# How DID The Ancient Egyptians Sculpt Granite?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-ancient-egyptians-sculpt-granite/211757>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 6, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-ancient-egyptians-sculpt-granite/211757 "2003-11-06T20:05:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-ancient-egyptians-sculpt-granite/211757/1 "2003-11-06T20:05:02Z")

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I just saw some ancient Egyptian sculpture in a museum-the sculptures were of people, and very finely executued-in granite (a very HARD stone). I understand that the egyptains only had bronze chisels and tools-so how were they able to make sharp lines in hard rocks like granite?  
Also, they were able to smooth their sculpture-what abrasive did they use?

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**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-ancient-egyptians-sculpt-granite/211757/2 "2003-11-06T21:27:48Z")

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Just throwing out some WAG until an actually knowledgeable person shows up.  
1: Granite chisels.  
2: Sand. Lots and lots of sand. But then, the Egyptians had access to a plentiful supply.

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-ancient-egyptians-sculpt-granite/211757/3 "2003-11-06T22:04:27Z")

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See page 4 for an explanation. Besides bronze and, later, iron tools, they used wooden hammers to bash it into general shape, then polished it with rubbing stones and sand pastes.

[http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/publications/pdfs/egypt/divided/g-Artists-Materials.pdf](http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/publications/pdfs/egypt/divided/g-Artists-Materials.pdf)