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March 18, 2005
Ship Remains from the Time of Hatshepsut of Egypt
Boston University reports the discovery of the remains of 18th dynasty (~ 1500 BCE) Egyptian ships. The discoverers base the date on associated pottery finds. These dates are in the range of the reign of Hatshepsut. Several stelae were also found in and around a man-made cave complex on the coast of the Red Sea. One of these stelae has the cartouche of Pharaoh Amenemhat III, (~1800 BCE). According to Kathryn Bard, one of the discoverers,
The text recounts two expeditions led by government officials to Punt and Bia-Punt, whose location is uncertain.
This is in line from what is know from other texts. James Breasted's translated the relevant part of an inscription from Hatshepsut's temple walls at Deir el-Bahri as follows:
. . . loading of the ships very heavily with marvels of the country of Punt; all goodly fragrant woods of God's-Land [the East], heaps of myrrh, resin, with fresh myrrh trees, with ebony and pure ivory, with green gold of Emu, with cinnamon wood, khesyt wood, with two kinds of incense, eye-cosmetic, with apes, monkeys, dogs, and with skins of the southern panther, with natives and their children. Never was brought the like of this for any king who has been since the beginning
Wood planks and reed ropes were among the items found. Interestingly, most of the stelae found were blank. Does this mean the blank stelae were being prepared to be installed elsewhere, in Punt for example?
Ancient Egypt from A to Z provides a good discussion of Punt that concludes,
The products brought back to Egypt point to an African origin: giraffes, pygmies, baboons, myrrh, ... excluding south east Arabia, as has sometimes been suggested. Thus Punt must have been located somewhere along the African shores of the Red Sea, perhaps south Sudan or north Ethiopia.
One finds a similar conclusion in an article by Karl H. Leser entitled "Where is Punt?"
For those who care, the place name "Punt (Pwanet)" in hieroglyphics looks like this:
Kenneth Kitchen has an interesting article on "Red Sea Trade and Travel" that makes the following point about Punt:
Egyptian data range from c.2500 to 600 BC; giving Punt a long history, a range of products, and a sociology of chiefdoms. During the 3rd millennium BC (Pyramid Age=, Old Kingdom), expeditions went south to Punt from Egypt, by boat - its products came down the Nile, or could be procured via the Red Sea (reached via Wadi Hammamat). So likewise by sea in early 2nd millennium in the Middle Kingdom (Red Sea port, Mersa Gweisis), and in the New Kingdom (Empire=, later 2nd millennium). The scenes of Queen Hatshepsut tell us much, by a brilliant artist (he managed to tame the jungle into an orderly array!). Including evidencing the Sea route with Red Sea fish around her ships. Puntites also sailed to Egypt. The products, fauna and flora ecologically coincide with northern Eritrea/Ethiopia and east-north-east Sudan. Later reference has rain on Mountains of Punt draining into the Nile (into its flood), which excludes an identification in Somalia.
Kitchen also offers a useful bibliography on fairly recent discussions of Punt.
A web site on Ancient Egypt give a good popular account of what is known of ships, boats and sailing the Egypt of the Pharaohs.
An ancient model of an Egyptian boat (2052-1778 BCE) looks like this one at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Posted by DuaneSmith at March 18, 2005 02:06 PM | Read more on Archaeology |
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