Excavation of King Khufu’s Second Solar Boat Completed in Egypt

CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that the excavation of the second Khufu solar boat discovered in a pit next to the Great Pyramid of Khufu in 1954 has been completed by a joint Japanese and Egyptian team of researchers. The project began in 2009. Issa Zidan of the Grand Egyptian Museum said that the boat is made up of some 1,700 pieces of wood that have all been removed from the pit’s 13 levels and documented. The initial process of restoration of these pieces has also been completed. The second phase of restoration, he explained, will include assembling the boat and installing it next to the first one in a new building at the Grand Egyptian Museum. About 1,300 pieces of the boat have been transferred to the museum so far. To read about fragments of boats, rope, and pottery dating to the reign of Khufu (r. 2551–2528 B.C.), go to “World’s Oldest Port,” one of ARCHAEOLOGY’s Top 10 Discoveries of 2013.