Coils Of Ancient Egyptian Rope Found In Cave

June 20, 2008 -- The ancient Egyptian's secret to making the strongest of all rigging ropes lies in a tangle of cord coils in a cave at the Red Sea coast, according to preliminary study results presented at the recent congress of Egyptologists in Rhodes.

Discovered three years ago by archaeologists Rodolfo Fattovich of the Oriental Studies University of Naples and Kathryn Bard of Boston University, the ropes offer an unprecedented look at seafaring activities in ancient Egypt.

"No ropes on this scale and this old have been so well preserved in their original context -- in Egypt or elsewhere," Bard told Discovery News.

Carefully wrapped in coils by ancient Egyptian sailors almost 4,000 years ago, the ropes were found in a hand-hewn cave at the ancient Red Sea port of Marsa Gawasis, 23 kilometers (14 miles) south of Safaga.

"The cave is really spectacular. Over 30 coils of ropes lie on the ground as if they had just been left there. Amazingly, these ropes were stored in the same way as nowadays sailors store their shipping cords -- just coiling and tighting them in the middle," archaeologist and rope analyst Andre Veldmeijer told Discovery News.

Most of the coils were recovered from the back of the cave. There are at least two layers of ropes. In their report, Veldmeijer and colleague Chiara Zazzaro of the University of Naples, estimated that more than 60 complete coils of cords are stored in the long, deep cave.

"Each cord is about 30 meters (98 feet) long and is very thick. No doubt these ropes were made for strong, heavy duties, Veldmeijer said. "Basically, they were hauling truss components. They ran above the deck, secured at the bow and at the stern, to produce structural cohesion for the ship,"

The theory is supported by the fact that the estimated length of the Egyptian ships is about 10 meters (33 feet) shorter than the ropes' lengths. This shows that sailors had five meters (16 feet) at both ends to tie the ropes.

The researchers are still puzzling over the material the ancient Egyptians used to make such a strong cordage. "It's really intriguing. We know that the ropes are made of vegetable fibers only," Veldmeijer said. "Moreover, they are of one type of vegetable fiber -- Egyptians never used different materials together to make ropes. We can exclude the usual, known materials, such as halfa grasses, papyrus and palm. It's possibly reed... We hope to solve the puzzle by the end of the year."

Meanwhile, excavation work at Marsa Gawasis continues. The site abounds with man-made caves cut into the rock. They all seem to be filled with seafaring remains.

"We found remains of ship timbers, anchors, expedition equipment, cargo boxes and pottery. Analysis has shown that these caves contain the world's oldest maritime artifacts," Fattovich said.

As for the ropes, the researchers believe they are the well-preserved riggings from an Egyptian seafaring expedition to the fabled Land of Punt (around present-day Somalia), in the 12th Dynasty, almost 4,000 years ago.

"We found hieroglyphic texts about these expeditions, and even some materials brought back from Punt, such as ebony, obsidian and pottery from eastern Sudan, Eritrea and Yemen," Bard said.

The most famous expedition to the mysterious and exotic Land of Punt was conducted during the reign of Queen Hatshepsut and is described in bas-relief inscriptions in her funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri.

"We are now excavating the harbor area. Other ship remains are coming to light. This is such an important site. There is much more to discover," Fattovich said.

Am I alone, here? OK. Y’all asked for it!

(Sorry. It’s the best I could do, and I spent at least an hour trying to find it. It sounds better with music....)

The Fish Song

It was April the Forty-first, being a quadruple leapyear;
I was driving in downtown Atlantis.
My Barracuda was in the shop, so I was in a rented Stingray,
and it was overheating.
So I pulled into a Shell station; they said I’d blown a seal.
I said, “Fix the damn thing and leave my private life out of it, okay, pal?”

While they were doing that, I walked over to a place called the Oyster Bar.
A real dive. But I knew the owner; he used to play for the dolphins.
I said, “HI GILL!” (You have to yell, he’s hard of herring.)

Chorus:
Think I had a wet dream, cruisin’ through the Gulf stream.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Wet dream.

Gill was also down on his luck.
Fact is, he was barely keeping his head below water.
I bellied up to the sandbar; he poured the usual: Rusty Snail, hold
the grunion, shaken, not stirred.
With a peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich on the side, heavy on the mako.
I slipped him a fin, on porpoise.
I was feeling good; I even dropped a sand dollar in the box for Jerry’s Squids,
for the halibut.

Well, the place was crowded. We were packed in like sardines.
They were all there to listen to the big band sounds of Tommy Dorsal.
What sole. Tommy was rockin’ the place with a very popular tuna,
“Salmonchanted Evening”, and the stage was surrounded by screaming groupers,
Probably there to see the bass player.
One of them was this cute little yellowtail, and she was givin’ me the eye.
So I figured this was my chance for a little fun.
You know, piece of Pisces.

But she said things I just couldn’t fathom.
She was too deep, seemed to be under a lot of pressure.
Boy, could she drink. She drank like a...
She drank a lot.
I said, “What’s your sign?”
She said, “Aquarium.”
I said, “Great! Let’s get tanked!”

Chorus

I invited her up to my place for a little midnight bait.
I said, “C’mon baby, it’ll only take a few minnows.”
She threw me that same old line: “Not tonight, I got a haddock.”

And she wasn’t kidding, either, cause in came the biggest,
meanest looking haddock I’d ever seen come down the pike.
He was covered with mussels. He came over to me; he said, “Listen, Shrimp.
Don’t you come trollin’ around here.” What a crab.
This guy was steamed. I could see the anchor in his eyes.

I turned to him and I said, “Abalone! You’re just being shellfish.”
Well, I knew there was going to be trouble, and so did Gill,
cause he was already on the phone to the cods.
The haddock hits me with a sucker punch. I catch him with a left hook.
He eels over. It was a fluke, but there he was, lying on the deck,
flat as a mackerel, kelpless.

I said, “Forget the cods, Gill. This guy’s going to need a sturgeon.
Well, the yellowtail was impressed with the way I landed her boyfriend.
She came over to me; she said, “Hey, big boy, you’re really a game fish.
What’s your name?”
I said, “Marlin.”

Chorus

Well, from then on we had a whale of a time. I took her to dinner;
I took her to dance; I bought her a bouquet of flounders.
And then I went home with her.
And what did I get for my trouble? A case of the clams.

So this duck walks into a pet store and says to the clerk, “Got any duck food?”
“No”, says the clerk, “we only sell dog food and cat food.”

“OK”, says the duck and walks out.

The next day the duck walks in the store and says “Uh, got any duck food?”
The clerk once again replies, “No, like I told you, we only sell cat food and dog food.”

“OK”, says the duck and walks out.

The next day the duck walks in the store and says “Uh, got any duck food?”
The clerk says “Hey look, I told you two times already that we only sell cat food and dog food!”

“OK”, says the duck and walks out.

The next day the duck walks in the store and says “Uh, got any duck food?”
This time the clerk yells “We don’t sell any duck food and if you come in here one more time asking, I am going to nail your little webbed feet to the ground!”

“OK”, says the duck and walks out.

The next day the duck walks in the store and says “Uh, got any nails?”
“No”, says the confused clerk.

The duck says, “Got any duck food?”

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