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Recreating Queen Hatshepsut's BoatFull-scale Replica of Ancient Egyptian Ship to Sail in December 2008
Archaeologists are reproducing an Egyptian seafaring vessel from the New Kingdom age of Queen Hatshepsut with plans to sail it to the ancient land of Punt (Ethiopia).
The Tallahassee Democrat reported on April 5, 2008 that a full-scale reproduction of a ship used by ancient Egyptians during the age of 18th-Dynasty Queen Hatshepsut (r. 1479-1458 B.C.) to reach the legendary land of Punt (modern-day Ethiopia) will set sail on the Red Sea this coming December. Discovery and RecreationIn 2005, Florida State University archaeology professor Cheryl Ward and her team discovered cedar ship planks in an Egyptian cavern. The boards' mollusk larvae holes suggest that they belonged to a sea-going vessel. Professor Ward believes that Hatshepsut's boats, intended to bring exotic animals, gold, ivory, live frankincense trees and myrrh to the Egyptian queen who eventually became a pharaoh, were dismantled and moved across land. Ward (an expert on Egyptian boat-building), two colleagues and a pair of naval engineering and architecture specialists are designing a boat 70 feet long and 18 feet wide. The vessel's appearance and dimensions are based upon wall relief images from the interior of Djeser-djeseru ("Holy of Holies"), Hatshepsut's terraced funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri. Egyptian builders are being assisted by members of FSU's Master Craftsman program. Hatshepsut, Queen and PharaohHatshepsut was the principal queen of her half-brother, Pharaoh Thutmose II (r. 1492-1749 B.C.). She acted as co-regent for her young stepson-nephew, Thutmose III (r. 1479-1425 B.C.) upon the untimely demise of her husband, possibly from a skin affliction. For unknown reasons, she adopted the title of pharaoh with little or no resistance from Egypt's patriarchal society. While senior co-ruler with the prince, female features and attributes in representations of Hatshepsut were gradually replaced by male musculature, clothing, stance and regalia. Hatshepsut claimed direct descent from Amun, the great god of Thebes, thus legitimizing her pharaonic rule. The Journey to Punt in Djeser-djeseruDuring her reign of relative peace and cultural renaissance, Hatshepsut renewed trade with western Asia, the Aegean Islands and the land of Punt to Egypt's south. At the same time, Senenut, the queen's advisor, able court official of more than 80 titles and chief royal architect, was possibly responsible for the construction of Djeser-djeseru, her mortuary temple. The interior wall decoration of Djeser-djeseru reflects the economic prosperity enjoyed by Hatshepsut and her subjects. Detailed relief sculptures depict the sophisticated seafaring vessels the queen commissioned and sent to distant Punt. These are the images that archaeologist Cheryl Ward and her peers continue to study as they recreate one masterful ship from Hatshepsut's long lost fleet. Source:
The copyright of the article Recreating Queen Hatshepsut's Boat in Art Conservation/Repatriation is owned by Stan Parchin. Permission to republish Recreating Queen Hatshepsut's Boat in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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