Grand Egyptian Museum receives 1006 pieces of Khufu’s second ship

CAIRO - 27 May 2020: Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is working on completing archaeological projects, while taking all the necessary precautions to battle the virus.

Among these projects are extracting and restoring the wooden pieces of the second ship of Khufu as well as transferring it to the Grand Egyptian Museum.

Head of Khufu’s second ship restoration project Issa Zeidan said that the restoration work is underway inside the second ship, while adhering to all the directions of the Egyptian government to reduce the number of employees, in addition to sanitizing the site on a daily basis.

As for the number of pieces that have so far been extracted from Khufu's second ship, Zeidan stated that the team working on the ship has succeeded in extracting 1272 pieces of wood, in addition to a knife and a pillar made of copper.

Furthermore, Zeidan explained that 1200 pieces have been restored since the extraction of the woodblocks. A case report has been made for each piece.

Each extracted piece has been photographed using the 3D imaging technology and laser scanning, in addition to manual and photographic drawing.

Zeidan added that the Grand Egyptian Museum received 1006 pieces of wood, since the beginning of the extraction of the first piece of wood from the boat in 2014.

Additionally, he emphasized that after moving all the extracted pieces from the second ship, the pieces will be re-assembled and displayed next to the first ship, in a specialized location inside the Grand Egyptian Museum.