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Stonework was one of the earliest industries in traditional Egypt.  A natural wealth of ornamental stone was first exploited in the Pre-Dynastic period ( 4,000 BC ) and various quarry sites yielded basalt, breccia, granite, porphyry, limestone and alabaster.  Two ancient alabaster quarry sites have been identified, one at Wadi Gera and the other near Helena and in an area south of Mania.  While Egyptian alabaster, geologically known as Calcium carbonate, was worked from the Pre-Dynastic time on, it was most well liked in the New dominion.  The employment of alabaster in Egypt dates well into the Pharaonic period of Egyptian history, and it is clear when one visits the temples, crypts and museums in Egypt. 

the original alabaster was a kind of Calcite, a see-through variety of gypsum.  On the toughness scale of 1 to 10, the alabaster would stand at just two to 2.5 soft enough to scrape with a fingernail.  Due to the low hardness, it is very easy to cut and polish, but it is also simply weathered, especially in wet conditions.  Because of its softness , alabaster is usually carved for statuary and other decorative purposes.  Ancient pharaohs used alabaster for many purposes, including home goods, ritual objects, and for a selection of different funerary purposes like sarcophaguses and canopic equipments. 

The Working of hard stone reached its height in the third and 4th dynasties ( 2600 – 2400 BC ).  The early vessels were of simple but elegant shape, frequently with flat broad edges and tiny lug handles for suspension.  The traditional workmen demonstrated their mastery of this medium as they shaped hard stone as though it were clay, manufacturing a variety of finely crafted vessels.  There have been no intact stone drilling tools recovered from ancient Egypt, although part of a stone employee toll kit survived.  Decorative crypt paintings showing daily existance scenes have been the best source of information as to how stone pots were carved.

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