Building stones

The nature of building materials employed in any country depended upon many factors the principal of which were the climate, the degree of civilization of the people and the kind of materials that were available. The Ancient Egyptians had a large number of types of stones, that was used in Egypt and large number of them were used since earliest periods. Egypt was the home of stone working, possessing both the oldest and largest stone buildings in the world, and the Egyptians practiced this activity on large scale during earlier periods, partly due to the fact that the country was very rich in stone, and partly because copper tools for working it were available. It has to be mentioned that the earliest examples for the usage of the stone in building could be dated accurately, because they back dated to the Ist dynasty.
Limestone
Limestone was mainly composed of calcium carbonate, yet it contained small proportions of other ingredients such as, silica, clay, oxide of iron and magnesium carbonate. Moreover, it differed considerably in quality and hardness.
The existing place
Limestone was shaped in the form of hills bordering up the Nile Valley to Esna, also it was found at Mexand Suez. The principal quarries were those found of Tura and El-Maasara, south of El-Maadi, El-Gebelein, Abydos, Qaw, Beni Hassan and, finally at El-Amarna.
The name of the stone
"inr hd" "white stone" was the simplest and most general name for limestone. It was used at early date with reference to the limestone of Tura, the classic source of the material in the Old Kingdom.
The use of limestone
It continued to be employed in building tombs and temples until about the middle of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and it was occasionally used, as in the temples of Seti I and Ramses II at Abydos, which back dated to the XIXth Dynasty, and it largely gave place to sandstone. Limestone was not only used as a building material, but also large number of tombs of all periods were cut out of this living limestone rock.
The sandstone
Sandstone was composed essentially of quartz sand, which was derived from the disintegration of older rocks cemented together by very small proportions of clay, calcium carbonate, oxide of iron or silica.
The Name of the stone
The regular name for sandstone was formed on the same pattern as that of limestone. Its name was inr hd nfr n rwdt, however either nfr or hd or both may be omitted without affecting the meaning, and Mnh occasionally replaced nfr.
The existing place
It was shaped in the form of the hills on both sides of the river stretching near Aswan. It was also found beyond Aswan from Kalabsha to Wadi Halfa. The most northerly occurrence of sandstone was near Sabaia in between Esna and Mahamid. Generally speaking, sandstone was the rock of the country of the Nile Valley. Southwards from Esna, where it replaced limestone. The principal Ancient Egyptian sandstone quarries were at Silsla, which was situated on the Nile for about forty miles to the north of Aswan between Edfu and Kom-Ombo.
The use of sandstone
In spite of the fact that this stone was known from the Archaic Period (it was used in Hierakonpolis), yet it was also employed during the XIth Dynasty in building foundations pavements, pillars, architraves, roof slabs and the walls in the hypostyle hall in the mortuary temple of Mentuhotep at Deir El-Bahri.
Sandstone was used on a large scale about the middle period of the XVIIIth dynasty, and from then onwards inr hd nfr n rwdt and its abbreviations occurred with great frequency chiefly as an indication of the material of the temples, and other buildings or parts thereof. All temples existing in upper Egypt were made up from this stone, for instance, Luxor temple, Karnak, the Ramesseum, Medinet Habu, Deir el-Medina, Dendera, Esna, Edfu, Philae and Kom-Ombo were all built from sandstone.

Granite Stone
Granite was the name of a large class of crystalline rocks of ligneous origin. they were not homogeneous in structure like limestone and sandstone, but they were composed of a number of different minerals chiefly quartz, felspar and kistite mica, and sometimes they contained homblende and occasionally augite. One of the main features of granite was the abundance of the quartz, and the principal individual minerals was readily used to be visible to the naked eye. Finally, we have to mention the fact that this rock has a granular structure from which its name was derived.
The name of the stone
the original and most general term used with to refer to all kinds of granite, especially the common or red variety was m3t. Perhaps this name was derived as Sethe has suggested from a particular type of vessels of which granite was the characteristic material. Moreover, sometimes the dark variety was called m3t Kmt, literally "black granite".
The existing place.
A plentiful quantity of granite was found at Aswan, and at Wadi Hammamat. Sometimes granite stone used to carry the significance of its particular colour. It was found as well, in the eastern desert, Sinai and it was narrowly found at the western desert.
The use of the granite stone
Since the early dynastic periods onwards, granite has been employed for building works constructing various buildings. In general, it was used as a lining material for chambers, passages and for door-frames. This stone has been used within the interior parts of the three great pyramid at Giza. Moreover, it was the most common material used for making obelisks, and it was often used for establishing shrines, naoi, statues, vessels and other objects In addition to what has been already mentioned, granite was used generally in buildings, and few cases it was medicinally used.
Alabaster stone
Alabaster ordinarily meant calcium sulphate (gypsum), yet the material which was employed so extensively in Ancient Egypt, was entirely distinct material of very similar appearance, but having different chemical composition and containing calcium carbonate, was also called Alabaster and which probably has the prior claim to the name. From the geological point of view, Egyptian alabaster was calcite, yet sometimes it was erroneously called aragonite, because they have the same composition, however they have different crystalline form and different specific gravity.
The name of the stone
The earliest reference to alabaster at the beginning of the IVth dynasty was by common word "ss". Since the end of the Old Kingdom onwards alabaster was the sole name, which was used to indicate this type of stones.
The existing place
The best known quarry was that anciently called Het-nub. It was found for about 15 kilometers to the south-east of El-Amarna, where the inscriptions back dated to the IIIrd dynasty. Alabaster occurred also at Sinai, near Helwan and at Wadi Asyuti.
The use of this stone
Alabaster was employed as a subsidiary building material chiefly for lining passages, rooms and particularly shrines since early dynastic times up till later periods of the XIXth Dynasty. In spite of the fact that it was used to a limited degree in building, yet this fine translucent stone was mainly employed in the production of small objects, for example, vases, bowls and lamps. In addition to this all but three of the seventy-nine stone vessels, found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, were made of alabaster.
Basalt stone
Basalt was a black heavy compact rock showing tiny glittering particles. It was composed of aggregate of various minerals, which were very fine in real basalt, moreover they were grained in order to be distinguished separately except by means of microscope. The Coarser varieties of rock, through which the separate minerals could be recognized with the naked eye were dolerite. However, there was no clear and fast line dividing both. A coarse grained basalt was a fine grained dolerite and this material was largely employed in Ancient Egypt, and it was relatively coarse grained stone though it was generally called basalt.
The name of Basalt Stone
The Ancient Egyptian name referring to this material was "bhn".
The existing place
This black stone was quarried at a number of sites. Large quantities of it were found at Fayoum, at Aswan and at the north west of Giza pyramids.
The use of Basalt stone
Basalt was used for the construction of sarcophagi, and in the building of pavements. Moreover, Basalt was beneficiary for statues and small objects. In addition to its usage's this black stone has a natural association with the underworld and with the concept of revivification. For instance, an intrusive basalt statue of Osiris on a bier was found in the Ist dynasty tomb of king Djer at Abydos. Furthermore, basalt was used during the Macedonian Period to heal statues covered with magical spells and vignettes, which were designed to transfer their power to water poured over them.
Quartzite stone
Quartzite stone
Quartzite was a hard compact variety of sandstone that has been formed from ordinary sandstone by the deposition of crystalline quartz between the sand grains; that is to say it was silicified sandstone. It varied considerably in both colour and texture, thus its colour may be white yellowish, or various shades of red, and its texture was other fine grained or coarse-grained.

The name of the stone
The most common term referring to the red crystalline quartzite sandstone was undoubtedly "bizt".
The existing place.
The most ancient quarry was that of El-Gabal el-Ahmar (the red mountain), Quartzite stone existed also near El-Abbasia (Cairo), and between Cairo and Suez, on the Bir Hamman-maghara, also and at Gart muluk at Wadi Natrun depression, also on both at the western desert, capping the Nubian sandstone on the east of the Nile to the north of Aswan and Sinai.
Quartzite stone: its usage
Quartzite was rarely used in building. Its chief employment was in making statues and sarcophagi. Moreover, Quartzite "bizt" was mentioned in connection to the statues, stelae, furthermore it was likely mentioned for buildings and once for a model temple.
Diorite stone
This stone was white and greenish, helspar and black hornblende. It was found banded, and speckled, and the speckled variety was known from the predynastic period.
The name of the stone
This stone was named "mnt.t", yet this term was used to refer to similarly coloured granitic and basaltic rocks in the Nile valley.
The existing place
Various forms of diorite stone occurred extensively in Egypt. However it has to be mentioned that its sources during the Old and Middle Kingdom nowadays in known as the "Chephren", and it was from an outcrop 80km. to the west of Tushka in Nubia.
Diorite stone: its usage
Statues (as the great Chephren statue situated in Cairo museum), bowls and other fine objects were made up from diorite stone.

Language: Aspects of writing | Linguistic Features | Hieroglyphs etc.Gods

Paint: Introduction | Subjects of paint scenes

Sculpture: Introduction | Old kingdom statues | Middle kingdom statues | New kingdom statues

Mummification

Geography

About us

Guest book