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Industry : Stoneworking
Stoneworking
QUARRYINGThe advent of copper tools first made it possible to quarry stone on a large scale for building purposes. Quarrying, an important aspect of the Egyptian economy and a necessary preliminary to the construction of pyramids, tombs, and temples, was one of the king’s major responsibilities. In periods of great building activity, such as the Old and New Kingdoms, major expeditions were sent out by royal command to exploit the quarries, which like so many other areas of the economy were a state monopoly. The earliest quarrying started in the north: The finest white limestone, frequently used to provide a working surface on temple and tomb walls for the carving of bas-reliefs, came from Tura (the ancient Roan, opposite Memphis). Here, it was necessary to tunnel deep to reach the best stone, and large caverns were hollowed out, leaving natural pillars to support the roof. Alabaster came from the Eastern Desert, and the main quarry, called Hat-nub, was situated in Middle Egypt, about twelve miles from Amarna (Akhetaten). This provided ribbon alabaster, which was made into plates, dishes, and statues. Granite was quarried around Aswan, where huge blocks of stone were roughly prepared and even dressed before they left the site for their eventual use as obelisks, colossal statues, and sarcophagi. Further south, diorite (an even harder stone than granite) was quarried as early as the Old Kingdom, but the operation was so difficult that it was discontinued after Dynasty 12. Schist deposits were found in the Eastern Desert, in the Wadi Hammamat; this stone was more easily worked than diorite and was highly prized by sculptors. Although some blocks of schist were already lying loose or were only partly attached to the parent rock and could therefore be collected rather than mined, the journey to this district was long and arduous. Schist is fragile, and the blocks not infrequently shattered into fragments as they were being transported. Nevertheless, the area was worked throughout the Pharaonic Period. Most quarries were not worked continuously. The king dispatched a large-scale expedition when he decided to build a monument. In Dynasty 12 several expeditions were organized that included army personnel to administer the project, courtiers, artisans, and caterers. According to custom, the expedition was led by a senior official, and on one occasion in the reign of Senusret I it was recorded that the force brought back 150 statues and 60 sphinxes. Inscriptions left in the quarries by the officials often provide valuable information about these ventures. .
WORKING METHODS
Sufficient evidence survives in the monuments,
statues, and partly excavated blocks abandoned in the quarries to
provide evidence about their working methods. For sandstone and
limestone, trenches were cut in the rock to isolate a block on four
sides, and then wooden wedges or beams wetted with water were used
to detach it from below. The masons employed stone and metal
chisels, stone hammers and picks, and wooden mallets to remove the
block in steps from the top downward. Hard stone such as granite,
basalt, and quartzite was probably first obtained from fallen or
easily detached blocks. Only from the Middle Kingdom, when obelisks
and colossal statues began to be used in monuments, did they begin
to quarry stone from the living rock, using balls of dolerite for
pounding and inserting wooden or metal wedges into slots that had
been cut into the stone with a metal tool. Various stages have been
identified in the preparation of the stone blocks used in buildings,
statuary, and the production of stone vessels. These include:
pounding the block with a stone; rubbing it with stones and an
abrasive powder; sawing it with a copper blade and an abrasive
powder; boring it with a copper tubular drill and an abrasive
powder; and drilling it with a copper or stone point and abrasive
powder. The tubular drill used for boring out stone vessels is of
particular interest; it consisted of a hollow tube of copper that
was rolled between the hands or rotated by means of a bow. Another
boring tool the bow drill consisted of a drill with a wooden handle
and a crescentshaped flint bit that was turned by hand. Heavy stones
were attached to the drill handle to provide weight. For the
production of large vessels two men were engaged in rotating the
device a process that is shown in several tomb scenes. Egyptian
expertise in stoneworking was first exemplified in the magnificent
vases and vessels carved from hard stone in predynastic times, but
by the Old Kingdom craftsmen had developed the skills necessary to
quarry and dress large blocks of stone for monumental buildings and
to sculpt the magnificent divine and royal statues that adorned
their major monuments.
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Industry : Stoneworking
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