* Astronomy

The oldest known remains of seafaring ships have been identified in a series of cave stores on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Built of cedar and acacia wood, the ships had been attacked by marine worms, and the site seems to have been a shipbreaker’s yard dating to the middle of the second millennium BC.

The discovery, at Wadi Gawasis near the modern port of Safaga, also yielded boxes which give vital clues on Egyptian contact with the mysterious kingdom of Punt. The ship timbers there suggest that parts of pharaonic seagoing vessels were fabricated in the Nile Valley and transported overland for assembly on the coast, according to Cheryl Ward of Florida State University.
River vessels for use on the Nile have long been known, including the ceremonial boats from the Great Pyramid at Giza, dating to around 2,500BC, and four others of the reign of Senwosret III from Dashur not far to the south.

“The presence of extensive damage to planks and fastenings by the shipworm or marine borer provides irrefutable evidence of seafaring. Most of the timbers were in contexts that indicate their reuse in ramps and walkways, and many were significantly reworked” - Cheryl Ward

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