# Ancient Egyptian Stone carvings: HOW did they do it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651 "2009-01-16T19:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/21 "2010-07-02T17:43:39Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Rats. And here I was thinking that Lister on Red Dwarf was a reliable source of information on ancient Egyptology. Right, as if no real person believes that slaves built the pyramids. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/22 "2010-07-02T17:45:43Z")
> [@toadspittle](#): > > Wow. Did you coin that? It’s awesome. Ah, shucks ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/23 "2010-07-03T12:45:18Z")
[ol] [li]The Egyptians knew how to temper Copper, until it had the strength/hardness of wrought Iron. So, good tools, where needed.[/li][li]Measure twice, cut once. Solves a lot of problems.[/li][li]If you screwed up, you junked the failures. We don’t get to see those.[/li][li]The 3rd-rate stuff never went to the “big boys”. Only for lesser functions.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/24 "2010-07-03T13:25:12Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > Just have to remember _eye before reed, except after seed_. Just chiming in with another golf clap, well played sir. ---
**Author:** ![SGT42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@SGT42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SGT42)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/25 "2010-07-03T13:36:29Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [Actually, no. The people who built the Egyptian pyramids were free men, not slaves as Herodotus falsely claimed long after the fact.](http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/01/11/egypt-finds-tombs-of-pyramid-builders-and-more-evidence-they-were-free-men/) [Further references.](http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/who-built-the-pyramids) In fact Herodotus only mentions the number of workers on the pyramids, he did not identify them as either Jews or slaves. ---
**Author:** ![cplif](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/48db29/32.png) [@cplif](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cplif)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/26 "2010-07-03T18:41:25Z")
I’m not sure about tempering copper, but It is evident that the level of competance at the time was individually, and collectively very high. While we can easily imagine engraving a stone with a harder object, we mustn’t forget all the other tools and accessories. Very good quality ropes, pullies (rolls) made without lathes, mesuring techniques, even the planning itself must have been daunting. (no paper, no post its, no cell phones) must have been sort of difficult to leave a note for the foreman. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/27 "2010-07-03T20:38:34Z")
They had lathes. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/28 "2010-07-03T22:25:42Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > The Egyptians knew how to temper Copper, until it had the strength/hardness of wrought Iron. So, good tools, where needed. It should be noted that by modern standards, wrought iron is a fairly soft metal. Yes, harder than ordinary copper, but that’s not saying much. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651/29 "2010-07-03T22:48:51Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > If you screwed up, you junked the failures. We don’t get to see those. Actually, I think there have been found some examples of screw-ups - the example I recall was an obelisk that was broken during cutting out at the quarry and was left there, still joined to the bedrock. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-egyptian-stone-carvings-how-did-they-do-it/481651.md?page=1)