Ballast from the past: Zayed National Museum rebuilds ancient ship after 4,000 years

Restoration of Bronze Age Magan boat looks back at Gulf’s maritime past while pointing to landmark's future

No metal, no glue – just reeds and rope. UAE teams keep old building techniques afloat. Photo: Emily Harris / Zayed National Museum

An unusual relic has been making waves in Abu Dhabi’s Mamsha Al Saadiyat. Anyone basking in the sunshine along the promenade may have seen an 18-metre-long boat with a 4000-year-old history cruising along the Arabian Gulf's azure waters.

And the Magan vessel from the Bronze Age is on a mission to recreate an important chapter from the UAE’s ancient past while pointing to the future of one of its most important cultural institutions.

Initiated by Zayed National Museum, the project to rebuild the boat aims to expand what we know about the Gulf’s maritime past and the wider history of ship construction. The boats once connected ancient Gulf communities to those as far away as Mesopotamia in modern-day Iraq and South Asia.

The recent voyage was a culmination of a project launched in 2021 with researchers from NYU Abu Dhabi and Zayed University.

Zayed National Museum director Peter Magee, who participated in the two-day expedition, recalls the experience as revelatory for all involved. "This project is not about me but of the myriad scholars, engineers and craftspeople from around the region and the globe who we brought together," he tells The National.

"But from a personal perspective, in my over 30 years of being engaged in historical and archaeological research in the UAE, it was the closest I have felt to a really strong connection to the people I have studied archaeologically for all those years."

Setting sail from Saadiyat Island, the boat was escorted by the UAE Coast Guard. It covered 50 nautical miles (92.6km) at a speed of up to 5.6 knots under a sail made of goat hair. The composition of the boat speaks to the ingenuity of the craftsmen in Magan, a term Magee says was used by foreigners to describe ancient UAE and parts of Oman.

Using raw material available at the time, the boat's outer hull is made from 15 tonnes of locally sourced reeds that were stripped of their leaves and crushed before being tied to bungles with date palm fibre rope. The core is made of wooden frames and coated in bitumen, a technique used by ancient shipbuilders in the region to waterproof their vessels.

That construction know-how was sourced through documents tracing back to ancient Iraq. "We used strands of information which come from different sources,” Magee says. "So on the one hand there are some very well-known sources amongst academics and scholars that study this and these are texts coming from ancient Iraq during a particular period about 4,100 years ago, which mentioned these Magan boats.

“So these texts are written in a script called Cuneiform and in different languages like Neo Sumerian and Babylonian.

“One particular text actually just lists the things that are needed to build one of these boats. These include how much wood and reeds are needed, as well as how many goat hairs are needed for the sail. It doesn't tell you how to do it, it just says this is the stuff that we need to build one of these boats."

Helping translate those facts into form was Eric Staples, an associate professor at Zayed University specialising in maritime archaeology. “Although reconstructions of Magan boats had been constructed in the past, none had been built on such a large scale, and we discovered that larger Bronze Age vessels such as this could actually be built and sailed effectively,” he says.

“We gained a much deeper knowledge of the materials used to build such boats to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of these revolutionary craft. We also gained a much deeper appreciation for the ingenuity and courage of the ancient shipbuilders and seafarers of the Bronze Age that built and sailed these vessels and connected the first civilisations of the world in the process.”

Emirati sailor and co-captain of the Magan boat, Marwan Abdullah Al Marzouqi, describes the boat as surprisingly nimble considering its size.

“When we first towed the boat out from the jetty, we were very careful," he says. "I was very aware it was made from only reeds, ropes and wood – there are no nails, no screws, no metal at all – and I was afraid of damaging her.

“But as we got under way, I soon realised that this was a strong boat. I was surprised by how this big boat, weighed down with a heavy ballast, moved so smoothly on the sea."

With the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi announcing that all "key assets" in the Saadiyat Cultural District are set for completion next year, the museum is poised to showcase the UAE's rich history and culture, while also positioning itself as a vigorous research institute.

“And that’s a key thing for the museum in that we are producing research that is extremely important," Magee says. "The museum is a blend of having a genuine desire to highlight something that existed thousands of years ago, and in doing so changing people's perceptions of a country whose cultural history stretches thousands of years.

“And on the other hand, it is also about producing deep scholarly research that is meticulous and careful in thought. And when it comes to the Magan boat it is right on target.”

With the boat on display when the museum opens, Magee says it forms the many stories it aims to tell about the UAE’s past. He describes its role as shedding light on important aspects of the country's history seemingly lost amidst its dazzling evolution.

“As an archaeologist and as a historian, our job is effectively to give voice to those who might have been forgotten or can no longer be heard ... we are not working from a blank canvas because the canvas itself is already rich and varied with lots of details,” Magee says. “And while it is sort of an archaeological cliche to say this, we are merely scratching the surface of the very deep and rich history here in the UAE.”