Humbler Craft: Rafts of the Egyptian Nile, 17th to 20th Centuries AD

Abstract

Accounts and images created by foreign travellers on the Egyptian Nile over the past four centuries indicate the widespread use of rafts and floats for both local and long-distance travel. Many of the materials employed survive poorly in archaeological deposits, or are otherwise easily overlooked as components of river-craft: moreover, several of these raft-types were built for a single journey or season, then dismantled. These travellers' accounts and images alert us to much humbler vessels than the well-preserved wooden boats of the Pharaonic elite which have so far commanded the attention of maritime archaeologists. © 2010 The Author