How many boat pits surround the Great Pyramid?

Five boat pits surround the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Three pits lie on the pyramid’s eastern side, while two larger, rectangular pits were cut into the bedrock south of the monument. Together, they form one of the most important surviving clues to royal funerary practices during Egypt’s Fourth Dynasty, around 2500 BCE.

The pits were designed to hold boats, probably for the pharaoh’s journey through the afterlife. The best-known discovery was made in 1954, when archaeologist Kamal el-Mallakh found a sealed southern pit containing 1,224 pieces of cedar wood. Conservators spent about 14 years reassembling the vessel, now known as the Khufu ship. It is roughly 43.6 metres long.

A common mix-up is confusing the five pits around Khufu’s pyramid with the five boat pits associated with Khafre’s pyramid. The Great Pyramid’s eastern pits are boat-shaped, whereas the southern pits are long and rectangular. A second southern pit was discovered in the 1980s and excavation began in 2011.