Nara Women's University will participate in the restoration of the "Sun Ship" in ancient Egypt, which is being promoted by the Ministry of State of Antiquities of Egypt and the NPO Sun Ship Restoration Research Institute (Tokyo, Director, Sakuji Yoshimura, President of East Japan International University).Professor Takashi Nakazawa of the Faculty of Science will proceed with the analysis of protein components contained in wood chips and cloth of ships.
According to Nara Women's University, Ether Zidane of the Egyptian Ministry of State's Conservation and Restoration Department visited Nara Women's University and asked to investigate five types of sun ships, including pieces of wood and cloth from the second ship.In response to this, Professor Nakazawa and his colleagues use a mass spectrometer to analyze protein components such as collagen that may be contained in the sample.
The Sun Ships are two ships found near the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, and are said to have been built about 2 years ago for King Khufu, the Pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty of Egypt.It's not clear what it was made for, but it came to be called because it resembled a ritual ship carrying a resurrected king to the sun god Ra.
Of these, the first ship has a total length of 1 meters and a total width of 42.32 meters.It has already been restored and is on display at the Sun Ship Museum in Giza.
The second ship will be excavated in dismantled form and restored by combining more than 2 pieces of wood.Masts that were not on the first ship have also been found.Since there is evidence that it was used on the water, it is said that the corpse of the king was carried to Giza after the death of King Khufu, or that it was used for pilgrimage by King Khufu during his lifetime.
