European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 22, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Ancient Egypt s shipbuilders by Donald j. Frederick National geographic Many people Jill 1hmk a the ancient egyptians As a desert people who excelled in stonework but Long Bofo Ici the pyramids look shape the egyptians Ware master woodworkers in a society oriented toward he Nile River the Mediterranean and Iho Rod sea. They focused their advanced woodworking skills on Boa building before ejecting their great Stone says Paul Lipko. A Plymouth mass. Mar Limo Preso Valion expert. So in this he says instead of a desert culture we see one oriented toward the Walor Lor which shipbuilding was a Maior Pivot Pool and the ultimate expression of technology a he Lime " Al limes the Nile must have been As crowded As a modern Highway lil cd with Boals carrying bureaucrats on of licit journeys barges loaded with produce and innumerable private vessels. Egypt s skilled shipbuilders served a variety of needs designing a wide Range of vessels from sleek yachts tit Lor a pharaoh to barges that could carry a 2,400-Lon obelisk shipyards could turn out a 1 do too i Long vessel in a Low weeks some ships apparently were constructed in prefabricated sections marked like a modern builder s kit so that the pieces could be put together taken apart then Pul together again As needs dictated. The egyptians also Buill seagoing ships Lor Trade with other Mediterranean cultures. Their Boa building techniques the entire Mediterranean Region says Chory Haldane a nautical archaeologist at Texas am University. One entry in the Palermo Stone an Early record o ancient events sidles that pharaoh Snelius lather of Hutu better known today As Cheops sen an expedition to the coast of Lebanon to obtain Cedar and other valuable Woods. Forty vessels resumed with enough logs o construct three 170-Toohong ships and a number of barges. Long ships were needed to carry a Large heavy Load such As an obelisk. An ingenious system of rope trusses secured loads to the vessels and kept bows and scorns from drooping. This Relief depleting sailors Manning steering Oatt Al the Stem of a boat As others hoist the sell la from an egyptian Tomb at Saqqara dating to about 2400 . A double rope ran the length of the Boal and was looped Over Bow and Stern. A Large Slick was inserted Between the strands Hen twisted and secured to provide the pension necessary to keep the Boal from breaking up. Centuries later a similar system called a hog irame was reinvented on the Mississippi Lor big paddle steamers taking heavy loads in shallow Waters until recently most of whal was known about ancient egyptian ships came irom depictions in writes Pater Milter in a recent Issue of Wyhona geographic. Because water called played so Many important roles in their lives Iho ancient egyptians liked to be surrounded by pictures of them for Facelift for pyramids Bym Mimann associated press he Fleat Pyramid of Cheops at Giza. Pocked by thousands of years of vandalism and Slone robbing. Is Finisy getting a Facelift the Flod to clean rubbish trom Between the massive Limestone blocks and to tighten Loose rocks Marks the Lisl restoration work aver attempted on the outside of the sole survivor of the ancient world s Soven wonders this is not just cosmetic said Zahi harass the egyptian antiquities organization s director general for the pyramids area we re afraid unless we do something to stabilize the outer Slones there could be a a agony. People have a tendency to think that pyramids will be Here forever because they re so massive but each is sult ering from wind and Sand erosion rain and Salt and. To a great extent because of the hands of work began inside the great Pyramid last Winter to remove Salt hat oozed through the Limestone and accumulated along passageway Walls. The work on the outside began in late August. From a distance the Pyramid appears Fine. Close up it s obviously far trom healthy. Many of the massive blocks weighing an average 2 i tons have eroded or disappeared. Others hang precariously on uneven ledges. In 1976, a Stone weighing several ions fell from the Southern Side. No one was injured because tourists were being Kepi away during a dignitary s visit harass said we chose to begin restoration with Cheops Pyramid Lisl. Because we know there s a Chance More stones will when put in place 4,600 years ago the estimated 2.3 million blocks Wero assembled with such skill that Only a thin Sheet of paper would pass Between. The new project Aims at duplicating such precision. Workers skilled in climbing Scurry Over the rocks binding Loose stones with natural mortar like that used by the ancients and repairing damage caused by millennia of nesting Birds desc animals and human ravages. Historical records and legends indicate the first Man made damage occurred As Early As 500 years Afler the death of Cheops the second pharaoh of ancient Egypt s fourth dynasty. The egyptians wore in revolt against tyrannical and oppressive practices of the past hacking and destroying statues and monuments trom the earlier Days of the pharaohs loss than a Century later the 12th-dynasly Pharoah amen Ethel look Many Slones from Cheops Pyramid Complex to build one Lor himself at Ellis. South of Giza plateau. Teams trom new Vork s metropolitan it ileum who excavated amen Emmet s Pyramid found hundreds of the decorated pieces. Nobody knows when or Why but the great Pyramid saturday. October 22, 198b solid evidence of ancient egyptian Boa building skills surfaced in 1954, when a 4.600-year-old disassembled vessel was found beside the Groat Pyramid of Khufu in Giza. Most of Iho limbers were almost Porf Cully preserved. The 1.224 components of the 142-loot-Long Crail were listed together and displayed in a museum. Evidence of a second pit. Very near the Lisl. Was noted at the time of the 1954 excavation egyptology its speculated that the second pit might contain another Royal boat. And they were proven right Lale last year when a nondestructive Probo of the Pil by a learn of scientists unveiled another disassembled boat which was documented with a Remote controlled video camera and other instruments. At some time lost 30 feet of height leaving it still enormous at almost 453 feet. Its outer surface originally was covered with a protective layer of Fine hard Limestone Only traces of which survived desecration and looting. Thousands of its stones were stolen Over Lime hut the Pyramid remained structurally intact until the late ninth Century writes . Edwards the British Egypt Logist acknowledged As the authority on egyptian pyramids. Al Hal time Arab raiders broke a Largo Hole just below the main Entrance and entered the Monument in a vain search Lor treasure. Edwards wrote in his showpiece work the pyramids of Egypt. Subsequently in became a copious and convenient Quarry providing the Stone required Lor Bridges Over irrigation canals houses Walls and other buildings in the neighbourhood of Giza and he wrote. In the Early 19th Century. The albanian Mohammed Ali credited with creating the modern egyptian state As part of the ottoman Empire thought nothing of using blocks from Cheops and other pyramids for construction. The English Egypt Logist Flinders Petrie wrote in the 188q5 of watching As a steady Stream of camels hundreds daily carried massive blocks into Cairo irom nearby Abu awash Pyramid built by Cheops successor do Defre. Today the Pyramid area is littered with toppled building blocks. The stars and stripes Page 17
