Ancient Egyptian craftsmen were exceptionally skilled and prolific
in extracting and shaping a wide variety of stones. Since ancient times 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. Both
saws and core drills utilized particulate abrasives, and the
finishing of sculptures and architectural elements was likely
carried out with a combination of rubbing-stones and abrasive
slurries.
The composition of the abrasive materials used has been much debated, particularly in relation to the working of hard
stones. Were stones such as granite, diorite and quartzite
shaped and polished using solely quartz-based abrasives, or did
Egyptian craftsmen have access to harder materials? It has been
demonstrated through archaeological evidence and experimental
data that corundum and emery, mixtures of minerals with a
maximum hardness of 9 in the Mohs scale, were employed by
craftsmen in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, but were
these materials part of the Egyptian tool kit?