For most of pharaonic times the donkey was the only beast of burden. Caravans and expeditions along desert routes had to rely on donkeys because the dromedary camel was not introduced into Egypt until late in the first millennium bc. Horses were not found in Egypt until after the Middle Kingdom. In the New Kingdom kings and elite warriors are depicted riding in horse-drawn chariots, which were used in warfare and for hunting.
Domesticated dogs and cats are depicted in tomb scenes as pets. Dog remains have been found at sites as early as the fifth and fourth millennia bc: they were used for hunting and later also for police work. Cats were domesticated in Egypt, possibly as early as the old Kingdom. The cat would have been especially useful for pest control, as rats and mice were major problems anywhere that food was stored, especially cereals kept in state, temple, and private granaries.
For clothing, flax was cultivated to make linen, of which there were different qualities, depending mainly on the fineness of the weave. Fine linen was a major luxury product and export. Linen was also used to wrap mummies and to make sails for boats. Flax seeds were pressed for their oil. Egyptian cotton, which is highly desirable now because of its smoothness and strength, was not known in Egypt until Greco-Roman times.
Probably the most useful wild plant was the papyrus, which was cultivated in Greco-Roman times. Strips of its stalk were used to make small boats, mats, baskets, boxes, ropes, and sandals (see Figure 3.2). As a writing material, papyrus rolls were produced by skilled craftsmen and would have been an expensive commodity. Rushes and vegetation that grew along the river banks were also used for basketry as well as for writing pens. Halfa grass, which grows along waterways as well as on moist land, was important for boat riggings, including those which lashed the hull of Khufu’s ceremonial boat, buried next to his Giza pyramid. It was also used to make baskets, mats, and ropes.
Although the ancient Egyptians imported cedar from the Levant to build large boats and coffins, the country was not as resource poor in wood as some have assumed. The trunks of date and dom palms could be used as ceiling rafters in mud-brick houses, with their branches covering the beams, and the hard dense wood of the dom palm was used to make domestic artifacts. Palm leaves were also used to make baskets, and palm ribs were used to make boxes (and possibly furniture). The acacia tree is another common tree which grows along the margins of the desert and in wadis where there is ground water. Acacia wood was used to make statues and furniture, and even some boats, and was also processed to make charcoal. Other local woods used in crafts include those of the persea tree, sidder (Zizyphus spina-Christi), sycamore fig, tamarisk, and willow.
Figure 3.2 Fishing scene (from a papyrus boat), from the 6th-Dynasty tomb of Mereruka, Saqqara. Source: MyLoupe/uIG Via Getty Images.
World History
