Dolerite Pounders: Petrology, Sources and Use

ABSTRACT

Dolerite pounders are hand-held stone took that were widely used in Egypt from the third to late first millennium BCE for quarrying and dressing granite and other hard rocks. In addition to documenting the size distribution of 1,419 pounders from Aswan and describing red paint markings (owner labels, in part) found on about 4 percent of these, this study refutes two popular misconceptions about the dolerite pounders. First, the desired form of these tools was not the well rounded, nearly spherical balls now commonly seen in the ancient quarries and construction sites. Evidence from a dolerite quarry discovered by the authors in Aswan indicates that the pounders were initially angular, compact, and irregular to sub-rectangular in form. Progressive rounding during use eventually reduced them to a nearly spherical shape by which point they had lost much of their effectiveness and so were discarded. And second, these tools could not have been held by workmen when striking another rock, otherwise the impacts would have caused severe injuries to their hands and wrists. To avoid this, the workmen must have released the pounder just before impact on a downward throw and then caught it on the rebound.