Inflated-skin raft (kelek)
Balsa de odres hinchados (kelek)
- Date
- c. 880 BCE (relieves asirios) · confidence medium
- Place
- Nimrud, Nineveh, Iraq
- Credited to
- Assyrians and peoples of the Tigris and Euphrates
- Field
- Movement
What it is
A platform of branches or logs buoyed by goat or sheep skins inflated with air. Assyrian reliefs from Nimrud and Nineveh show it carrying troops and loads across rivers, and it was still used on the Tigris in the 20th century.
Ninth-century BC Assyrian images are the earliest evidence; skins do not survive and use is probably older.
What it led to
- river transport of stone and goods in Mesopotamia
- pontoons and military river crossings on skins
- the skin-raft tradition down to the 20th century
Links
Sources✓ verified 2026-11-06
- https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/assyrian-swimmers-2-900-year-old-carving-of-soldiers-using-inflatable-goat-skins-to-cross-a-river
- https://collection.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/co8038163/model-of-an-assyrian-kelek-or-raft-of-inflated-ox-hides-one-of-three-models-of-babylonian-vessels-of-skin-watercraft-raft-inflated-skins-cargo-vessel