Image Aswan Quarry EG00459jhp by Jim Henderson

 
Egypt > Aswan in general > Aswan Quarry EG00459jhp
Images in this gallery relate to Aswan in southern Egypt covering the city, the River Nile and related sites except for more important places such as Philae, The Nubian Museum and Seheil Island Rock carvings.
Aswan Quarry EG00459jhp 
 Unfinished Obelisk Granite huge side view long to top Quarry Aswan ancient Egypt holiday package a popular place visited usually after the package tour excursion to Philae Island as it is located in the Northern Quarries on the outskirts of Aswan itself. There are other quarries and two in the South Quarry area have an unfinished colossus while another has an unfinished sarcophagus. The unfinished obelisk is the most interesting because of its sheer scale, if completed it would have been one of the largest ever cut out but it gives an idea of the techniques used to extract these monsters. Around the area are the remains of other stone quarrying showing how holes were cut in the rock in a series of runs that allowed fractures to occur and for the blocks of pink granite to be removed. Diorite, a very hard mineral stone was used as hammer balls to pound the granite and on either side of this obelisk can be seen deep gullies with bowled floors showing the depth penetrated. This obelisk is thought to have been abandoned when a fracture occurred near the top. 
 Keywords: Egypt, Aswan, River, Nile, Nubia, upright, landscape, Northern, quarry, granite, pink, red, obelisk, unfinished, workmanship, techniques, Diorite, balls, pounded, pounding, copper, iron, heat, charcoal, fracturing, split, tools, huge, scale, abandoned, fractured, history, antiquity, ancient, Egyptian, package, trip, Egyptology, entrance, 2000, slide, film, 35mm, format, Fuji, Velvia, daylight, scanned, scan, Nikon, FM2, manual
© Jim Henderson
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Photographer: Jim Henderson
Collection: Aswan in general
Filename:
Aswan Quarry EG00459jhp
Upload Date: 2016-01-11 11:09:05
Photo Size: 9.6mb 3567x5288 pixels
Preview:
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Caption:

Unfinished Obelisk Granite huge side view long to top Quarry

Aswan ancient Egypt holiday package a popular place visited usually after the package tour excursion to Philae Island as it is located in the Northern Quarries on the outskirts of Aswan itself. There are other quarries and two in the South Quarry area have an unfinished colossus while another has an unfinished sarcophagus. The unfinished obelisk is the most interesting because of its sheer scale, if completed it would have been one of the largest ever cut out but it gives an idea of the techniques used to extract these monsters. Around the area are the remains of other stone quarrying showing how holes were cut in the rock in a series of runs that allowed fractures to occur and for the blocks of pink granite to be removed. Diorite, a very hard mineral stone was used as hammer balls to pound the granite and on either side of this obelisk can be seen deep gullies with bowled floors showing the depth penetrated. This obelisk is thought to have been abandoned when a fracture occurred near the top.
Keywords: Egypt, Aswan, River, Nile, Nubia, upright, landscape, Northern, quarry, granite, pink, red, obelisk, unfinished, workmanship, techniques, Diorite, balls, pounded, pounding, copper, iron, heat, charcoal, fracturing, split, tools, huge, scale, abandoned, fractured, history, antiquity, ancient, Egyptian, package, trip, Egyptology, entrance, 2000, slide, film, 35mm, format, Fuji, Velvia, daylight, scanned, scan, Nikon, FM2, manual