Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Geography and Geology
- 2 Brief Outline of Egyptian History
- 3 Study of the Material World of Ancient Egypt
- 4 Dress and Personal Adornment
- 5 Housing and Furniture
- 6 Food and Drink
- 7 Hygiene and Medicine
- 8 Containers of Clay and Stone
- 9 Tools and Weapons
- 10 Basketry, Rope, Matting
- 11 Faience and Glass
- 12 Transportation
- 13 Sport and Games
- 14 Music and Dance
- 15 Weapons and Armor
- 16 Conclusions
- Sources of Chapter Heading Quotations
- Bibliography
- Index
9 - Tools and Weapons
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Geography and Geology
- 2 Brief Outline of Egyptian History
- 3 Study of the Material World of Ancient Egypt
- 4 Dress and Personal Adornment
- 5 Housing and Furniture
- 6 Food and Drink
- 7 Hygiene and Medicine
- 8 Containers of Clay and Stone
- 9 Tools and Weapons
- 10 Basketry, Rope, Matting
- 11 Faience and Glass
- 12 Transportation
- 13 Sport and Games
- 14 Music and Dance
- 15 Weapons and Armor
- 16 Conclusions
- Sources of Chapter Heading Quotations
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
I have seen the coppersmith at work at the mouth of his furnace. His fingers are like the claws of a crocodile; he stinks more than fish eggs.
From “The Satire of the Trades”The evidence for different kinds of tools and toolmaking in the Pharaonic Period complements and helps to explain other aspects of the crafts and craftsmanship. In addition to actual preserved examples of tools, there are depictions of tools and their uses represented in great detail in tomb reliefs and paintings. A third source of information is the detailed models of objects, complete workshops, and their products that were placed in the tombs. As a result, it is possible to understand in greater depth how many different ordinary craft activities were carried out.
The scribe has left his pens, pen case, water pot, and the papyrus sheets on which he wrote. The farmer, butcher, carpenter and joiner, sculptor, quarryman and stone mason, metal smelter and jeweler, and even the maker of mud bricks have all left evidence, either as objects or representations of them to illustrate their working methods in great detail. Such a wealth of specific information about working processes has not been preserved anywhere else in the ancient world. This is probably one of the distinct hallmarks of the culture that make a study of various aspects of the ancient technologies in Egypt so revealing and so interesting.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Material World of Ancient Egypt , pp. 134 - 145Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013