Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Important Details About Ancient Ships Of North Africa

By Gamal Rasheed


The great River Nile is a generous gift of nature to the land of Egypt. It serves as a suitable route for transport of goods and for travelling in Egypt. Therefore, boat-building became important for this, and boats were constructed in a variety of models each to serve a specific purpose.

The primary objective of boat-construction was for transport, for fishing activities and also to spend leisure-time. Hieroglyphics also portray the Egyptian boats of olden days. They seem to portray that their depiction has a significant religious and mythological value.

Abydos and Tarkhan are two of the places where plenty of Egyptian boat remains were sighted. The ancient Egyptian Kingdom did not reveal a sufficient amount of information. An exact model of the ancient Egyptian boat was portrayed in the King Khufu's ship. It is a realistic representation of the ships constructed in those days.

Construction styles of the boats from the earliest dynasty were seen in many regions of Abydos. Studies of these remains indicate that the boats were constructed with a good plan. Having a width of 3 meters, a length of 25 meters and a depth as small as 60 centimeters, they had sufficient place for about 30 people to row. The stern of the boat, as well as the prow had a typical tapering effect through the length of the boat. Archaeological studies clearly show that remarkable paintings were done on the surface of the boats for decoration.

The boats were made from wood that caused them to decay over time and therefore historians were not able to conduct an intensive analysis. The opinion of the majority is that the wood used for Egyptian boats during the first dynasty was cedar.

An in-depth study has revealed a clear picture of the boat construction in ancient Egypt. Planks of wood cut out from wooden logs were subjected to lashing by using a special mortise made for the purpose. The joints in between the planks were made watertight with the help of reeds. There was no particular inner frame work like modern day boats, and hence it would seem slightly distorted when left open.

Ships and boats of the ancient Egyptian period are drawn in their popular script known as hieroglyphics. A lot of such paintings and drawings adorn the walls and even tombs especially in Medinet Habu and also in Deir el Bahri. Both these places are famous on account of such scripts showing Egyptian boats and ships.

Hieroglyphics have helped Egyptologists to a great extent to understand the boat-making techniques of ancient Egypt. The actual remains of boats have helped comparatively to a lesser extent. Nonetheless, the ship-construction ways of the new kingdom are not clearly learned by historians.

Boat building and ship building found favor amidst the state authorities also. Pharaoh snerfu and some others helped develop this skill so that the navy of Egypt became competent. Aside from this, recreation and fishing also enhanced boat building.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment