A reproduction of a type of Bronze Age vessel known as a ‘Magan Boat’ has just completed its maiden voyage off the coast of Abu Dhabi.
The ‘Magan Boat’ is named after an ancient region in present-day Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Such ships played a key role c.4,000 years ago in the area’s thriving maritime trade networks, which stretched as far as Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.
Work on the replica boat started in 2021 as part of a project led by the planned Zayed National Museum in partnership with Zayed University and NYU Abu Dhabi. An international team of researchers carried out hundreds of experiments during its construction, using traditional techniques dating back to 2100 BC and raw materials based on a list for building ‘the boats of Magan’ recorded in Sumerian on a clay tablet found at Tello (ancient Girsu) in Iraq.
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