Egyptologist, carve us a vase: stoneworking tools and methods

"The methods employed by the Egyptians in cutting the hard stones which they so frequently worked, have long remained undetermined. Various suggestions have been made, some very impractical; but no actual proofs of the tools employed, or the manner of using them, have been obtained.


The typical method of working hard stones - such as granite, diorite, basalt, etc.- was by means of bronze tools; these were set with cutting points, far harder than the quartz which was operated on. The material of these cutting points is yet undetermined; but only five substances are possible - beryl, topaz, chrysoberyl, corindum or sapphire, and diamond. The character of the work would certainly seem to point to diamond as being the cutting jewel; and only the considerations of its rarity in general, interfer with this conclusion." - Petrie's Comments

Some universities and colleges offer degrees in Egyptology. In the United States, these include the University of Chicago, Brown University, New York University, Yale University and Indiana University. There are also many programs in the United Kingdom, including those at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Swansea University, the University of Liverpool, and the University of London. While Egyptology is widely studied in continental Europe, only Leiden University offers English taught degree programs in Egyptology. Societies for Egyptology include:

• The Society for the Study of Ancient Egypt
• The Society for the Study of Ancient Egyptian Antiquities, Canada
• Sussex Egyptology Society Online
• Egypt Exploration Society

Let's take Yale and Oxford. So, who are the scholars teaching future proponents of the Ancient Egyptian concept?

• Yale: Graduate Program | Yale in Egypt | Faculty
• Oxford: Undergraduate / Graduate Program | Staff

With the small fry above, let's mention a couple contemporary behemoths of the Ancient Egyptian discipline:

• Zahi Hawass

Zahi Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist, an Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Western Desert, and the Upper Nile Valley.

• Salima Ikram

Salima Ikram is a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, a participant in many Egyptian archaeological projects, the author of several books on Egyptian archaeology, a contributor to various magazines and a frequent guest on pertinent television programs.

• KD: do the above scholars and educators teach the truth, or merely provide deceiving theories and pseudo-scientific guesses?

One area for which the Egyptians are particularly famous, of course, is their stone working. A particularly controversial issue is how the ancient Egyptians were able to cut and bore through solid granite - which is considerably more difficult to do than cutting through softer, sedimentary rock such as limestone or sandstone.


The mainstream archaeological view is that it was done with copper, bronze, and wooden tools used by Egyptian masons today to cut granite. Others, however, have suggested that it was done with more advanced equipment that is yet to be discovered. For the time being, the balance of evidence seems to suggest the mainstream view that primitive metal and wooden tools used by common stone masons were sufficient for cutting through granite.

Stone vessels were one of the most common items of funerary equipment used by the ancient Egyptians. The oldest examples are found in Lower Egypt at the settlement of Merimde Beni Salamais, dating to the Merimden period over 6000 years ago, and exhibit a low level of technical competency in their manufacturing (Hoffman 1979). During the rest of the Predynastic period (c. 4000-3000 BC) the quality of the manufacturing increased dramatically. The late Predynastic period of Upper Egypt was generally characterized by an increasing shift away from pottery of fine craftsmanship to stone vessels for use in tombs. This may reflect a shift in the direction of consumer demands of the elite, with an emphasis on exotic luxury goods for the afterlife, and the increasing economic difference between the ruling class and the rest of the populous (Hoffman 1979). As a result stone vessel manufacturing reached a high level of technical competency during the Early Dynastic (c. 3000-2700 BC) and Old Kingdom (c. 2700-2200 BC) periods, were they were made in very large numbers. After the Old Kingdom, stone vessels continued to be made, but on a much lesser scale.

The Early Dynastic period exhibits a wide degree of experimentation with different types of stone, including vein quartz, which was the hardest material worked by the ancient Egyptians into vessels.

• Archaeologists frequently comment that the best workmanship of Ancient Egypt occurs in the earliest eras of that long lived civilisation, and in no area is it truer than the lovely hard stone vases and bowls made in predynastic times. Thousands were found in the earliest step pyramid of Djoser and they are some of the finest stonework ever produced by humans.

The rock hardness of deorite is 6 on the Mohs scale, and can be seen through a combination of its compressive strength: 100-300 Mpa (Megapascal), its tensile strength: 10-30 Mpa, and its shear strength: 20-60 Mpa, which denotes that depending on the mineral makeup, basalt rocks fall in the strong - very strong category.
The rock hardness of basalt is between 6 and 7 on the Mohs scale. Diorite is the name used for a group of coarse-grained igneous rocks with a composition between that of granite and basalt. Granite has less density than diorite. Granite is a coarser-grained rock material.

This jar, and a vase are even harder to explain. It is rock quartz crystal, clearly shaped on a lathe. Quartz is 7 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness, with diamond being 10. The tools used to shape had to have been harder than the quartz itself.
The Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology alone, houses an estimated 80,000 objects. As you can imagine there are quite a few additional museums out there.

The artifact below is one of many that confuse many academics because it does not fit in with the culture that supposedly made it, as in the Dynastic Egyptians. Found by Egyptologist Brian Walter Emery in 1936 at Saqqara, and referred to simply as a “schist disk” it has been described as a fruit plate, flower vase or even a candle holder. Schist is a hard, yet brittle layered stone which is very difficult to work. Most engineers who see this object believe it to be part of an ancient machine, yet the Dynastic Egyptians did not have such mechanisms…or did they?


Common Tools or Ancient Advanced Technology? How Did the Egyptians Bore Through Granite?
Ancient Egyptian Stoneworking Tools and Methods: Stone vase making
Diorite: Igneous Rock - Pictures, Definition & More
Ancient Egyptian Stone Technology - Lathe Turning - Spirit & Stone
Ancient Egyptian Vases from Saqqara, 2800BC - Quantum Gaze
Ancient Egypt: Stone vessels - the stone, the craftsmen, the tools, the vessels
Egyptian diorite vase. Archaeologists frequently...
Mohs Hardness Scale - Windows to the Universe


KD: For people like Salima Ikram and Zahi Hawass, as well as for every single related faculty out there. Why don't you grab a few of the above tools, a granite rock, and make us all a vase. One handmade diorite, granite, or quartz vase for the good of the humanity and for building trust does not appear too much to ask. This is such a simple request: turn the above into something similar to the below vase. Semi-naked uneducated Ancient Egyptians were making those by hundreds of thousands. I'm pretty sure your education and creativeness will help.

In case you do not know where to get a chunk of diorite, here is a pointer. Diorite was mined by the Egyptians in Aswan, and other places.

Myself, and I believe quite a few other people out there, doubt that it can be done with the level of technology your pseudo-Egyptology attributes to those Ancient Egyptians. In my opinion by officially assigning copper chisel-like tools to the makers of these artifacts, you (Egyptologists) are intentionally lying to the entire mankind. You mislead and hide the real history of this World.

If them Ancient Egyptians had totally different tools, or possessed a technology similar to producing some geopolymer type granite, diorite and such, the entire value of your teachings would go down the drain. Inevitably we would end up venturing into the "fruit of the poisonous tree" territory. If you are lying about these vases, than what else are you lying about?

It appears that our traditional historians are trying very hard to demonstrate that they know how them ancients worked granite-like stones. In their attempts they demonstrate their desperation. Fortunately our paycheck to paycheck society does not care, and these attempts do plug holes in the narrative.
How about making this 8x5 foot hole in granite? It was allegedly done 1,300 years ago. If we were to believe the above pictured non-sense, this is the technology used.


But this video below is priceless. This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how them ancients produced tens of thousands of their granite vases. Of course, the material used was Marble Breccia, but we would not expect them to use granite, wouldn't we? Brecciated marble, huh?

• Being composed of calcite, marble has a hardness of three on the Mohs hardness scale. As a result, marble is easy to carve, and that makes it useful for producing sculptures and ornamental objects.
• Marble: Metamorphic Rock: Pictures, Definition, Properties

Russians take their narrative rather seriously, and protect it at all costs.

• Total production time (Google Translated from here):
  • About six months, 6-8 hours per day, excluding 2 days off per week.
  • At least 2 months were spent on manufacturing and experimenting with tools.

Video title: How to make a solid stone vase? Olga Vdovina. Scientists vs. Myths 9-5.


nd here is one additional video to show the alleged stone-working technique used by them poor ancient Egyptians. This video is priceless as well.

Video title: How the ancient Egyptians crushed granite: reconstruction of "pounding"


Why wouldn't this guy take an extra step an make one of these? Wouldn't that be a nice finishing touch?

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Bonus: Elephantine is an island in the Nile River in southern Egypt. On this island there is a stone box made out of solid granite.

• Lost High Technology At Elephantine Island In Egypt
• Elephantine Island | Megalithic Mysteries

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