Most 19th-century archaeologists assumed the ancient Egyptians only had crude hand tools. In Sir William Flinders Petrie realized that only lathe-turning could have produced the symmetry and balance he found on thousands of bowls and vases at Gizeh and Saqqara.
Alabaster bowl. The above bowl was found at Abu Rawash, and is made of alabaster which is a relatively soft stone. However, many bowls and other vessels were found at Saqqara made of much harder material, such as diorite, porphyry and even rock crystal.
How these were made is a mystery…. Diorite vessel. Technologists like Christopher Dunn debate whether the craftsmen who made the perfectly balanced, round-bottomed bowls of polished granite, or long-necked vases of paper-thin schist, may have had much more sophisticated machinery than we have any record of. Porphyry vessel. We cannot be sure, for example, of how the lathes were made, how the cutting blade was held against the stone, what pressure was applied, and who or what powered the spinning parts.
And the other question is; if the ancient Egyptians had lathes, why have none of them been found? Bowl made of rock crystal. The only tour company that I know of which addresses issues such as this is the Khemit School. I have had the pleasure of traveling with them as a guest speaker in April and April We plan to have a tour again in March ; contact them for details.
Now how did they make the above without high technology? Brien has explored more than 90 countries but his true passion is researching and writing about the ancient megalithic works found in Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Easter Island, Egypt, England, and beyond. He has appeared 15 times on the Ancient Aliens television series as well as numerous other TV and radio presentations.
