The great River Nile is a nice gift of nature to the land of Egypt. It serves as an appropriate route for transport of goods and for travelling in Egypt. Thus, boat-building became important for this, and boats were constructed in various models each to serve a certain purpose.

Primarily boats were constructed for the purpose of transportation, fishing and leisure activities. Ancient Egyptian boats may also be seen depicted in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and they also played an important role in Egyptian religion and mythology.

Abydos and Tarkhan are two of the places where plenty of Egyptian boat remains were sighted. The ancient Egyptian Kingdom did not reveal a sufficient level of information. An exact model of the ancient Egyptian boat was portrayed in the King Khufu's ship. It is a realistic representation of the ships constructed in those days.

Boats belonging to the first dynasty were sighted at Abydos, and they have a well-defined plan. They were twenty five meters long and two to three meters wide. It was possible to accommodate thirty rowers even though it was just sixty centimeters deep. Both the prow and the stern gradually narrowed towards the ends in a typical manner. Historical facts prove that Egyptian boats were also decorated with paintings.

Wood used for building the boat structure happened to decay as time passed by, and hence a deeper examination of kind of wood was not possible. Archaeologists believe that during the earliest dynasty of the Egyptian kingdom, wood from the Cedar tree was used to construct boats.

The technical ways of construction have also been determined by archaeologists. Trees were cut and then wooden planks were made. They were lashed and smoothed by vigorous scrubbing and then a mortise was utilized to complete the process. After the structure was erected, the tiny seams were sealed by using several reeds. This prevented water from entering the boats. If the covering of the boat was removed, it can be seen that the shape is not perfect, as they did not use any supportive frame as in today's boats.

Ships and boats of the ancient Egyptian period are drawn in their popular script known as hieroglyphics. Lots of such paintings and drawings adorn the walls and even tombs especially in Medinet Habu and also in Deir el Bahri. Both these places are famous because of such scripts showing Egyptian boats and ships.

It is through these hieroglyphics that historians have been able to analyze the boat making tradition in ancient Egypt more than the actual remains that have been discovered. Nonetheless historians have not much information about how the ships were constructed in the new Kingdom.

Boat building and ship building found favor amongst the state authorities also. Pharaoh snerfu and some others helped develop this skill so the navy of Egypt became competent. Other than this, recreation and fishing also enhanced boat building.

Ancient Egyptian clothes were produced from cotton, silk and animal skins. If you would like to read more about ancient Egyptian boats please follow the hyperlink.