Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany and Sakuji Yoshimura, director of the Japanese restoration team, were witness Wednesday to the lifting of a newly-discovered wooden beam of Khufu's second solar boat from its pit located to the north of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The beam is eight metres long, 40 centimetres wide and four centimetres thick, with a number of U and L shaped metal pieces scattered over its surface.
After lifting it, the beam was taken to the laboratory created on the Giza Plateau by the Egyptian-Japanese Khufu Second Boat Project. El-Enany, Yoshimura and restorers inspected the beam, which will be subject to preliminary restoration in order to reduce its humidity to 55 per cent before it is then treated to consolidate its strength.
"This may be the beam that once held the oars of Khufu's second boat," Eissa Zidan, director of restoration in the project, told Ahram Online, adding that the beam was found during excavations carried out inside the pit on the boat's eighth layer.
He explained that it is too early to decide the original function of the beam, but that experts are sure that it is unique and not found in Khufu's first solar boat, now on display in a special museum on the Giza Plateau.
"What we can expect for now is that the beam may be the oar holder and the metal pieces may be frames to hold the oars and prevent friction with the boat body," Zidan said. He added that further study and excavation inside the pit would help Egyptologists know more about the beam.
El-Enany described the discovery as “very important” in revealing secrets about Khufu's boats. He said the Japanese excavators and restorers were working hard with their Egyptians colleagues to protect one of Egypt's most distinguished treasures.
He pointed out that when all the beams are lifted and restored the team would reconstruct the boat and put it on display with the first solar boat at the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) overlooking the Giza Plateau.
Until now, Mamdouh Taha, supervisor of the Khufu second boat project, said a collection of 700 wooden beams were recovered from the pit and 681 of them were restored in situ. A collection of 404 of the restored beam wwasere transported to the GEM store waiting to be reconstructed.
