The Legacy Of Egypt

Mechanical and Technical Processes. Materials 143
porphyrys, the basalts, the granites, the quartzites, and certain
varieties of marble-like limestone. The soft rocks are most other
varieties of limestone, sandstone and alabaster.

Generally speaking the soft rocks could be cut with a chisel and
mallet; the hard rocks could not (Figs. 20 and 21), but had to be

FIG. 24. Man drilling out the interior of a stone vase.
Vlth Dynasty, from Abusir.
pounded with balls or hammers of dolerite, jarred by an instru-
ment like a mason's pick, with a comparatively blunt point,
drilled (Fig. 24) or sawn, both in conjunction with an abrasive
material.
The principal sources of stone used in the building craft are
as follows. Limestone extends from Cario to a little beyond
Esna. The finest building variety is found in the Tura-
Ma'sara-Muqattam hills, just south of Cairo, A very fine-
grained limestone, hard and of marble-like texture, is found near
Qaw and Beni Hasan, and there are other quarries of different