Dahshur boats Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Dahshur boats
One of the boats during excavations
Type	Funeral boats
Material	Cedar wood
Long	10 metres (33 ft)
Width	2.3 metres (7.5 ft)
Created	c. 1870-1831 BC
Discovered	Dahshur
Discovered by	Jacques de Morgan
Culture	Ancient Egypt

The Dahshur boats are very old Egyptian boats. They were used for funerals, which means they were part of a burial ceremony. These boats were found near the pyramid of an ancient Egyptian king named Senusret III. He was a pharaoh from the 12th Dynasty. There were originally five or six of these special boats.

Discovering the Boats
What the Boats Look Like
- How the Boats Were Built
- What the Boats Were For
The Carnegie Boat
The Chicago Boat
The Red Boat and White Boat
The Missing Fifth Boat
Images for kids
See also

Discovering the Boats

These ancient boats were found in a place called Dahshur. A French archaeologist named Jacques de Morgan discovered them. This happened during his digs in 1894 and 1895. At first, he wrote that he found six boats. Later, he said there were only five.

For many years, people didn't pay much attention to the boats. Then, in the mid-1980s, two of them were studied again. Today, we know where four of the boats are. The Carnegie boat and the Chicago boat are in the United States. You can find them in museums in Pittsburgh and Chicago. The Red boat and the White boat were in the Cairo Museum. Now, they are on display at the Sharm El-Sheikh Museum.

What the Boats Look Like

A drawing of one of the boats made by Jacques de Morgan

Each of the Dahshur boats is about 10 meters (33 feet) long. They are made from cedar wood. Long ago, these boats were painted in bright colors. Their decks were white. Their hulls, which are the main bodies of the boats, were either green or yellow.

How the Boats Were Built

All four boats we know about today have special connections called dovetail joints. These joints connect the wooden planks together. Dovetail joints look like a dove's tail. They are often seen in old Egyptian furniture and wooden boxes. But they are rare in boats.

Most Egyptian boats used ropes and mortise and tenon joints. These are strong connections that help keep the boat's planks from coming apart. On the Dahshur boats, you can only see these rope and tenon joints at the front (bow), back (stern), and top edge (uppermost strake). Sledges found near the boats also had dovetail joints.

Some people thought the dovetail joints on the boats were just cuts from ropes. They believed these cuts were changed after the boats were dug up. But in 2006, archaeologists found boat wood at Wadi Gawasis. This wood also had dovetail joints, just like the Dahshur boats. This suggests the joints were part of the original design.

What the Boats Were For

A drawing of one of the sledges made by Jacques de Morgan, showing a dovetail joint

Experts believe these boats were used to carry the body of King Senusret III. They would have floated his body down the Nile River. After that, the boats were moved over land to his pyramid. They were likely pulled on sledges. These sledges were found buried right next to the boats during the discovery.

The Carnegie Boat

The Carnegie boat was given to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in 1901. A man named Andrew Carnegie bought it for the museum. He didn't tell the museum director, W.J. Holland, about it first. When the boat arrived, the director was surprised! This boat is now being carefully preserved. You can even watch the work being done at the museum.

The Chicago Boat

The Chicago boat was bought by the Field Museum of Natural History in 1900. It has been on display at the museum ever since.

The Red Boat and White Boat

Jacques de Morgan gave these two boats their names: the Red boat and the White boat. Their official names are GC 4926 for the Red boat and GC 4925 for the White boat. They were shown at the Cairo Museum from 1910 to 2020. Then, they were moved to the Sharm El-Sheikh Museum. To move them safely, they were placed on a special steel frame. This made them easy to lift and transport.

The Missing Fifth Boat

What happened to the possible fifth boat is still a mystery. Some people think it was sent to a museum in Europe. Others believe it was left behind in Dahshur. It's also possible it was destroyed by fire. There is some evidence of fire damage on one of the other boats.