The Pharaohs took most of their worldly possession with them to the afterworld. That could include things such as their bed, clothes, furniture, utensils, lamps, armor, swords, chariots, pets (mummified of course), food and on and on.

In 1954, on the south side of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, archeologists unearthed one of Khufu’s solar boats (barques). There are possibly as many as four more buried and they were excavating a second one while we were there in 2007 (and for years to come I’m sure).

In the first photo, you can see the top of the chamber where it was buried, well below the sand ground level. It was quite a ways down and hidden very well and also made secure by the big stones and confusing layout.

The boat was in 1200 pieces. Speculation is that this barque was used to bring Khufu’s mummy across the Nile to the valley temple and then on up the Giza plateau to his tomb chamber. The boat is made of Lebanon cedar. Some speculate that this might be the oldest boat in existence today. I stepped it off at about 40 to 45 yards long (or 120 to 135 feet long). It’s a big boat.

I took a picture from each end of the boat. It was hard to capture between the size of the boat, its shape, and the access of the building.