html The Solar Barque, Nova Online]
* Web archive backup: [https://web.archive.org/web/20050325090238/http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/ships/html/sh_019900_cheopsship.htm ''Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia'' – "Cheops ship"]
* [http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/PROJ/GIZ/Giza.html The Giza Mapping Project]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100414182401/http://www.museumchick.com/museum-chick/2010/03/khufu-boat-museum-giza-egypt-felucca.html A Visitors Perspective of the Khufu Boat Museum]
* [http://www.imagesjourney.com/Main.aspx?Category=18 Khufu ship free high resolution images]

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{{World's largest wooden ships}}
{{Oldest surviving ships (pre-1919)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Khufu Ship}}
[[Category:Great Pyramid of Giza]]
[[Category:Ancient Egyptian ships]]
[[Category:Ships preserved in museums]]
[[Category:Ship burials]]
[[Category:Khufu]]
[[Category:Ancient ships]]
[[Category:1954 archaeological discoveries]]