What was quartzite used for in ancient egypt

How to cite. There are building stones for temples, pyramids, and tombs; ornamental stones for vessels, sarcophagi, shrines, stelae, statues, and other sculptures; gemstones for jewelry; and utilitarian stones for tools, weapons, pigments, and other applications.

Still other stones were processed to extract their precious metals. There are three general categories of rocks — sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic, and these are further subdivided according to their textures and constituent minerals. Table 1 Ancient Egyptian chronology. This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access. Aston, B. A visit to any of the surviving monumental buildings of ancient Egypt or a day spent in the Egyptian Museum easily demonstrates the mastery with which ancient masons learned to handle stone and provides proof, if further proof were needed, that ancient Egypt truly rocked!

White Desert AUC. Comments 0. Leave a Comment. These were primarily of dolerite, but siliceous sandstone, anorthosite gneiss and fine-grained granite were also occasionally used. These same rocks were also employed as grinding stones for smoothing rough, carved stone surfaces. The actual polishing of these surfaces was probably done with ordinary, quartz-rich sand of which Egypt abounds.

For the softer sandstone and limestone, picks of chert as well as metal tools were employed. Eye shadow made from finely ground galena dark gray and malachite green was used by both Egyptian men and women. The grinding was done on cosmetic palettes carved mainly from metagraywacke. Egyptian temples and tombs were richly painted with bright primary colors made largely from ground stones: azurite blue , gypsum and limestone white , hematite ochre red and orange , limonite ochre yellow and brown , and malachite green.

Grinding stones for grain have been used throughout Egyptian history, and generally were carved from the harder and less valuable ornamental stones, such as granite, granodiorite, and siliceous sandstone. During the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, large numbers of grinding stones made from imported vesicular basalt were popular.

Aston, B. Harrell and I. Nicholson and I. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, Baines, J. Karlshausen and T. DePutter, T. Karlshausen, C.

Klemm, R. Berlin: Springer Verlag, De Putter Eds. De Putter, T. Harrell, J. Utilitarian stones. Wendrich Ed. Building stones. Ornamental stones. Ancient Egyptian quarries: an illustrated overview. Abu-Jaber, E.

Bloxam, P.