Stones and gems in Ancient Egypt

The artists in ancient Egypt shaped many kinds of stone with consummate mastery for the following uses:
a) Architecture - temples, pyramids and mastabas
b) Statues and sculpture
c) House wares manufacture
They used a variety of tools for shaping stones including tube drills, straight saws, circular saws, lathes, and polishers.

Stones & Gems Used In Ancient Egypt

Granite Granite
This is coarse-grained igneous rock of even texture and light color
It is composed chiefly of quartz and feldspars, and may be pink, dark gray, or light gray.
Granite has been used by Egyptian artists since ancient times as a building material, and for the sculpture of statues.
This hard rock was carved using quartz sand beneath the copper saws and drills. This abrasive is harder than the mica and feldspar components of granite but not the quartz. Nevertheless, granite yielded slowly to the abrasive,

Basalt Basalt
A fine-grained rock of volcanic origin. It is dark gray, dark green and black in color. It is a very hard and durable black vitreous stoneware. Egyptian Scribes used basalt in medium sized statues and carvings, since it is very hard to carve large pieces. The famous Rosetta stone, is a basalt slab with identical texts inscribed by priests of Ptolemy V Epiphanes in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek.

Lapis Lapis
Lapis lazuli is a gem, deep blue, violet, or greenish blue in color and usually flecked with yellow iron pyrites.
It is composed of lazurite, mixed with other minerals, and is usually found in masses rather than in crystals
Egyptian believed that this gem possessed life-giving powers. The Book of the dead describes Horus in a heavenly firmament in the form of a hawk and "his torso is made of blue stone". Lapis was used for painting eyes, hair and crowns of the Pharaohs' statues and sarcophagus.
It was also made into vases, bowls, beads, small ornaments and mosaics

Turquoise Turquoise
This prized blue color Gem was found in the arms of the mummy of queen Zar from the 1st Dynasty, approximately 3500 BC. Turquoise was used for beads by the Egyptians. Combined with other ornamental stones, the turquoise was inlaid in gold to produce very sophisticated articles of jewelry. Ankhs, amulets and scarabs were carved from it, and the bright mineral enamels of powdered turquoise were used to color everything from fine small statues to bricks.
The oldest known mines of turquoise were quarried in the Sinai by about 3000 BC., and at Serabit el-Khadem Egyptians set up a large and systematic operation. For the next two thousand years, great quantities of turquoise were carved from Serabit el-Khadem,

Limestone Limestone and Sandstone
These are sedimentary rock formed by the cementing together of grains of sand forming gray, red and brown rocks
All the ancient quarries for limestone were located in the hills and cliffs bordering the Nile River valley between Memphis in the north and Esna in the south. Quarries in the Nile valley from Isna southward into northern Sudan supplied the sandstone.
Limestone was the main building stones of the Old Kingdom. it was used pyramids, mastabas, and temples within the limestone region. From the late Middle Kingdom onward, sandstone was used for all temples within the sandstone region as well as many of those in the southern part of the limestone region. Both limestone and sandstone were also employed for statuary and other non-architectural applications

Alabaster Alabaster
Alabaster is also know as Travertine, it is a massive, finely crystalline rock of calcite formed by secondary chemical precipitation from ground water solutions in limestone formations. The Egyptian deposits of this rock occur in veins and pods. They frequently exhibits alternating bands of fine-grained white and coarse-grained brown calcite, and occasionally as massive fine-grained amber-brown calcite. Travertine was quarried by the ancient Egyptians at numerous locations in the Eastern Desert and the Nile Valley. Travertine was used by the ancient Egyptians throughout the entire history of their civilization to make artifacts like vases and bowls. The extensive use of this material was undoubtedly due to the fact that it is a very soft material in terms of indentation hardness and is easily worked. Travertine being made almost entirely of the mineral calcite can almost be carved with a fingernail, and it easily takes on a good polish by hand lapping
It was used as a glowing luminary--the stone takes on the glow and heat from a candle light and spreads it evenly throughout its structure. The secrets of the manufacture of this warm and luminous stone have been handed down from generation to generation, and still represent one of the pinnacles of Egyptian handicrafts. Alabaster occurs naturally in many shades of color from pure white to reddish-tan. When held up to the light, it looks like quartz and is almost see-through, if thin enough.

	Granite This is coarse-grained igneous rock of even texture and light color It is composed chiefly of quartz and feldspars, and may be pink, dark gray, or light gray. Granite has been used by Egyptian artists since ancient times as a building material, and for the sculpture of statues. This hard rock was carved using quartz sand beneath the copper saws and drills. This abrasive is harder than the mica and feldspar components of granite but not the quartz. Nevertheless, granite yielded slowly to the abrasive,
	Basalt A fine-grained rock of volcanic origin. It is dark gray, dark green and black in color. It is a very hard and durable black vitreous stoneware. Egyptian Scribes used basalt in medium sized statues and carvings, since it is very hard to carve large pieces. The famous Rosetta stone, is a basalt slab with identical texts inscribed by priests of Ptolemy V Epiphanes in hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek.
	Lapis Lapis lazuli is a gem, deep blue, violet, or greenish blue in color and usually flecked with yellow iron pyrites. It is composed of lazurite, mixed with other minerals, and is usually found in masses rather than in crystals Egyptian believed that this gem possessed life-giving powers. The Book of the dead describes Horus in a heavenly firmament in the form of a hawk and "his torso is made of blue stone". Lapis was used for painting eyes, hair and crowns of the Pharaohs' statues and sarcophagus. It was also made into vases, bowls, beads, small ornaments and mosaics
	Turquoise This prized blue color Gem was found in the arms of the mummy of queen Zar from the 1st Dynasty, approximately 3500 BC. Turquoise was used for beads by the Egyptians. Combined with other ornamental stones, the turquoise was inlaid in gold to produce very sophisticated articles of jewelry. Ankhs, amulets and scarabs were carved from it, and the bright mineral enamels of powdered turquoise were used to color everything from fine small statues to bricks. The oldest known mines of turquoise were quarried in the Sinai by about 3000 BC., and at Serabit el-Khadem Egyptians set up a large and systematic operation. For the next two thousand years, great quantities of turquoise were carved from Serabit el-Khadem,
	Limestone and Sandstone These are sedimentary rock formed by the cementing together of grains of sand forming gray, red and brown rocks All the ancient quarries for limestone were located in the hills and cliffs bordering the Nile River valley between Memphis in the north and Esna in the south. Quarries in the Nile valley from Isna southward into northern Sudan supplied the sandstone. Limestone was the main building stones of the Old Kingdom. it was used pyramids, mastabas, and temples within the limestone region. From the late Middle Kingdom onward, sandstone was used for all temples within the sandstone region as well as many of those in the southern part of the limestone region. Both limestone and sandstone were also employed for statuary and other non-architectural applications
	Alabaster Alabaster is also know as Travertine, it is a massive, finely crystalline rock of calcite formed by secondary chemical precipitation from ground water solutions in limestone formations. The Egyptian deposits of this rock occur in veins and pods. They frequently exhibits alternating bands of fine-grained white and coarse-grained brown calcite, and occasionally as massive fine-grained amber-brown calcite. Travertine was quarried by the ancient Egyptians at numerous locations in the Eastern Desert and the Nile Valley. Travertine was used by the ancient Egyptians throughout the entire history of their civilization to make artifacts like vases and bowls. The extensive use of this material was undoubtedly due to the fact that it is a very soft material in terms of indentation hardness and is easily worked. Travertine being made almost entirely of the mineral calcite can almost be carved with a fingernail, and it easily takes on a good polish by hand lapping It was used as a glowing luminary--the stone takes on the glow and heat from a candle light and spreads it evenly throughout its structure. The secrets of the manufacture of this warm and luminous stone have been handed down from generation to generation, and still represent one of the pinnacles of Egyptian handicrafts. Alabaster occurs naturally in many shades of color from pure white to reddish-tan. When held up to the light, it looks like quartz and is almost see-through, if thin enough.