Egypt's Talaat Moustafa Group H1 sales jump 59% to EGP 211bn    Asia-Pacific markets mixed on US tariff news    Egypt honours outgoing UNDP representative – Cabinet    Egypt, Uruguay eager to expand trade across key sectors    EGP stable vs USD in Monday's early trade    Deadly Israeli airstrikes pound Gaza as Doha talks raise hopes for ceasefire    Egypt accelerates coastal protection projects amid rising climate threats    Egypt's PM calls Israeli war on Gaza 'most dangerous crisis' at BRICS summit    Venezuela vows to uphold sovereignty on 214th independence anniversary    ADIB Egypt publishes second sustainability report for 2024    Egypt, Norway hold informal talks ahead of global plastic treaty negotiations    Greco-Roman tombs with hieroglyphic inscriptions discovered in Aswan    UN conference cites Egypt's 'NWFE' programme as model for development finance    Global tour for Korean 'K-Comics' launches in Cairo with 'Hellbound' exhibition    Philip Morris Misr announces new price list effective 1 July    Egypt teams up with private sector to boost university rankings    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Egypt condemns deadly terrorist attack in Niger        Egypt's EHA, Schneider Electric sign MoU on sustainable infrastructure    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Grand Egyptian Museum opening delayed to Q4    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's EDA joins high-level Africa-Europe medicines regulatory talks    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Khufu's second solar boat revealed
Buried for 4,500 years, King Khufu's second solar boat, designed to ferry him to the afterlife, has been uncovered
Published in Ahram Online on 23 - 06 - 2011

Today, hundreds of foreign and Egyptian journalists along with photographers, cameramen and TV presenters flocked to the Giza Plateau, where Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawass, Chargé d'Affaires at the Japanese Embassy to Egypt Masami Kinefuchi, and the chief executive representative of the Nitori Holding Company, Akio Nitori, unveiled King Khufu's second solar boat.
This boat was first discovered in 1954 by Egyptian architect and archaeologist Kamal El-Malakh with fellow archaeologist Zaki Nour during routine cleaning at the southern side of Khufu'sGreat Pyramid. The first pit was found under a roof of 41 limestone slabs. Removing one of these slabs, a cedar boat, completely dismantled but arranged in the semblance of its finished form, was found along with layers of mats, ropes, instruments made of flint and some small pieces of white plaster with 12 oars, 58 poles, three cylindrical columns and five doors.
The boat was removed from the pit to a nearby warehouse where the late master of restorers Ahmed Youssef spent more than 20 years reassembling it. It is now exhibited at the Khufu Solar Boat Museum near to the Great Pyramid.The second solar boat remained sealed in its pit until 1987 when the American National Geographic Society examined it in association with the Egyptian Office for Historical Monuments. The team penetrated the limestone ceiling and inserted a tiny camera ascertain the boat's status, then sealing the pit again. Unfortunately the hole made leaked air into the pit, allowing insects to thrive inside and damage some part of the boat's wooden beams.
In collaboration with the Japanese government, a Japanese scientific and archaeological team from Waseda University offered a grant of $10 million to lift the boat out of the pit, restore and reassemble it and exhibit it beside its twin. A joint team made up of staff of the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities, a delegation from Waseda University and the Japanese Institute for Restoration Research embarked on a scientific examination of the boat.
In 2008, the Japanese team from Waseda University led by archaeologist Sakuji Yoshimura inserted a tiny camera through a hole in the chamber's limestone ceiling to transmit video images of the boat onto a small TV monitor on site in order to re-examine and assess the condition of the boat's cedar beams and ascertain at the possibility of restoring it. It also make the boat available to Giza Plateau visitors through an LCD screen installed inside a hangar erected at the Plateau.
Today, after the completion of a comprehensive study, the limestone blocks, consisting of 41 panels that have covered the boat pit for 4,500 years, were removed and the boat's wooden beams extracted one by one to a special warehouse in order to be reassembled as it would have looked in ancient times.
A beaming Hawass told reporters that it is the first time that this technology has been used to look at buried antiquities. Modern technology had also been used to solve other riddles of ancient Egypt, explained Hawass, such as the "CT scan examination to know the reason for the mysterious death of Tutankhamun, as well as identifying royal mummies, such as that of Queen Hatshepsut, and the diseases they suffered from," he said. He celebrated the application of modern science in the service of ancient history.
Upon completion of the restoration, the boat will be erected near the entrance gate to the Pyramids Plateau, on the Cairo-Fayoum road, Hawass told reporters. The first boat, on the other hand, will be moved from its current site, beside Khufu's Pyramid to the Grand Egyptian Museum, currently under construction.


Clic here to read the story from its source.