Stonework with alabaster was one of Egypt's earliest industries (4000 BC). Two ancient alabaster sites are known. One site was at Wadi Gerawi, and the other at Helwan. You might think a carver of alabaster or marble has it tough. People (usually tourists) marvel at these common carvings, but the alabaster carver only has to take a chisel and hammer, some hand files and sandpaper to finish his work. Just remember, alabaster is nothing more than gypsum. Look at drywall. It's gypsum and you can scratch it with your fingernail.
High-quality building stones were abundant in Egypt; the ancient Egyptians quarried limestone all along the Nile valley, granite from Aswan, and basalt and sandstone from the wadis of the eastern desert. Deposits of decorative stones such as porphyry, greywacke, alabaster, and carnelian dotted the eastern desert and were collected even before the First Dynasty. In the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, miners worked deposits of emeralds in Wadi Sikait and amethyst in Wadi el-Hudi. Egyptian alabaster was not only for small vessels, statuettes and offering tables, but also for royal purposes, such as colossal statuary and architectural elements.
Alabaster barrel vase Naqada II, 3200–3500 BC Petrie Museum
Alabaster Head of King Menkaura, made during his reign (circa 2548-2530 B.C.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Museum Expedition 09.203
Tutankhamun's Alabaster Boat Egyptian National Museum
King Aspelta’s Napatan Period, 593–568 B.C. Nineteen of Aspelta’s vessels made from alabaster.
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A map of mines, quarries and other resources in Ancient Egypt
Extraction and Tools
Quarrymen and masons, like other craftsmen, had to be content with a small selection of implements. The tools used by workmen in quarries and mines depended, of course, on the type of material being removed. The types of tools used for the quarrying of softer stones during the Pharaonic Period has not been definitively determined. However, judging by the marks on walls, some type of axe or pointed pick, perhaps made of a hard stone such as basalt or dolerite and weighing between one and three kilograms, was probably used in the Old and Middle Kingdoms. During the New Kingdom and later periods, the workmen employed pointed chisels that were hammered with a mallet. The very wide grooves on the surface of a few stone blocks suggest that a very large stone chisel was sometimes used. It is also possible that soft stone was sometimes cut with copper saws that had a toothed edge embedded with grains of sand during the forging.
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 were used from the New Kingdom onward. However, others have pointed out that harder alloys would have already been available during the Old Kingdom. Chisels that have survived at ancient construction sites usually have a broad, flat cutting edge rather than a point. Chret and flint tools were also used for stone working.
Long range hauling of blocks, statues, obelisks and other items was made via the Nile River. As the program of great stone building projects developed from the 3rd Dynasty on, regular Nile side shipyards arose.
Posts: 1549 | From: California, USA | Registered: Jan 2006
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Especially the canopic jars made of alabaster in the museum are very beautiful.
Posts: 2591 | From: **Ex Oriente Lux** | Registered: Jan 2007
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I have never seen those Tut's canopic jars 4 all together. 1 of them was always out of Egypt for exhibitions... Thanks Posts: 2591 | From: **Ex Oriente Lux** | Registered: Jan 2007
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