Through the Eras

Architecture and DesignA 42-meter long unfinished obelisk still in the granite quarry at Aswan. © YANN ARTHUS-BERTRAND/CORBIS.tians using rollers on skid poles and sledges as tools toenable very large numbers of men to pull the block orstatue by ropes fastened around the stone. Liquid pouredon the sand or on a construction road made the surfacemore slippery and allowed the sledge to move more easily.ROLLERS ON SKID POLES. Egyptian rollers weremade from sycamore, a locally grown tree. The archaeologicalexamples that have been excavated are short,with rounded ends and approximately ten centimeters(3.9 inches) wide. The rollers work best on skid poles—a track made of parallel beams. The skid poles keep therollers moving in the right direction. Such skid poleshave been found at the entrances to pyramid corridorswhere builders used them to roll the closing block intoposition. For very heavy loads such as obelisks, wholetree trunks were used as rollers.SLEDGES. Sledges are known both from archaeologicalexamples and from relief sculptures that showsledges transporting heavy stone columns and more frequently,funerary goods such as shrines and coffins. Ofthe examples of sledges found in archaeological contexts,the largest was found near the pyramid of Senwosret IIIat Dahshur. It is 4.2 meters long and 0.9 meters wide(13.7 by 2.95 feet). The runners are twelve by twentycentimeters (4.7 by 7.8 inches). Four cross beams connectthe runners using tongue and groove constructionto join them. In tongue and groove construction, all thebeams have slotted holes where ropes were attached. Asmaller sledge from the time of Senwosret I (1919–1875B.C.E.), found at Lisht, measures 1.73 by 0.78 meters(5.6 by 2.5 feet). It only has two cross beams but alsoadditional round poles mounted in front of one crossbeam and behind the other cross beam. These poles wereprobably used to attach ropes. The relief representationsof sledges show them transporting stone statues, coffins,canopic boxes, and shrines used in tombs. The scenefrom the causeway of Unas shows sledges transportinggranite columns and architraves. These columns areknown to be six meters (19.6 feet) long. Thus it seemsArts and Humanities Through the Eras: Ancient Egypt (2675 B.C.E.–332 B.C.E.) 57