Image: metmuseum.org
The Story
Sand does the cutting; the Egyptian-style tool supplies pressure and motion, but one successful test is not the whole workshop.
A copper tube or saw holds and moves hard grains that slowly wear granite. Controlled experiments and archaeological analysis support this basic method, while the exact speed, workflow, and ability to reproduce every core feature remain separate questions.
- Denys Stocks’ experiments report that copper tube-drills with abrasive and copper saws with sand can work igneous stone, including granite.
- NOVA documented a weighted bow drill with a copper pipe and sand successfully cutting a circular hole in granite.
- The Metropolitan Museum describes particulate abrasives as significant in Egyptian sawing, core drilling, and finishing of hard stone.
Source mix
1 of 8 institutional
- 1 Journals & institutions
- 2 News reporting
- 1 Forum, video, personal
- 4 Other / unclassified
Deeper Insight
Sand can do the cutting. The hard part was controlling everything around it.
A copper tube, sand, and patient rotation can bite into granite. Experiments have produced grooves, holes, and cores, and may explain the tapering in ancient samples. But one video does not rebuild the full Egyptian workflow, especially its tightest work. The mystery has moved from aliens to process, where the evidence still matters.
- The originating post reports a granite-drilling replication in which sand slurry, rather than copper alone, produced tapering said to resemble ancient Egyptian cores.
- A 1983 experimental study examined ancient Egyptian drilling marks and explicitly treated hard-stone drilling as a scholarly disagreement requiring object-based analysis.
- Stocks reports that an experimental large-diameter copper tube drill produced a tubular slot in granite, with the core removed using a tapered chisel.
Sources · 8
- 1 Journals & institutions
- 2 News reporting
- 1 Forum, video, personal
- 4 Other / unclassified
What do these mean?
- Journals & institutions. Published in a peer-reviewed journal, or from a university, government body, court or other institution.
- News reporting. Journalism: newspapers, magazines and news sites.
- Forum, video, personal. Forums, social posts, video, blogs and personal accounts.
- Other / unclassified. A site we have not classified yet. This says nothing good or bad about it.
Featured · Analysis · reddit.com
To all the Stone Aloners, this man scientifically replicated the cutting of granite with ancient tools
Forum or personal account
You can skip ahead to 16 minutes, 30 seconds to see the hard evidence. You don't need aliens or modern power tools. It's not the copper that does the cutting, it's the sand slurry that does the cutting, so it doesn't matter is soft copper doesn't cut granite. This slurry created the effect of tapering on the cores that are seen in so many ancient Egyptian granite cores. If the ancient Egyptians we
Read sourceAnalysis · doi.org
The abrasive technologists
Journal · peer-reviewed
# The abrasive technologists Routledge eBooks. Published: 2022-06-09. Book chapter. 0 citations. ## Abstract It is extremely likely that the common reed, found growing in marshy areas near to the Nile river, was utilized for several domestic purposes: but when the craftworker needed a drill for maki
Read sourceAnalysis · penn.museum
Expedition Magazine | Ancient Egyptian Stone-Drilling
Other
Expedition Magazine | Ancient Egyptian Stone-Drilling # Ancient Egyptian Stone-Drilling An Experimental Perspective on a Scholarly Disagreement By: Leonard Gorelick and A. John Gwinnett Originally Published in 1983 View PDF More than most technical procedures in the ancient world, drilling of hard s
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