details of this period, as it is the finest age for workmanship in every
respect. But in the XIIth Dynasty the granite sarcophagus of Senwosri
II. is perhaps the finest single piece of cutting yet known; the
surfaces of the granite are all dull-ground, the errors from straight
lines and parallelism are only about 1/200th inch (P. 1, 3).

In later work we may note that copper scrapers were used for facing the
limestone work in the VIth, the XIIth and the XVIIIth Dynasties. In the
latter age granite surfaces were ground, hieroglyphs were chipped out
and polished by copper tools fed with emery; outlines were graved by a
thick sheet of copper held in the hand, and sawed to and fro with emery.
Corners of signs and intersections of lines were first fixed by minute
tube-drill holes, into which the hand tool butted, so that it should not
slip over the outer surface.

The marking out of work was done by fine black lines; and supplemental
lines at a fixed distance from the true one were put in to guard against
obliteration in course of working (P.T. 92); similarly in building a
brick pyramid the axis was marked, and there were supplemental marks two
cubits to one side (P.K. 14). When cutting a passage in the rock a rough
drift-way was first made, the roof was smoothed, a red axis line was
drawn along it, and then the sides were cut parallel to the axis. For
setting out a mastaba with sloping sides, on an irregular foundation at
different levels, hollow corner walls were built outside the place of
each corner; the distances of the faces at the above-ground level were
marked on the inner faces of the walls; the above-ground level was also
marked; then sloping lines at the intended angle of the face were drawn
downward from the ground-level measures, and each face was set out so as
to lie in the plane thus defined by two traces at the ends (P.M.
VIII.).

[Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Tools.

_Note._ _The objects are drawn to a scale of 1/6 unless otherwise
described._

MALLETS 1 2
MACES 3 4
HAMMERS 5 6
AXES 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
HOES 14 15
PICK 16
FLINT KNIVES 17 18 19 20 21
METAL KNIVES 22 23 24 25
CUTTING-OUT KNIVES 26 27 28 29
RAZORS 30 31 32
CHISELS 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
ADZES 40 41
SCRAPERS 42 44 45 46
SAWS 47 (1/30) 48
BORERS 49 50 51 52 53 (1/10) 54 55 (1/10) 56 57 58]

[Illustration: Ancient Egyptian Tools.

_Note._ _The objects are drawn to a scale of 1/6 unless otherwise