TAA i.3.1.21

                                                    4.

main beam, while on the forward side of this beam there is a

similar but smaller spar stepped in the keel and cut off a 

little above the beam. A lashing which passes round the mast

and also round the head of this spar adds greatly to the 

security of the mast.

          None of the models of this class show any cabin, and 

reference to contemporary frescoes show that boats similar to 

those represented were in general use as <fishing boats,> small cargo boats 

and for general transport<,> throughout the XVIII Dynasty. One 

such small boat is seen in the Deir el Bahari fresco of the 

expedition to Punt and similar boats appear in every<->day

scenes in the Tombs of Amenemhet, Huy and Apy (the last of 

the time of Rameses I).

          Some of these frescoes make it quite clear that these 

boats were built up of comparatively short lengths of timber, 

in the same way as were the boats of the XII Dynasty. In these 

latter boats the sections were very nearly semicircular and 

while there was no projecting keel, stem or stern post, the 

skin planking along the central longitudinal line was laid 

first, while the spaces between this and the gunwales were 

filled in later, and very irregularly. Owing to the absence 

of ribs, the deck-beams constituted a most important structural 

feature and frequently projected along the sides beyond the 

skin-planking<, as in some of the Tutankhamen models.>

          It is probably, that except for their cleft sterns, the 

construction of the boats represented by this set of models was 

exactly similar to those of the XII Dynasty and it is worth 

noting that the same construction is still to be found in the 

similarly shaped "dinghies" of the Ganges. There, however, iron 

fastenings now replace the older wooden pegs, while European

influence has caused the addition of a few ribs.

          As these models represent the ordinary Nile boats of the 

time, and are also more numerous than any other type – twelve

in all – it would seem likely that their function was to tow