Quartzite in Ancient Egypt

Quartzite, the hardest and toughest stone normally encountered in  nature  (7  on  Mohs  Scale  of  Hardness).  The Egyptian variety  is  a  sedimentary stone, correctly termed an "orthoquartzite" (to distinguish it  from  the  metamorphic  quartzites).  Quartzite  is  composed  of  quartz  (a  crystalline form of silica) grains solidly cemented with chemical silica— so  the  cement  and  the  grains  are  of  the  same  material.  Silica  cement  interlocks  the  grains  and  fills  in  the  pore  spaces,  making  a  dense,  compact stone of great strength.

Egyptian  quartzite  quarries  are  located  at  Gebel  Ahmar  near  Cairo,  at  Gebel Gulab, and at Gebel Tingar near Aswan (within  the  Oligocene  Gebel  Ahmar  Formation).  Other  sites  occur  within  silicified  Upper Cretaceous  Nubia  Group  sandstones  (the  Umm  Barmil  Formation).  Egyptian quartzite  is  usually  white,  with  reddish, yellow, and orange varieties, the colors being produced by iron  oxides. It was often used for sarcophagi, statues, and portcullis stones.  Quartzite behaves much like large quartz masses (also 7 on Mohs Scale  of  Hardness)  and  can  be  worked  with  little  concern  for  breakage  or  cleavage—but it was not ordinarily used as an architectural stone. None- theless,  some  examples  include  pillars  in  Pepy  Us  pyramid  court  at  Saqqara; the burial chamber of Amenemhat III (1844-1797) at Hawara; the Tuthmosis III (1504-1450) Chapelle Rouge blocks at Luxor; and included here for their immense  size, the so-called Colossi of Memnon at Luxor. These colossal statues  were sculpted from single quartzite blocks of 21.3 meters (64 feet). Since  quartzite  occurs  mainly  in  Lower  Egypt,  the  transport  of  such  large  stones upriver must have been a serious consideration.

For sculpture, quartzite takes a fine polish and the colors can be used  for  pleasing  effects.  Examples  include  the  head  of  Nefertiti and  the  wonderful  figures  of King Amenhotep III (1382-1344). Betsy Bryan  (Kozloff  and  Bryan  1992) states that quartzite was chosen as "an indicator of the solar devo- tion, for red, yellow, and gold tones were considered the sun colors."  Quartzite  was  far  harder  than  the  metal  tools  (copper,  bronze)  available, so it must have been worked with tools fabricated from other  forms  of  quartz—chert  (flint)—as  well  as  quartz  fragments.  The  final  finishing  would  have  been  done  by  polishing  with  rubbing  blocks  and  quartz sand. This extreme hardness may have made quartzite a "status"  stone for statuary.  Quartzite was known to ancient Egyptians as nmti, nmtt, biJyt, biyt,  inr-n-dw, mr-n-bnwt, mr-nfr-n -biyt-'yt, inr-n-rwdt nt-dw-dsr, and mr-n- bnwt.

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