Extraction and use of greywacke in ancient Egypt

Abstract EN

The greywacke quarries were not constantly or intensively exploited.

The fact that the stone was used in private or royal statuary and not as a building stone could have caused its demand to be less than that of other materials such as granite, limestone or sandstone.

Inscriptions indicated the time lapse between expeditions suggesting that this stone was only quarried when it was needed, which was not on a regular basis.

However, the fact that the quarries were exploited over all the pharaonic periods makes it hard to determine the intensity of these activities, the inscriptions represent the base in creating a chronological sequence of Egyptian activities in the area.