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Unfinished Obelisk
04Feb
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Unfinished Obelisk

Unfinished Obelisk

Unfinished Obelisk; Aswan was the source of Egypt‘s finest granite, a hard stone that the ancient Egyptians used for sculptures and to decorate temples and pyramids across the country. A massive abandoned obelisk may be seen in the Northern Quarries, about 1.5 kilometers from town and just across from the Fatimid Cemetery.

Unfinished Obelisk
The Unfinished Obelisk is a more than 3,500-year-old monument from ancient Egypt

With the exception of the inscriptions, three sides of the shaft, which is about 42m long, have been finished. With a total weight of 1168 tonnes, the finished obelisk would have been the single biggest piece of stone ever fashioned by the Egyptians. A fault in the granite, on the other hand, was discovered at a late point in the procedure.

So it sits, still partially linked to the parent rock, where the dissatisfied stonemasons abandoned it, with no clue of what it was meant for.

As soon as you get to the quarry, you will see ancient pictographs depicting dolphins and ostriches or flamingos that are supposed to have been painted by quarry employees. When you first arrive at the quarry, you will see a ramp that leads down into the pit of the obelisk.

Unfinished Obelisk
The work on the Unfinished Obelisk had been abandoned due to clearly visible cracks that appeared in the granite.

Explore Unfinished Obelisk by Easy Tours Egypt

It was a common practise to carve the monuments directly into the bedrock, and masons would use stone balls to pound out any imperfections on the surface of the monuments until the surface was smooth.
On-site in Aswan, there are examples of these Dolerite balls that are still in existence.
Dolerite is even more durable than granite, as it is resistant to breaking or cracking even after being repeatedly pounded against a stone’s surface.
Because of the crack in the Unfinished Obelisk, we are able to see exactly how they would have freed the enormous structure from the bedrock if the structure hadn’t cracked. This is one of the more interesting aspects of the Unfinished Obelisk.
Unfinished Obelisk
One of the marvelous monoliths of Aswan is the majestic Unfinished Obelisk which acts as a living proof of the unmatched intelligence
It might be hard to believe, but wet wood turned out to be the solution. The workers carved out small cavities in the stone, resulting in a line that looks very similar to a sheet of paper that has been perforated.
Wooden wedges that had been sun-dried were used to fill the slots. After that, the wedges were soaked in water multiple times, and, believe it or not, the expansion of the wood caused the carved rock to become loose from its home.
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About the author

Magdy Fattouh (Migo) is a creative content marketer and expert in search engines for over 5 years. He manifests his passion in his role as a Creative Content Writer especially in travel where he strives to evoke a strong sense of place in his write-ups.