Excavating an ancient ship that “slept” for 2,500 years at the bottom of the Nile River

A team of archaeologists from the University of Oxford's Centre for Maritime Archaeology (UK) has just discovered "one of the most elusive ships from the ancient world" - the Nile river ship "baris".

Previously, Baris was known only in 23 lines of the Historia by the famous Greek historian Herodotus. During a trip to Egypt, he witnessed the construction of a baris, which was used by the Egyptians to sail in and out of the busy trading ports on the Nile.

The Baris ship that slept at the bottom of the Nile River for nearly 2,500 years has just been excavated.

The Baris was unlike any other ship. It had a flat bottom, a rudder that passed through a hole in the deck, a mast made of acacia wood, and sails made of papyrus. In other words, it was more like a barge than a ship.

For 2,500 years, the strange ship has remained a mystery to modern archaeologists and historians. No evidence of the baris has ever been found.

The thick planks assembled with mortise and tenon joints and filled with papyrus remain intact after nearly 25 centuries.

But this time the expedition team was lucky to excavate the ship with the same shape as described in the legendary history at the port of Thonis-Heracleion on the banks of the Nile.

The ship, built in the 5th century BC, has only been excavated halfway, but enough has been found for scientists to realize that it was an extremely large ship and an incredible engineering achievement for the pre-Christian world. They estimate that the ship was originally 28 meters long, built by stacking many thick, 1 meter long planks, assembling them into a long wooden frame, connected only by wooden joints. The seams were covered inside with papyrus.

Drawing of the strange Nile ship's shape based on found wreckage.

When the ship wore out, it was repurposed as a floating dock. The ancient Egyptians used it to transport goods across the river. In its heyday, the Nile had dozens of these ancient barges.

"Baris would have transported imports from Greece and Persia further down the Nile, to cities in the valley; and would have taken goods from Egypt such as grain or natron salt for export," said researcher Damian Robinson, director of the University of Oxford's Centre for Maritime Archaeology.

Herodotus - Greek historian, the only person who wrote about mysterious ships that once sailed up and down the fertile Nile River.

The ship and other finds from the port of Thonis-Heracleion are currently on display at the exhibition "Sunken Cities of Egypt" at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (USA).