Egyptian artifacts representing tubular drilling are the most clearly astounding and conclusive evidence yet presented to identify the knowledge and technology existing in pre-history. In modern times we of course have diamond encrusted tube drills that can cut into hard stone, but the Dynastic Egyptians did not. Even though some academics theorize that the pharaohs had copper or bronze tube drills and used quartz sand as an abrasive, attempts at replicating the cutting process with such hand powered tools has been comical at best.
Ancient Egyptian craftsmen were exceptionally skilled and prolific in extracting and shaping a wide variety of stones . For millennia, soft and hard stones were quarried, cut, drilled, carved, and polished using a variety of tools and techniques, and it is generally agreed that abrasives played a significant role.
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