Archaeology and Geology of Ancient Egyptian Stones
By (author) James A. Harrell
Paperback (Published)
(May 2024)
ISBN: 9781803275819
8.07 x 11.42 inches
Price: $175.00
In stock
This book seeks to identify and describe all the rocks and minerals employed by the ancient Egyptians using proper geological nomenclature, and to give an account of their sources in so far as they are known. The various uses of the stones are described, as well as the technologies employed to extract, transport, carve, and thermally treat them.
The ancient Egyptian Civilization dominated the northeast corner of Africa—including modern-day Egypt and, at times, northern Sudan—from about 3000 BC at the beginning of the Dynastic period to AD 642 at the end of the Roman period. Most of what it left behind consists of stones of many kinds. There were building stones for temples, pyramids, mastaba tombs, and other monumental constructions; and utilitarian stones for tools, weapons, and a wide array of mundane applications, including the raw materials for faience, glass, medicines, paint pigments, and pottery. There were also ornamental stones for decorative and structural elements in buildings, obelisks, statues, sarcophagi, stelae, vessels, shrines, offering tables, mace heads, cosmetic palettes, and other sculpted objects; and gemstones for jewellery, amulets, seals, and other small decorative items. Still more stones were processed to extract their metals, including gold, copper, iron, and lead.
Two persistent problems in Egyptology have been the geological identification of these stones, and the recognition of their sources. Archaeology and Geology of Ancient Egyptian Stones seeks to identify and describe all the rocks and minerals employed by the ancient Egyptians using proper geological nomenclature, and to give an account of their sources in so far as they are known. A secondary objective is to describe the multitudinous uses of the stones as well as the technologies employed to extract, transport, carve, and thermally treat them.
Volume 1: Archaeological and Geological Background, and Building and Utilitarian Stones
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Part I: Archaeological and Geological Background
Chapter 2: Identification and Classification of Rocks and Minerals
Chapter 3: Geology of Egypt and Northern Sudan
Chapter 4: Tools and Methods for Extraction of Hard Stones
Chapter 5: Tools and Methods for Extraction of Soft Stones
Chapter 6: Stone Transport
Part II: Building Stones
Chapter 7: Overview of Building Stones
Chapter 8: Limestone
Chapter 9: Sandstone
Chapter 10: Anhydrite, Gypsum, and Other Building Stones
Part III: Utilitarian Stones
Chapter 11: Overview of Utilitarian Stones
Chapter 12: Hard Utilitarian Stones
Chapter 13: Soft Utilitarian Stones and Other Geological Materials
Volume 2: Ornamental Stones, Gemstones, and Metals
Part IV: Ornamental Stones
Chapter 14: Overview of Ornamental Stones
Chapter 15: Travertine and Other Colored Carbonate Rocks
Chapter 16: Silicified Sandstone
Chapter 17: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks I: Nile Valley Quarries
Chapter 18: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks II: Western Desert Quarries
Chapter 19: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks III: Eastern Desert Quarries Initiated in the Dynastic and Ptolemaic Periods
Chapter 20: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks IV: Eastern Desert Quarries Initiated in the Roman Period
Chapter 21: Other Ornamental Stones
Part V: Gemstones
Chapter 22: Overview of Gemstones
Chapter 23: Silica Gemstones
Chapter 24: Grue Gemstones
Chapter 25: Other Gemstones
Part VI: Metals
Chapter 26: Overview of Metals
Chapter 27: Gold
Chapter 28: Copper
Chapter 29: Iron and Lead
Epilogue (and a Poem)
Bibliography
Index
,
Volume 1: Archaeological and Geological Background, and Building and Utilitarian Stones
Preface
Chapter 1: Introduction
Part I: Archaeological and Geological Background
Chapter 2: Identification and Classification of Rocks and Minerals
Chapter 3: Geology of Egypt and Northern Sudan
Chapter 4: Tools and Methods for Extraction of Hard Stones
Chapter 5: Tools and Methods for Extraction of Soft Stones
Chapter 6: Stone Transport
Part II: Building Stones
Chapter 7: Overview of Building Stones
Chapter 8: Limestone
Chapter 9: Sandstone
Chapter 10: Anhydrite, Gypsum, and Other Building Stones
Part III: Utilitarian Stones
Chapter 11: Overview of Utilitarian Stones
Chapter 12: Hard Utilitarian Stones
Chapter 13: Soft Utilitarian Stones and Other Geological Materials
Volume 2: Ornamental Stones, Gemstones, and Metals
Part IV: Ornamental Stones
Chapter 14: Overview of Ornamental Stones
Chapter 15: Travertine and Other Colored Carbonate Rocks
Chapter 16: Silicified Sandstone
Chapter 17: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks I: Nile Valley Quarries
Chapter 18: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks II: Western Desert Quarries
Chapter 19: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks III: Eastern Desert Quarries Initiated in the Dynastic and Ptolemaic Periods
Chapter 20: Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks IV: Eastern Desert Quarries Initiated in the Roman Period
Chapter 21: Other Ornamental Stones
Part V: Gemstones
Chapter 22: Overview of Gemstones
Chapter 23: Silica Gemstones
Chapter 24: Grue Gemstones
Chapter 25: Other Gemstones
Part VI: Metals
Chapter 26: Overview of Metals
Chapter 27: Gold
Chapter 28: Copper
Chapter 29: Iron and Lead
Epilogue (and a Poem)
Bibliography
Index
- By (author) James A. Harrell
Other Titles in this Series
Body, Cosmos and Eternity
New Trends of Research on Iconography and Symbolism of Ancient Egyptian Coffins
Studies on the Vignettes from Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead
I: The Image of mś.w Bdšt in Ancient Egyptian Mythology
La provincia dell’Arpione Occidentale nei testi egiziani: ricerche storiche, geografiche e religiose dalle origini all’Epoca Romana
Chronological Developments in the Old Kingdom Tombs in the Necropoleis of Giza, Saqqara and Abusir
Toward an Economic Decline during the Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom
Compulsion and Control in Ancient Egypt
Proceedings of the Third Lady Wallis Budge Egyptology Symposium
Egypt 2015: Perspectives of Research
Proceedings of the Seventh European Conference of Egyptologists (2nd-7th June, 2015, Zagreb – Croatia)
Environment and Religion in Ancient and Coptic Egypt: Sensing the Cosmos through the Eyes of the Divine
Proceedings of the 1st Egyptological Conference of the Hellenic Institute of Egyptology: 1-3 February 2017
Prepared for Eternity
A study of human embalming techniques in ancient Egypt using computerised tomography scans of mummies
Invisible Connections: An Archaeometallurgical Analysis of the Bronze Age Metalwork from the Egyptian Museum of the University of Leipzig
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