It's a boat Jim...

..but not as we know it.

Think of a boat.. any boat you've ever been on that's made of wood. And take away the nails.
What have you got left? Hmmm.. not a lot..

Keel bolts, clinch nails, trenails and iron spikes. Simple, but extremely effective for holding things together - which is what makes the Cheops boat so special (apart from being four and a half thousand years old). It's held together by string...

All lashed together. Frames, stem post, planking, keel - everything. Quite extraordinary.. It's actually a technique used in arab boatbuilding until quite recently but it is still impressive to see the ingenuity and skill it took to build something this big.

I saw the Dover Boat when it was first discovered - a well preserved bronze age plank boat that is built with similar techniques - but Cheops is twice as large and a thousand years older.

Amazing...