The model boats of Tutankhamen

This collection of boats is called model boats because of its smaller size and they were symbolic boats used by the king on his journeys beyond the grave. Model boats made their first appearance since the pre-dynastic period and existed throughout all the Pharaonic history.

Introduction:

According to the ancient Egyptians the Nile was considered the main road of transportation as well as the main road of commercial activities.

The prevailing wind in the Nile valley came from the North so that sails could be used to move boats traveling south while those heading North against the wind relied on oars as well as the water current. That is why the determinative of xsf meaning to sail south is a boat with its sails open while that of the word xd meaning to sail north is a boat with its sail closed and represented with oars.

So the boats were very important and considered the fastest means of transportation as they used them to transport people, goods an cargo and these are what we call the daily-life boats.

Model boats were placed in tombs to ensure for the deceased a pleasant journey in the afterlife.

Historical background:

Boats were used in Ancient Egypt since as early as the Pre-dynastic period as indicated on representations of boats on early vases and funerary equipment also from surviving rock carvings.

A great deal of information regarding Egyptian boats has survived principally in the form of representations on the walls of tombs or from funerary models or textual references. There have also been finds of actual boats like the solar boats of king xwfw or fragments of boat timber.

The earliest and simplest boats were probably the ones made out of papyrus bundles or reeds tied together, occasionally with pieces of wood added inside to make it stronger and to provide a platform on which to stand or sit. These were used for fishing or hunting in the marshes also for crossing the river and traveling for short distances. Unfortunately, these were short lived as they regularly became water logged and had to be rebuilt.

Wooden boats are also recorded especially with findings of tools used for building them since antiquity; adze for shaping planks, aw for drilling holes and saw for cutting. All were made of copper. Images in tombs and temples show people building boats throughout dynastic times with the same tools. Wooden boats were manufactured taking the form of traditional papyrus boats. Wood was normally brought from Syria, Palestine or Lebanon (Byblos).

Papyrus boats had a symbolic meaning as they were used for royal or sacred purposes: the solar trip of Re from day to night and vice versa across the heavens and funerary boats carrying the mummy of the dead king to the necropolis across the river also pilgrimage boast carrying kings and nobles to cult centers like the temple of Osiris at Abydos or Isis at Philae.

In the New Kingdom elaborate models of divine boats or holy barques (sometimes covered with gold sheets) were carried in processions carrying the god where he would ride a full sized divine ship in ceremonies along the Nile

Functions of the boats:   

Secular function: This means that boats were used for transporting goods and as a means of transportation for example transporting the obelisks of Queen Hatshepsut from Aswan quarries to the Karnak temple.

Religious function: the boats were related to two journeys of the deceased and the deities. The first journey is the pilgrimage or voyage to Abydos as the deceased used to make this journey being transported on a funerary bed in a boat taking the shape of papyrus and it was known as the papyrus boat or the cult boat. As for the family of the deceased they used to accompany him in this voyage in ordinary funerary boats. The second journey was the solar journey of god Re. he used to ride in two boats one during the day time which was called manDt and the second during the night which was called msktt.

The shape:

A boat consists of two parts: the frontal part which is known as the prow and the rear part which is known as the stern. Usually the king used to sit in a shelter inside the boat and the helmsman was often represented a dwarf.

The collection of Tutankhamen:

It includes 35 boats found in the treasury and the annex of the tomb. Most of these boats were made out of wood such as cedar wood they vary in size. The five smaller boats were made out of one piece wood while the five bigger boats were made of several pieces of wood attached together by means of pegs and tenons.

They are classified into five types:

Transport barges:

<!--<!--Among the boats of the king’s collection were seven boats usually called barges without sail but with double steering oars. Its principal feature is a double roofed stepped central cabin with representation of three windows and a door. Both roof tops have cavetto cornices decorated with checkered patterns. At the prow and the stern there are smaller cabins or kiosks which probably served as shelters for members of the crew and were also decorated. This type of boats was used for transportation

Solar bark:

<!--<!--This boat is one of several solar boats found in the treasury of the tomb. It had a raised lotus flower prow and a re-curved stern one throne placed in the middle and two steering oars. It is of wood covered with a layer of painted stucco with some gilded parts like the prow and the stern which were also inscribed with the king’s names and titles. The throne is also gilded having a representation for the smA tAwy sign of unification on both sides. This boat was used by the king to accompany god Re on his daytime journeys across the sky to join him in heavens.

Pilgrimage boats:   

<!--<!--this type of boats has ropes and mast holding the sail of the boat, a central cabin, two gilded kiosks at the prow and the stern decorated with images of a bull and a sphinx and inscribed with the cartouches of the king, and two steering oars. The hull of the boat and the central cabin are bearing some decorations. It is the only type of boats that has a sail and oars. As for this type it was used in the pilgrimage to Abydos. When the boat was sailing to Abydos in the south they used the sail as they were sailing with the prevailing wind. But when they were sailing from Abydos to the north they used the oars as they were sailing with the current of the river. This type of bat was carved from a single piece of wood with mast, oars, cabin, and kiosks made separately and attached with pegs. This boat was usually painted on the walls of the tombs to show the deceased’s voyage with is family to Abydos as we can see in the tombs of Beni Hassan in Menya.

Lunar Barks:

Only two boats of this type were found in the collection of the king. It is a simple boat with in turned gilded papyrus formed prows and sterns. It is made out of one piece of wood with its hill covered with painted stucco. This type was used for nighttime lunar travel.

Papyrus canoe:

These canoes are used for hunting hippopotami and fowling in the marshes of the Hereafter. It is a simple boat sometimes called raft having an open papyrus form prow and stern. It is made out of one piece or wood with its hull covered with painted stucco. This boat resembles the boat upon which the king was holding a harpoon.