Khufu ship (sewn cedar-plank hull)
Barca de Keops (casco de cedro de tablas cosidas)
- Date
- c. 2560 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Giza Necropolis, Egypt
- Credited to
- Shipwrights of Old Kingdom Egypt (reign of Khufu)
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A vessel about 43 m long in Lebanese cedar, buried dismantled in 1,224 pieces beside the Great Pyramid and found in 1954. It is the oldest and best-preserved ship of antiquity, with a shell-first hull of planks sewn with rope.
It is debated whether it was a funerary vessel, a ritual solar barque or a ship that had already sailed on the Nile; evidence for use on water is contested.
What it led to
- the reference for Old Kingdom Egyptian shipbuilding
- studies of ancient boatbuilding and rope-work
- reconstruction and display in the Giza Solar Boat Museum