Giza visitors admire ancient ship.

27 Jul, 2008

Visitors to Giza southwest of Cairo can now view hundreds of fragments of an ancient wooden ship buried in an underground chamber next to the Great Pyramid thanks to a remotely controlled camera inserted through the ceiling. The technology will also allow archaeologists to inspect the remains without exposing them to potentially damaging atmospheric conditions before beginning a planned reconstruction later this year. This is the first time that such technology has been used in Egypt to inspect remains buried underground.

The remains are of a 4,500-year-old ship thought to have been designed to carry the pharaohs into the afterlife. A similar craft was discovered in pieces in 1954 and has since been painstakingly reassembled and is on display in a nearby museum.