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f o r a r c h a e o l o g y, h i s t o ry
a n d a r c h a e o m e t ry o f
marbles and stones
9 2013
offprint
p i s a ro m a
fa b r i z i o s e r r a e d i to r e
m m xv
Direttore Editor
Lorenzo Lazzarini Universit i.u.a.v. (Venezia)
Archeometria Archaeometry
Aurelio lvarez Perez Universit Autonoma di Barcellona
Vincent Barbin Universit Reims-Champagne-Ardenne (f)
Claudio DAmico Universit di Bologna
James A. Harrell Universit di Toledo (oh, u.s.a.)
Marino Maggetti Universit di Friburgo (ch)
Myrsini Varti-Matarangas i.g.m.e. (Atene)
Abstract
An analysis is made of the tools and methods for quarrying limestone and sandstone in ancient
Egypt. It is concluded that the chisel, originally of copper and later of bronze or iron, was the prin-
cipal quarrying tool during all periods, with chisels becoming longer (over 50 cm) at the beginning
of the New Kingdom (about 1500 bc). Iron picks and wedges were also occasionally used during the
Graeco-Roman period and perhaps also earlier in the Late Period. Prior to the New Kingdom, stone
in open-cut quarries was mainly extracted in a non-systematic manner with blocks removed individ-
ually or in small groups. From the New Kingdom onward, quarrying was usually done more sys-
tematically with multiple blocks extracted simultaneously on descending bedrock platforms, a method
of quarrying which first appeared in the early Old Kingdom (about 2500 bc). Stone extraction in the
underground gallery quarries was similar in all periods with blocks removed sequentially from ceil-
ing to floor along the walls. The use of descending platforms and long chisels were major quarrying
innovations. Although the former continued in use up until the present day, ancient Egyptian con-
servatism prevented the general adoption of quarrying tools more advanced than the chisel, such as
picks.
keywords: Egypt, limestone, sandstone, quarries, quarrying tools and methods.
** Addresses for correspondence: Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Toledo, 2801 West
Bancroft St., Toledo, 43606-3390 (oh, usa). james.harrell@utoledo.edu ** Archaeology and Conservation
Services, Myklebustfeltet, n 6957 Hyllestad (Norway). per.storemyr@hotmail.com
marmora 9 2013
20 james a. harrell per storemyr
Table 1. Ancient Egyptian Chronology (adapted from Baines and Malek 2000, 36-37).
Fig. 1. Map of Egypt showing localities mentioned in the paper (drawing James A. Harrell).
limestone and sandstone quarrying in ancient egypt 21
in extracting these two rock types, although certainly by the 30th Dynasty, the still harder
earlier attempts were made by Clarke and iron (actually carburized iron or steel) tools
Engelbach (1930, 12-22), Arnold (1991, 27-36) came into use (Harrell and Brown 1999:
and, to a lesser extent, Klemm and Klemm 19-20; Ogden 2000, 166-168). The specific
(1993, 260-266; 2008, 194-201). In this paper tool forms employed in quarrying Egyptian
we present the results of such an analysis, soft stones have long been a matter of some
one based on surviving stone-working tools debate because, with the two exceptions not-
as well as our observations of tool marks ed below, no recognizable metal tools have
and other extraction features within quar- been recovered from the limestone and sand-
ries. We will concentrate on the tools used stone quarries. Our understanding of what
for cutting blocks of stone from bedrock as was used is based, therefore, on tools found
well as on the association of these tools at ancient construction sites where these
with quarrying methods. Brief comparisons stones were carved (i.e., pyramids, temples
with ancient and Medieval analogues else- and tombs), ancient tomb and stela scenes
where in the Mediterranean region and showing workers dressing blocks of these
beyond are also attempted. Tools such as stones (e.g., in the 18th Dynasty tomb of
levers and ropes, which must have been very Rekhmira at Thebes - Davies 1943, pl. 52; and
important in stone quarrying, are omitted in the 19th Dynasty stela of Ramesses II in
from the discussion as are issues related to the Gebel el-Silsila sandstone quarry - Mar-
transportation. tinez 2009, fig. 9), and tool marks preserved
on quarry walls.
2. Stone-Working Tools and 2. 1. Chisels in the Dynastic Period
Quarry Tool Marks
Available evidence indicates that the primary
In Dynastic Egypt the harder stones gran- tool employed in limestone and sandstone
ite, metagraywacke and silicified sandstone quarrying during the Dynastic period was the
(or quartzite) among others were quarried chisel. These were made from metal bars that
with stone tools, such as the dolerite were rectangular or circular in cross-section
pounders (Petrie 1917, 46; Arnold 1991, with the cutting ends tapering to either a
258-264; Kelany et alii 2010), and also by fire- point or a wide, flat edge (Petrie 1917, 20;
setting (Clarke and Engelbach 1930, 27; Arnold 1991, 257-259; for examples of chisels
Storemyr et alii 2002, 27; Heldal and Sto- see also the University College London web-
remyr forthcoming). Blocks of hard stone site at www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/tools/
were sometimes dressed with metal tools chisel.html). These tools, which were struck
and this was perhaps the function of the 24 with a wooden mallet, were typically be-
cm-long, inscribed copper chisel of the 4th tween 15 and 25 cm in length prior to the New
Dynasty found in the so-called Chephrens Kingdom and subsequently often over 50 cm
Quarry (for anorthosite and gabbro gneiss- in length (Figs. 2-3). Chisels leave distinctive
es) in Egypts western Nubian Desert (Rowe tracks on quarry walls and these are seg-
1938, 391-393) and now in Cairos Egyptian mented grooves, where each segment (usual-
Museum ( JE 68754). It is also possible that ly less than 1 cm long) represents a single
this tool is actually a gad, which was ham- strike of the mallet (Figs. 4, 9-12). The
mered into pre-existing fractures to widen grooves are quite narrow (less than 1 cm)
them and so facilitate block extraction. In when cut with a pointed chisel or the corner
contrast, the softer limestone and sandstone of a flat-edged one, but they show a flat
were quarried with metal tools. Initially they chisels full width when its cutting edge was
were of copper (and also copper-arsenic al- oriented parallel to the stone surface (e.g.,
loy) and then, beginning in the Middle King- Fig. 16).
dom, these were gradually replaced by the With the exceptions of the copper chisel
harder bronze tools (Davies 1987, 24; Ogden or gad from Chephrens Quarry noted above
2000, 149-161). By sometime in the Late Peri- and the tip of a bronze chisel of probably
od, perhaps as early as the 26th Dynasty but Middle Kingdom date from the Gebel el-Sil-
22 james a. harrell per storemyr
Fig. 4. Segmented chisel tracks in the New Kingdom part of the Nag el-Hammam
sandstone quarry near Gebel el-Silsila. Note the deep, narrow trench at left which
must have been cut with a long chisel. Smallest scale division is 1 cm
(photo James A. Harrell).
b
Fig. 5. a. Bronze chisel of the 19th or 21st Dynasty from the el-Dibabiya limestone quarry near
el-Gebelein and now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo ( JE 31318), length 52 cm (photo adapted from
Clarke and Engelbach 1930, fig. 263); b. Bronze chisel of the 18th Dynasty, reign of
Akhenaten/Amenhotep IV from Tell el-Amarna and now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo
( JE 64979), length 67.2 cm (photo from Pendlebury 1951, vol. 2, pl. 74).
The chisels are shown at their correct relative sizes.
24 james a. harrell per storemyr
Fig. 6. Bronze hammer head of the 18th Dynasty, reign of Akhenaten/Amenhotep IV,
from Tell el-Amarna and now in the gyptisches Museum Berlin (M 20712),
length 23 cm, with top (above) and side (below) views (photo Iris Hertel,
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, gyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung).
Fig. 7. Trench cut by a long chisel in the New Kingdom part of the Nag el-Hammam sandstone
quarry near Gebel el-Silsila. Note the chisel tracks running from top to bottom on the trench wall.
Smallest scale division is 1 cm (photo James A. Harrell).
limestone and sandstone quarrying in ancient egypt 25
Fig. 12. Pre-cut wedge holes along a natural fracture (at bottom center and right)
and chisel tracks (on walls at left and above) in the Roman Gebel el-Qurna
sandstone quarry near Aswan (photo Per Storemyr).
limestone and sandstone quarrying in ancient egypt 29
Fig. 14. Tool marks in the Middle Kingdom part Fig. 15. Tool marks in the New Kingdom part of
of the Nag el-Hammam sandstone quarry near the Nag el-Hammam sandstone quarry near
Gebel el-Silsila (photo James A. Harrell). Gebel el-Silsila (photo James A. Harrell).
Fig. 16. Chisel holes left in a failed attempted to Fig. 17. Lever sockets in the New Kingdom part
induce a fracture along the base of a block in the of the Nag el-Hammam sandstone quarry near
Middle Kingdom Wadi Shatt el-Rigal sandstone Gebel el-Silsila. Splitting occurred along horizon-
quarry near Gebel el-Silsila. Note the chisel tracks tal bedding planes within the rock. Smallest scale
above the holes, apparently made by the same tool division is 1 cm (photo James A. Harrell).
that produced the holes. Smallest scale division
is 1 cm (photo James A. Harrell).
Fig. 22. Single-block extraction in the 4th Dynasty Khufu limestone quarry
southeast of the Khafre pyramid at Giza. Behind the quarry in the foreground
are rock-cut tombs and the Khafre pyramid (photo Per Storemyr).
trench cut from multiple directions, thus nasty. There was, however, a geological
leaving a haphazard pattern of tool tracks. prerequisite for this approach: thick, hori-
The resulting quarry surfaces are character- zontal beds of relatively homogenous lime-
ized by small, irregular, disconnected steps, stone and sandstone with few open cracks or
and walls with faint or no outlines of the ex- joint fissures. Rock outcrops were reduced
tracted blocks (Figs. 14 and 26). along large bedrock platforms from which
A more systematic, industrial-like ap- multiple blocks were extracted simultane-
proach to quarrying was adopted in the 18th ously. The chessboard-pattern of separation
Dynasty. The motivation for this, we believe, trenches on the larger platforms required less
was the need for large numbers of blocks in total bedrock cutting, block for block, than in
relatively standardized sizes for the increase the earlier single-block extraction and thus
in temple construction at the beginning of led to greater quarrying efficiency. The two
the New Kingdom, an industry that contin- perpendicular sets of platform-spanning
ued to flourish until the end of the 20th Dy- trenches (e.g., at right in Figure 25) provided a
34 james a. harrell per storemyr
Fig. 27. Platform extraction levels on the wall of the Roman Nazlet Hussein Ali
limestone quarry near el-Minya. Note the regularly spaced, vertical gashes left
at each platform level representing block widths (photo James A. Harrell).
36 james a. harrell per storemyr
Fig. 28. The 18th Dynasty Queen Tiy limestone quarry near Tell el-Amarna. Note the parallel chisel
tracks from a small descending platform at right and the non-systematic quarrying traces to the left
which resemble those in Middle Kingdom quarries (photo James A. Harrell).
Fig. 30. Limestone quarry in Ciutadella, Menorca (Balearic Islands, Spain), which was worked with
double picks on descending platforms (photo from Wikimedia Commons,
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S%27Hostal_pedreres765.JPG
(Licence: Creative Commons, Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported).
38 james a. harrell per storemyr
Fig. 31. Sandstone quarry in Krauchtal, near Berne (Switzerland). In this 19th
century quarry, trenches were cut with double picks on descending platforms,
with a heavily deteriorated one visible at center (photo Per Storemyr).
Fig. 32. Making separation trenches on a broad platform with heavy, double picks
(the German Schrotpickel) in the large Ostermundigen sandstone quarry near Berne
(Switzerland) in 1951 (photo by W. Nydegger as reproduced in Schmalz 1983,
30 along with several other very illustrative images of traditional extraction
techniques that were in full use in the modern era at Ostermundigen
well after more modern quarrying techniques became available).
limestone and sandstone quarrying in ancient egypt 39
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Febbraio 2015
(cz 3 fg 22)
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issn 1824-6214
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SOMMARIO
saggi
James A. Harrell, Per Storemyr, Limestone and sandstone quarrying in ancient Egypt:
tools, methods, and analogues 19
Ameur Youns, Les marbres des thermes de Ruspina (Henchir Tennir, Monastir, Tunisie) 45
Myrsini Varti-Matarangas, Dionysis Matarangas, Ancient marble quarries in Lesvos
Island (Greece): geological and petrographical characteristics 53
Antonio Mesisca, Lorenzo Lazzarini, Monica Salvadori, Studio ed analisi archeo-
metrica degli elementi marmorei ritrovati nel ninfeo romano di Aeclanum (Mirabella Eclano,
Avellino, Italia) 73
Michele Agus, Stefano Cara, Carlo Garbarino, Carlo Matzuzzi, Studio di al-
cune colonne granitiche della citt romana di Uthina (Tunisia) e sulle loro antiche cave del
Nord Sardegna 87
Silvia Michelucci, Elementi architettonici marmorei di reimpiego nella chiesa di San Sisto
in Pisa 109
note e discussioni
Lorenzo Lazzarini, Natura e origine della pietra del carico Bacn 1 naufragato nel xv se-
colo alla bocca del Lido di Venezia 131
recensioni
Filippo Venturini, I mosaici di Cirene di et ellenistica e romana (Malacrino) 143
Paolo Coen, Giovan Battista Fidanza (a cura di), Le pietre rivelate. Lo studio di molte pie-
tre di Pier Leone Ghezzi, Manoscritto 322 della Biblioteca Universitaria Alessandrina (Laz-
zarini) 145