Archaeological excavations at Abydos, Egypt, have revealed the remains of a subterranean boat burial dating to the reign of the pharaoh Senwosret III (c. 1850 BC), says an international team of archaeologists led by Dr. Josef Wegner of the Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania.
Top: interior of the boat building. Bottom: inner wall with preserved section of vault and remnants of the brick packing in situ on the exterior. Image credit: Josef Wegner.
“Archaeologists have long recognized the ancient Egyptian practice of burying boats in association with royal funerary complexes. Variable preservation, paired with the only partial investigation of most royal mortuary sites, however, has produced a still limited picture of the development of this long-lived tradition,” Dr. Wegner said.
“Boat burials connected with pharaonic royal tombs are best known through the group of dismantled vessels buried adjacent to the pyramid of Khufu at Giza.”
The newly discovered boat burial is about 213 feet (65 m) east of the front of the underground tomb of the pharaoh Senwosret III (also written as Senusret III).
“Excavations of the Penn Museum, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of State for Antiquities, have been underway at the Senwosret III mortuary complex since 1994,” Dr. Wegner explained.
“This site is a multi-component, state-planned, funerary complex that includes a mortuary temple and connected urban site, as well as administrative and production areas.”
“The complex of Senwosret III is located on the low desert, extending over a distance of some 2,625 feet (800 m) between the edge of the Nile floodplain and the base of the high desert cliffs.”
“The temple and settlement components were established for the long-term maintenance of a mortuary cult, notionally focused on a 590 foot (180 m) long subterranean tomb with its entrance inside a T-shaped enclosure that covers some 1.8 ha at the base of the high desert cliffs.”
“The site of this royal tomb was designated in ancient times as the ‘Mountain of Anubis’, while the mortuary complex as a whole bore the institutional designation: Enduring-are-the-Places-of-Khakaure-justified-in-Abydos.”
The boat building is extremely well built and an outstanding example of pharaonic mudbrick architecture.
“The construction employs large-format mud bricks measuring 0.65 x 1.35 x 0.4 feet (0.2 x 0.4 x 0.12 m),” Dr. Wegner said.
“These bricks are identical in size and composition to those used in the enclosure walls and other features of the Senwosret III tomb enclosure.”
“The building is set down into the desert subsurface with heavy main walls composed of two rows of bricks with a plastered, gypsum-coated interior surface. The walls sit on the harder, compact gebel or desert subsurface.”
Of the original pharaonic boat, according to the team, only nine wooden planks remain.
“Surviving elements of planking appear to derive from a nearly 65 foot (20 m) long boat that was buried intact but later dismantled for reuse of the wood,” Dr. Wegner said.
“Although the dry desert environment theoretically should have contributed to a high quality of preservation, these wood elements are in extremely fragile condition. Most of the wood mass had been consumed by white ants leaving a shell of frass.”
“Two of the planks in a better state of preservation are likely cedar (Cedrus libani), and preserve the same grain and texture as cedar identified in other uses in the royal necropolis at South Abydos.”
“These planks have remains of gypsum plaster coating that appears intended as backing for a painted surface, although no color was preserved.”
“Conceivably these are parts of decking or elements of a cabin.”
The most remarkable feature of the boat building is its decoration with numerous incised images of pharaonic watercraft — totaling in excess of 120 individual boats — creating an informally arranged tableau extending over a total length of 82 feet (25 m) on the side walls and end wall.
The watercraft tableau as preserved on the boat building’s north (above) and south (below) side walls. Image credit: Josef Wegner.
“The astounding concentration of boat drawings in the building is unique and was tremendously surprising to discover,” Dr. Wegner noted.
“It is also clear there once were many more boats decorating the building’s vaulted roof. The incongruous situation of watercraft in the desert presents numerous questions and mysteries begging for explanation.”
“The creators of this boat tableau may be people involved in the initial transport and installation of the vessel in the building. Possibly these were participants in the ceremonies, presumably mortuary in nature, that may have accompanied the boat burial,” he said.
More than 145 pottery vessels, buried with their necks facing toward the entrance to the ceremonial boat burial, were also uncovered.
Top: brick blocking and central trench with pottery deposit extending up to the building’s entrance. Bottom: examples of Nile-silt storage jars from the boat building entrance deposit. Image credit: Josef Wegner.
“The vessels are necked liquid storage jars, usually termed ‘beer jars’ although probably used for storage and transport of a variety of liquids,” Dr. Wegner said.
“Morphology of the neck and rims dates these examples to the late 12th Dynasty (1850-1750 BC), confirming the contemporaneity between the boat building, the boat burial within it, and the mortuary enclosure of Senwosret III.”
“A small number (less than 5%) of the vessels have a reddish brown, crusty residue inside the mouth and in the sand immediately around the neck suggesting they were turned over while full of liquid contents. Chemical analysis of these organic samples has not been completed at the present time but may indicate storage of liquid other than water in a minority of vessels.”
“Continued excavations at the site may reveal additional boats, as well as other features connected with the funerary ceremonies of Senwosret III, or the other kings who were buried in the royal necropolis at South Abydos during the period about 1850-1600 BC,” Dr. Wegner added.
He reported on the discovery in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology.
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Josef Wegner. A Royal Boat Burial and Watercraft Tableau of Egypt’s 12th Dynasty (c.1850 BCE) at South Abydos. International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, published online October 21, 2016; doi: 10.1111/1095-9270.12203
