Speakers

Dr Mohamed  Abd El-Maguid
General Director, Central Department of Underwater Antiquities (CDUA), Ministry of ‎Antiquities, Egypt

Biography:

Mohamed Mostafa Abd El-Meguid is the General Director of the Central Department of Underwater Antiquities and Member of the Academic Board of the Center for Hellenistic Studies, Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He obtained his PhD in Archaeology (2009) from the University of Provence, France. He is a Lecturer at the Alexandria Centre for Maritime Archaeology and Underwater Cultural Heritage (CMAUCH) of the Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University; and the Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University; as well as the Center for Hellenistic Studies, Bibliotheca Alexandrina. He is a Fellow at Camille Jullian Centre, French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France; and Scientific Advisor of the Khufu Second Boat Project; and Vice-President of the National Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). Mohamed M. Abdel Meguid participated in the first underwater scientific excavations in Egypt, in 1994; and also large areas of land and underwater excavations in Egypt and Europe since 1992. He also participated in the discussion and drafting of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001), and several conferences as well, inside Egypt and abroad, where he presented research papers published in different scientific periodicals. In addition, he participated in international and regional meetings as a representative of the Egyptian Government, and an expert on underwater and maritime archaeology.

Abstract:

Characteristics of Ancient Egyptian Boats and Ships

Although the first discovery of boats took place in Dahshur in the last decade of the 19th century, the first 15 years of the 21st century helped to explore the principles and methods of shipbuilding in Ancient Egypt, to observe their evolution during the Pharaonic Period, and to distinguish some scientific principles to differentiate between river and sea ships; as well as between some types of boats used in various activities, not on hull form basis as was the case in the past, but depending on the philosophy of boat building and methods to strengthen them. The main reason of this evolution is the increasing number of findings of boats and boat parts, in the Desert of Giza, Abu Rawash, and Red Sea Coast, as well as Abu Qir Bay. These discoveries enabled the comparison between different boats to learn the philosophy, the basic principles and some specific standards of their construction.