Post by Tamrin on Jun 6, 2010 9:34:30 GMT 10
Building in Egypt; Pharaonic Stone Masonry
"Tools and Their Application"
[/b][/size]"Tools and Their Application"
[Excerpt - Chapter by Dieter Arnold - Linked above][/center]
Plumbs X Plumbs consist of a plumb bob, suspended from a peg or a stick, which could also be used to reel up the cord. Many plumb bobs got lost during the actual work and have been recovered. They vary in material, shape, and size. Petrie collected a great variety, with examples from the Third Dynasty on.
A more elaborate type of plumb was found in the tomb of the architect Senedjem at Deir el-Medina (fig. 6.4). The board was held vertically against the wall to be tested, and the plumb bob was attached to a wooden crossboard so that the cord, if in a vertical position, would touch a second cross board below, which was the same size as the first. Plumbs were also used to put a square level in position. The string was fixed at the top of the two legs of the square, and the tip of the plumb had to touch the center mark on the cross board.
Builders' Squares X Egyptian builders and masons made use of the simple wooden device, the square, in order to lay off or check right angles, in building as well as dressing blocks. It is in principle the same instrument that is used today. Few squares have actually been found. The simplest version consists of two arms, connected at a right angle with pegs or with tongue and groove. One of the two legs could be strengthened by a footboard, which allowed the square to stand upright by itself (fig. 6.5).
There may also have been squares with a third piece of wood connecting the two legs in the shape of an A, similar to the square levels. In the tomb of Rekhmira, a square is shown lying in a carpenter's workshop, reminding us that squares could be used by other craftsmen as well.
Square Levels X The square level not only was the leveling instrument of Pharaonic Egypt, but was used in Roman and medieval building as well. It was only later superseded by the water level, which was known to the Romans but was used by them for only special purposes.
The oldest Pharaonic plummet known dates only from the Middle Kingídom. One can be sure that it existed much earlier. Although the medieval building square levels could have several shapes, the Egyptian specimens seem always to have had two legs of equal length, connected at a right angle with a cross lath, so that the tool was in the shape of the letter A. The legs were made in a way to make it stand. Near the connecting corner of the two legs was suspended a plumb bob, which could coincide—when the level was standing horizontally—with a mark in the center of the cross lath.
The shape of this instrument appears frequently in the hieroglyphic sign used for words connected with the activities of that instrument, such as hh or sb. But only three examples of the instrument itself have been disícovered, two of them made for funerary purposes. They were found in the tomb of the architect Senedjem (Nineteenth Dynasty) at Deir el-Medina (fig. 6.6). The specimen no. 58 in Petrie's Tools and Weapons has a base of 45.6 centimeters and legs 32.8 centimeters long; no. 59 has a base of 46.6 centimeters and legs 32.8 centimeters long. A third example, excavated near the pyramid of Senwosret I at Lisht, which probably dates to the Twelfth Dynasty, has not been adequately published.
The object occurs quite frequently in the shape of an amulet.
A more elaborate type of plumb was found in the tomb of the architect Senedjem at Deir el-Medina (fig. 6.4). The board was held vertically against the wall to be tested, and the plumb bob was attached to a wooden crossboard so that the cord, if in a vertical position, would touch a second cross board below, which was the same size as the first. Plumbs were also used to put a square level in position. The string was fixed at the top of the two legs of the square, and the tip of the plumb had to touch the center mark on the cross board.
Builders' Squares X Egyptian builders and masons made use of the simple wooden device, the square, in order to lay off or check right angles, in building as well as dressing blocks. It is in principle the same instrument that is used today. Few squares have actually been found. The simplest version consists of two arms, connected at a right angle with pegs or with tongue and groove. One of the two legs could be strengthened by a footboard, which allowed the square to stand upright by itself (fig. 6.5).
There may also have been squares with a third piece of wood connecting the two legs in the shape of an A, similar to the square levels. In the tomb of Rekhmira, a square is shown lying in a carpenter's workshop, reminding us that squares could be used by other craftsmen as well.
Square Levels X The square level not only was the leveling instrument of Pharaonic Egypt, but was used in Roman and medieval building as well. It was only later superseded by the water level, which was known to the Romans but was used by them for only special purposes.
The oldest Pharaonic plummet known dates only from the Middle Kingídom. One can be sure that it existed much earlier. Although the medieval building square levels could have several shapes, the Egyptian specimens seem always to have had two legs of equal length, connected at a right angle with a cross lath, so that the tool was in the shape of the letter A. The legs were made in a way to make it stand. Near the connecting corner of the two legs was suspended a plumb bob, which could coincide—when the level was standing horizontally—with a mark in the center of the cross lath.
The shape of this instrument appears frequently in the hieroglyphic sign used for words connected with the activities of that instrument, such as hh or sb. But only three examples of the instrument itself have been disícovered, two of them made for funerary purposes. They were found in the tomb of the architect Senedjem (Nineteenth Dynasty) at Deir el-Medina (fig. 6.6). The specimen no. 58 in Petrie's Tools and Weapons has a base of 45.6 centimeters and legs 32.8 centimeters long; no. 59 has a base of 46.6 centimeters and legs 32.8 centimeters long. A third example, excavated near the pyramid of Senwosret I at Lisht, which probably dates to the Twelfth Dynasty, has not been adequately published.
The object occurs quite frequently in the shape of an amulet.
