The Mystery of Ancient Egypt's Granite Boxes: Engineering Marvels in the Pyramids
Ancient Egypt continues to amaze the modern world with its incredible architectural and engineering feats. Among these wonders are the massive granite boxes found in pyramid complexes and the Serapeum of Saqqara. Weighing up to 100 tons, these precisely carved and polished boxes, often referred to as sarcophagi, have baffled historians and engineers alike. How did the ancient Egyptians achieve such remarkable feats of engineering with the tools and technology available over 4,000 years ago? The Granite Quarries of Aswan The granite used to create these colossal boxes was sourced from the quarries of Aswan, located over 800 kilometers (500 miles) from Giza. Aswan's granite is a particularly hard stone, which raises questions about how the Egyptians extracted, transported, and worked with this material. Evidence suggests they used simple yet effective tools such as copper chisels, dolerite hammers, and wooden wedges. Workers would carve grooves into the stone, insert wooden wedges so...