The Solar Boats and the navigation in ancient Egypt
The Egyptian people were among the first, if not the first, to exploit navigation as a means of transportation for goods and information...
Navigation in ancient Egypt
The Egyptian people were among the first, if not the first, to exploit navigation as a means of transport for goods and information. In fact, the Nile, which runs through the whole of Egypt, is an excellent route of communication because of its calm waters and the wind, which, blowing mainly from the north, allows navigation against the water's current.
From the earliest tombs evidence was found of practiced navigation on the Nile, while, as far as the seas are concerned, there is no documented evidence.
Early boats
The earliest examples of boats are more like rafts made of papyrus tied together with ropes. They enabled the Egyptians to carry out a good exploration of the Nile already and ensured the development of trade. These early specimens are to be dated between 5000 B.C. and 3500 B.C., that is, in the Predynastic Period.
The shape of the papyrus rafts was flat with the ends raised in a curve. On the central body of the boat was probably some kind of tent. They were propelled by paddles and were quite difficult to maneuver. The life span of these boats was short-lived: in fact, once the papyri were soaked with water, they would rot, rendering the boat unserviceable.
These types of boats could carry fairly heavy material, which, however, had to be placed on the sides of the boat itself. The flat body was in fact the most fragile part of the boat.
When the sail was introduced (around 5000 B.C.) it was necessary to implant a mast on the boat. The Ancient Egyptians, who may have been the inventors of the sail, implanted a bipod mast, that is, a mast with two supports right on the sides of the boat.
The first sails were probably made of palm leaves, but, around 4000-3000 B.C., the first square sails equipped with a boom and yardarm appeared.
Wooden boats
Around 3000 BCE, the Egyptians began using acacia wood to build boats. Although trees were quite rare in Egypt, they were felled to make boats.
The form did not change much, while the use began to involve the sea. The Egyptians were skilled builders of boats that had to navigate the Nile, but they were not so skilled when it came to "sea" boats. However, since the time of Snefru, there are records of an expedition ordered by Pharaoh to import wood from the Phoenician coast, now Lebanon.
These ships reached 56 meters in length, which suggests that the Ancient Egyptians were not so clueless about building boats capable of surfing the seas.
The evolution of boats was remarkable as evidenced by the hieroglyphs drawn on the walls of the tomb of Pharaoh Sahura (5th Dynasty). These deep-sea boats featured a large cable from the bow to the stern that served to prevent the hull from arching against the force of the waves.
The hull was further reinforced by a sling formed by three cables.
During the Middle Kingdom naval expeditions continued as evidenced by Huni's record of how he completed an expedition to Punt to import myrrh, incense and olibanum.
Other documentation is found on the walls of the Deir-El Bahri temple belonging to Queen Hatshepsut that proves further progress of the boats. In fact, Hatshepsut, during her reign, re-established trading expeditions to Punt and so sent a fleet of ships. The construction technique reached high levels, the ships were much better finished and certainly looked very beautiful. The keel was not yet in use, leading to some dangerous sailing. The most noticeable evolutions mainly concerned handling. The boats now possessed a single mast that was no longer bipod and a larger sail that could be steered as needed.
Under Thutmosi III the high point of Egyptian navigation occurred. Boats were probably keel-rigged and there was considerable traffic on the seas. At this point the decline began, slowly. The Phoenicians, who probably learned to sail from the Egyptians themselves, took over the seas. The Egyptians limited themselves to short commercial voyages.
The solar boats
In 1954, following excavations next to the Great Pyramid, five large structures were discovered that were supposed to contain solar boats for transporting Pharaoh Cheops' soul to the afterlife. Of the five containers, only two housed a boat, and of these, only one, the one south of the Great Pyramid, was unearthed.
The solar boat, in Egyptian beliefs, was the means by which the pharaoh's soul, in the company of the god Ra, sailed to the realm of the dead. The god Ra made this journey, called "the journey of day and night," daily, crossing the sky by day and the underworld by night. Each pharaoh was buried with all the necessary tools to be accompanied by Ra, the equivalent of the pharaoh in heaven, on his final journey.
The solar boat was buried completely disassembled into about 1,500 pieces.
It took 25 years to rebuild it. Now the solar boat, which measures 43m x 6m, is contained in a museum near the Great Pyramid built on the spot where it was found.
The latest surveys establish the presence of solar boats on the eastern side as well, but so far, it is preferred to leave them buried under the sand.
Another theory holds that the solar boat was used to transport the funerary equipment and perhaps even the pharaoh's body to the Giza plain.
Thanks to this discovery, calculations and experiments could be made on the actual navigational capabilities of the Ancient Egyptians. The conclusion was that the solar boat would have been able to navigate perfectly by covering even long distances. Technically it could have crossed the Atlantic Ocean.
The earliest evidence of a boat dates back to a depiction from about 3000 B.C.
A team of American archaeologists found some solar boats at the Abydos burial site.
Fourteen solar boats dating back to the First Dynasty, or around 3000 B.C., have been unearthed. All of the boats are of considerable size confirming the otherwise well-founded suspicion that the Ancient Egyptians possessed excellent navigational skills that, perhaps, would have enabled them to make very long journeys.
In light of this discovery, Egypt's superintendent of antiquities, Gaballah Ali Gaballah, stated that the ship-building techniques of Abydos seem even more advanced than those of the Giza plain. In this regard it should be noted that while Cheops' sun boat was held together by thick ropes, the boats of Abydos are practically "sewn together" by much thinner and more refined ropes.
These great capabilities run counter to what history says. The Ancient Egyptians, in fact, did not travel the seas and oceans at all since they were a civilization fresh out of prehistory!
