Quarrying Tools in Ancient Egypt

The types of tools used for the quarrying of  soft  stones  (Mohs  1-5)  during  pharaonic times  has  not  been  definitively  determined.  Judging  from  the  marks  preserved  on  quarry walls, some type of axe or pointed pick was probably used  in  the Old and Middle Kingdoms, whereas  a  pointed  chisel  hammered  with  mallet  was  evidently  employed  from  the  New Kingdom onward. The wide grooves on the surfaces of a few stone  blocks suggest that a very large stone chisel may sometimes have  been used. Some Egyptologists have argued that most of the tool  marks  were  made  by  soft  copper  chisels  in  the  Old  and  Middle  Kingdoms  and  harder  copper  or  bronze  chisels  from  the  New  Kingdom  onward  (with  characteristic  patterns  possibly  deriving  from specific chronological phases); others have pointed out that  harder  alloys  would  already  have  been  available  during  the  Old  Kingdom. Those chisels that have survived at ancient construction  sites  usually  have  a  broad,  flat  cutting  edge  rather  than  a  point.  Chert and flint (Mohs 7) tools were also used for stoneworkine.

As far as the extraction of such hard stones as granite (Mohs 6-7) is  concerned, it was once assumed—because of the many surviving groups  of  rectangular  wedge  holes  at  Aswan—that  the  rock  was  removed  by  inserting wet wooden wedges into holes and levering the blocks away  from the bedrock. It has been pointed out, however, that even wooden  wedges soaked in water would generally not have been strong enough to  break the granite, and that no wedge holes have yet been securely dated  to pharaonic times. Iron wedges could have been used to extract hard  stones from the Ptolemaic period onward. Various experimental studies  and analyses of the quarries at Aswan suggest that the actual process of  extraction  in  pharaonic  times  involved  the  excavation  of  opencast  quarries,  by  means  of  hammerstones,  gradually  removing  the  desired  stone from the surface downward. In the quartzite quarry at Gebel Gulab  (on  the  western  bank  at  Aswan),  a  broken  obelisk  inscribed  with  the  name of the nineteenth dynasty ruler Sety I survives  in  situ  near  the  quarry face from which it was extracted. The nearby quarry face shows  definite traces of the use of stone pounders. Pounder marks have also  been found at Qau el-Kebir, in a limestone quarry of unusually dense  and hard rock (limestone may be soft [Mohs 3], medium [Mohs 4], or  dense and hard [Mohs 5]). Further evidence for the extraction of stone  by pounding has survived in the form of a set of marks in the siltstone  quarry  of  the  Wadi Hammamat, which  may  well  date  to  pharaonic  times.

Recent Pages:


Labels