Quar′ry-ing.
The stones for building the obelisks and colossi of Egypt were taken from the limestone hills which border and inclose the valley of the Nile. The Egyptians then chose the sandstone of Silsilis, where they excavated enormous quantities. Afterward, the granite of Syene was chosen, and of this were the obelisks of Thebes and Heliopolis. The modes of quarrying may have differed somewhat, according to the material and the position. One granite obelisk was broken after it was cut and before it was removed. From the size of the opening it would be impossible to turn the stone, which would require to be lifted bodily, like other stones removed from the same quarry. Bronze was the usual metal of the tools. The largest stones in any known building are those of the temple platform at Baalbek. The Egyptian mode of quarrying was by uncovering the stratum of stone, leveling the surface, and marking out an area sufficient to yield the amount of stone required. Around this was cut a deep trench, and cross-trenches at right angles divided the whole area into squares of such a size as was required. Layer after layer was then removed. Another mode was by working on a perpendicular face, forming a series of steps on the side of the mountain, from which the blocks were lowered by machinery analogous to that which afterward hoisted them into position on the pyramids. The masses of granite may have been detached from their beds in the same manner as is now practiced in the East. After the stone is surrounded by a trench, it is heated by fire built upon it. The ashes being swept off, water is poured into the groove by a large number of men simultaneously, when the fracture takes place through the whole line. Another mode was to bore perpendicular holes, 18 inches apart, on the desired line of fracture; into these holes small chisels were driven persistently from one end to the other by a number of men, which resulted in a fracture along the line. Metallic wedges inserted at a number of places and simultaneously driven, was another mode. Wooden pins inserted into a row of holes and swelled by water, was yet another method. |
| Quarrying-machine. |
