Egyptology buffs - a question - how were the hieroglyphics carved?

[GCP]

I was watching a program about the pyramids the other day and they showed a room with perfectly carved hieroglyphs . They were so sharp in definition, they could have been made by laser. I'm not sure, but I wouldn't think bronze would be much good as a stone chisel as it would blunt pretty easily (I think), the hieroglyphs were made between 2000 and 3000 BC, the iron age started around 1200 BC.
Has anyone ever looked into how they were carved, or is it something we've just taken for granted as being chiseled by iron?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. with solid stones, copper or bronze tools

amazing, huh?

[leftofthedial]

2. lizard people from outer space

same ones who tell king george what to do

[Pyrzqxgl]

11. It wasn't lizard people, it was those Xeno guys

they have laser beam noses

[theophilus]

3. I saw something recently where an Egyptologist was

saying that they used a combination of metal and flint tools. The flint was sharper and more durable and would have worked well on the relatively soft limestone and especially sandstone. I don't remember which show it was but I think it was about Rameses the Great and Karnak.

[Ediacara]

4. For the most part I think the rock they were carving was limestone

which is generally fairly soft as far as rocks go. Keep in mind too, there has been little if any erosion since the time they were carved.

[BrotherBuzz]

6. Or sandstone

Freshly quarried sandstone is soft and easily worked. After exposer to the atmosphere it slowly hardens.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Some sandstone is incredibly soft

There are small sandstone cliffs in England regularly abseiled from, with fixed anchors at the top. The nylon ropes have gradually worn grooves in the edge of the cliff.

[hlthe2b]

7. Yes... that is my recollection from a trip to Egypt years ago...

the tombs at Luxor, especially are at risk from air exposure, especially to all the people coming in and their CO2, causing the carvings and paintings to decay. I am fairly certain that limestone was pointed out as being particularly vulnerable, once these tombs are opened.

[MuseRider]

5. Interesting question.

I never even thought about that. Thanks to those above who are providing answers.

[Richard Steele]

8. Copper and/or flint chisels for roughing the outlines...

...then smoothed with different stones and abrasives.

It depends upon the stone being carved.

Limestone is soft enough that an expert can carve
very clean lines and shapes directly with a flint,
and a harder stone like granite will abrade it
like sandpaper smoothing wood.

Some of the stone used for sculptures, like gneiss
and dolomite, are so hard that chiseling would not
work. These would be roughly shaped by splitting, and
pounding with similar stones, before being shaped
and finished entirely with abrasives.

[pretzel4gore]

10. ah, an opportunity to rant!

i just fini'd a book by thomas hoving on Tuthankhamun whose tomb was 'discovered' by a dude named carter, with his sponsor lord carnavan, back in 1922 - they were british imperialists/archeologists operating when egyptian and 3rd world nationalism was just beginning. Never again would thieves be allowed unalloyed access/control of ancient treasure and history, in part thanks to the antics involved in the most famous case of all. Carter's account of the discovery has been the basis of all subsequent accounts, and it went like this: carter and his team found the entry to king tut's tomb (there were references to the tomb in other places and records, so carter knew it was somewhere nearby) .... carter notified carnavon while he 'resealed the entry' and waited for a few weeks. When carnavaon (who was paying for the search) and his daughter arrived, the trio broke through to the first chamber, and saw that the tomb hadn't been disturbed for 3200 years, was full of treasure etc. They then resealed the tomb again, notified the authorities (who were mostly british/french, with egyptian hirelings/puppets) until officially the tomb was opened, and all that we now know took place. But the book i read said that that version was bullshit- victorian era pretense. When carter etc broke tomb opened 1st time, they spent all night rooting around in it, in fact taking a bunch of stuff (of course, they never went into the sarcaphagous, where tut's mummy was, as that 'wouldn't be prudent' breaking into the actual shrines would have probably got them all shot)...
it was the 'jack the ripper' case all over again! The brit police knew who 'jack' was within 2 weeks of his suicide, but allowed the jack/ripper legend grow cuz it wouldn't 'be prudent' to 'fess up publicly that the guy who horribly murdered all those poor women was an upper class twit! In egypt, the fiction of cool, unhurried professionalism was more important then any truth, and carter carnavon etc went to their graves publicly lying about the discovery of Tut's tomb (many letters and statements by the principles however revealed within weeks of the 1922 discovery that they in fact had acted like 'tomb robbers' that night, giddy with excitement and accidentally damaging priceless treasures, not to mention stealing crates of stuff which british planes took away in the night)
They were all fukking liars back in the old days, and reading all that history was probably a waste of time!
btw, aliens had nothing to do with these mysteries. We human beings are capable of alot more then narrow minded boors give us credit for....

[AngryAmish]

12. The were manufactured inside the hollow earth

Moved to Egypt via telkinesis

[TheCentepedeShoes]

13. With patience

Remember, there was no DU back then.

[Odin2005]

14. based on what I know of Egyptian technolgy, probaly bronze and flint