Ancient Egypt Tools.





From building giant constructions like Khufu's pyramid , to carving the tiny 3.7 centimetre statue found inside it, ancient Egypt tools did it all. Well, along with some well structured organization, inspirational engineering and bucket loads of sweat.

Tools from ancient Egypt came in many shapes and sizes. From the simple caveman styled "ug" and thump with a stone, to fancy dovetailed joints in carpentry using more developed cutting and shaping instruments.

Some ancient Egypt technology, such as pyramid ramps, suffer from lack of supporting evidence and leave Egyptologists and theorists using alien intervention suggestions to battle it out over how the pyramids were really built.

Fortunately, many tools have been unearthed and can tell us how the Egyptians built, farmed and created in an ever evolving way.

So what ancient Egypt tools have been found?

Everything from sharpened flint stones to bow drills.

The Petrie Museum houses many discoveries of tools used in ancient Egypt. Some of its collection includes:

* Flint tools- There are many of these.

* Greywhacke (related to sandstone) rubbing tool.

* Wooden cramps.

* A wide variety of Axes

* Bronze chisels

... and many more.

Some of the collection includes broken handles to unknown implements and tools which, assuming they are really tools, defy classification. Such as the curled copper tool. What the ...?

How were the tools used?

Some uses for ancient Egypt tools were:

Carpentry

The ancient Egyptians had the knowledge and ability to use techniques such as dovetailing, mitre joints, tenon and mortice and wooden dowels.

This enabled them to create strong wooden boxes, coffins for instance, as well as stools and various other fancy furniture.

Construction

Construction started with plumb-bobs and squares to get it right from the get-go and ended in polishing tools for the shiny limestone faces, such as in Khufu's pyramid.

Agriculture

Farming was extremely important to the ancient Egyptians and they needed a range to tools to get the job done.

Cow powered ploughs were used to turn the fields. The plough was fastened to the horns of the cow which pulled them along.

And sometimes it's the small tools that count. A simple crafted wooden scoop, complete with handle, made moving harvested grain that little bit easier.

Cosmetics

Hieroglyphics prove that appearance was important in ancient Egypt.

Ancient Egyptian women would apply cosmetics from a palette and used tweezers for plucking hairs. Many of these types of artifacts have been found.

The scariest of all cosmetic artifacts discovered is definitely the razor. Ouch.

Age may have rusted them to the point where they look particularly scary, but even shiny they would have been closer to scrapers than the finely honed cut-throats of more modern times.



From stone to steel.

The evolution of tools can be broken into several time frames, starting with the prehistoric basics of stone, wood and bone and ending in the more modern metals.

So hitch up your tool belt and follow the links below to build your know-how on ancient Egypt tools.



Wooden Tools

Stone Tools

Copper Tools

Bronze Tools

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