Egyptian culture grew up around the fertile farms along the Nile river, making boats an essential part of ancient Egyptian life. The earliest vessels were made from papyrus, bundled together, but by 3000 BCE wooden boats were being piloted up and down the Nile. Few of these boats remain for archeological study, but many models and paintings of boats were included in tombs, intended to transfer the possessions of the deceased to the afterlife. We don't know if this boat and its nine crewmen made it to A'aru, but they survived to the present day, to show us how ancient Egyptians traversed the waters of this life.
