Science / Medicine : Ancient Boat Photographed
The National Geographic Society has released pictures of an Egyptian boat photographed by special cameras in a stone chamber where the vessel was entombed beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu 4,600 years ago.
National Geographic officials said the photographs were taken with remote cameras lowered through a drill hole and that the chamber then was sealed, leaving the ancient craft undisturbed. A similar boat was found in a chamber nearby in 1954. That 142-foot-long craft was excavated, reassembled and put in a museum specially constructed for its display.
But new techniques permitted experts from the Egyptian Antiquities Organization and from the United States to survey the new boat using remote cameras, National Geographic announced last week.
Scientists studying the pictures have identified various boat parts, including oar blades, deckhouse and hull planking, but there are no signs of a mast or rigging. The boats are thought to have been entombed to honor Pharoah Khufu by his son, Djedefre.
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