Notes on the Mediterranean and Red Sea Ships and Ship Construction from Sahure to Hatshepsut

Abstract

A comparison of depictions of Sahure's Mediterranean and Red Sea ships suggests that the latter were smaller and lighter. Details from these reliefs with a comparison of structural features from the Khufu I vessel suggest that both types of Sahure's ships were designed to be broken down and rebuilt. Moreover, Sahure's small ships may have been designed specifically for the Red Sea, but iconographic, textual, and archaeological evidence allow for the possibility that as early as the Middle Kingdom but no later than the reign of Hatshepsut (c. 1479 – 1458 BCE) Mediterranean and Punt ships were the same possibly due to changes in ship construction.

DOI:10.2458/azu_jaei_v06i2_mark