The Boat Pits on the Giza Plateau.

Up to today, seven boat pits have been located around the Great Pyramid. The pits are carved into the plateau's limestone rock. Five of them are boat-shaped but no boats were found inside them. The other two pits are rectangular and had a boat stored inside. These 2 pits were covered with huge limestone lintel blocks sealing them in, keeping them airtight. One of these pits is not yet excavated while from the other the disassembled parts have been dug up, reassembled and placed on display as the Pharaoh Khufu's funerary boat.

The 1,224 pieces of the ship had been laid in a logical, 

disassembled order in the pit beside the pyramid.

Khufu's ship is one of the oldest, largest and best-preserved vessels from antiquity. It measures 43.6 m (143 ft) long and 5.9 m (19.5 ft) wide. It was sealed into a pit in the Giza pyramid complex at the foot of the Great Pyramid around 2500 BC and apparently was part of the grave goods intended for use in the afterlife.

The ship was built with a flat bottom composed of several planks and frames made of Lebanese cedar, lashed together with Halvah grass. The boat is made from 1,224 pieces of wood.

This type of vessel is known as ''the solar barge'' and its function probably was to carry the resurrected king with the sun god Ra across the heavens.