What was the Khufu ship? Today pays homage to a great Egyptian 65th anniversary of discovery.
It’s been 65 years since the ship was found buried near Egypt’s biggest pyramid
The Khufu ship was sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC. Getty Images
May 26, 2019
65th anniversary of the Khufu ship’s discovery.
On this day in 1954, one of the world’s oldest and largest boats was found buried near Egypt’s biggest pyramid, in Giza.
It is said to have survived for more than 4,600 years and is believed to have been built for Khufu, the second pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. He is also entombed within the pyramid.
The ship is now preserved in the Giza Solar boat museum, which is just a few metres away from where it was found 65 years ago.
The solar boat of Khufu (also known as King Cheops) is made from Lebanon cedar wood and assembled with ropes made of alpha plant. Getty Images
The discovery happened when archaeologist Kamal el Mallakh unearthed a row of limestone blocks that were covering a rectangular pit.
Inside an airtight enclosure, piles of cedar planks were found, alongside ropes and matting that were needed to rebuild the vessel. More than 1,200 pieces were painstakingly reassembled, a process that was overseen by Haj Ahmed Youssef, a restorer from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities, who studied Ancient Egyptian boat-making before he embarked on the project. He also visited Nile shipyards before reconstruction began.
It took more than 10 years to fully restore the vessel, which is 44.6 metres long and six metres wide, without using any nails.
Its original use remains a mystery and a debate among scholars. Some believe it was used to ferry the pharoah’s body to his final resting place, while others think it was a “solar barge” placed there in order to transport Khufu’s soul to heaven, similar to the Atet, the barge of the Egyptian sun god Ra.
Whatever it was used for, its discovery remains as significant now as it did the day it was discovered, and is one of the best-preserved vessels from antiquity.
About bill
Worked in the technical / engineering area as a Science Laboratory Technician and as an Aeronautics Engineer.
The artistic side involves writing under the nom de plume of Billy Olsenn, his recently written play 'A Case of Wine' was staged by the players group Straight Make-Up at the 2012 Birr one act drama festival. It's next staging was in the one act circuit is in Cavan, at Maudebawn on Sat 10 Nov 2012. Then it was performed in the Bray, Co.Wicklow at the very popular one act festival in January 2013.
Next play is FEAR. A dark tale about revenge on the cruel death of two pensioners by young thugs. Neighbours hatch a devious and dangerous plan to exact old-style revenge. Bill is a member of the Drama League of Ireland and his plays have been critically vetted and certified as original pieces of work by the DLI.
Another literary project is that of commemoration of an aircraft crash on Djouce mountain in Wicklow in 1946. Bill wrote articles for the 50th, 60th and most recently the 70th anniversary, (12 Aug
2016) all were published in the Wicklow Times and ensured the survivors of the crash, all French Girl Guides, were not forgotten. Articles reproduced on this website.
But mostly this site gives a more general European and specific French slant on popular and not so popular articles of French news, translated to English by the author. Each article is translated on a paragraph by paragraph basis so easy to read in either language and even possible to improve either language by comparison of the short English and French paragraphs. Amusez vous bien.
The author is currently writing an easy to read technical aviation book centered around the Fokker 50.
Another interest is that dealt with in another of Bill's websites www.realnamara.net, a Statue of the mother of God, Mary. It was erected in 1972 in Dublin, at the end of the Bull Wall near Clontarf, and my grandfather William Nelson, was the main instigator of that project. I give talks on the history of the statue and my grandfather's adventurous and dangerous life at sea.
Technical assistance with each website is by J O'N.
