Funerary boats and boat pits of the Old kingdom

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of boats and boat pits of royal and non-royal provenance. Starting from the observation that in the Old Kingdom most of the boats from boat graves come in pairs or in a doubling of a pair the boats of the royal domain are compared with the pictorial representations of the private tombs of the Old Kingdom where the boats appear likewise in pairs and in ship convoys. The analysis of the ship scenes of the non-royal tomb complexes of the Old Kingdom leads to the result that the boats represented in the tomb decoration of the Old Kingdom are used during the night and day voyage of the tomb owner. Accordingly the ships in the royal boat graves are considered to be boats used by the king during his day and night journey.