How the Ancient Egyptians Cut Granite with Flint | Experiment

The experimentalist Nikolay Vasiutin copies the ancient Egyptian technology: carves an image on a granite surface with a flint cutter.

Work duration: 7 hours.

Tools/materials:
- flint
- sandstone (grinding)
- copper tube + abrasive (drilling the pupil)

The participants:
- Nikolay Vasyutin
- Alexander Sokolov
- Oleg Kruglyakov
- Vitaliy Krauss

Camera and edit: Vitaliy Krauss @ScienceVideoLab, Ksenya Ablez
Music: @Senmuth
English translation: Maria Shatulina
English voiceover: Dmitry Oliferovich
Spanish subtitles: Luca

How did the ancients cut stone?
#AncientTechnology #AncientArtifacts #ExperimentalArchaeology

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The premiere of the video was held at the Forum "Scientists Against Myths-7" on October the 21th, 2017 in Moscow.
Forum Organizer: ANTROPOGENEZ.RU

Skype: ya-kudzo

[vashman]

Just had to use this prove a point. I got the "give me ONE video of someone carving granite with copper tools." Thank you.

[AncientArchitects]

This was amazing. I can’t answer the ‘how’ question for this stuff as although I’m a geologist, I’m not a stonemason. But that looks like a damn good effort. I’m interested to hear both sides of the argument always. I don’t like mystery, I prefer answers but can never solve the question of ‘how’ myself. The stone walls of Peru, for example - they’re vast and so intricate. What is your opinion on these?

[alexr]

How you were able to capture these ancient aliens on film I'll never understand.

[gorillaguerillaDK]

So, how long have you been living among the earthlings?

[evbbjones]

Man it's really nice to have a video clip to show people who have complete doubts that flint can't cut granite. It's frustrating how many people will reference a 'hardness scale' and then completely misunderstand how it works and the contents within.

[johndobbie]

If you look at most of the granite and other carvings it seems that they were scratch engraved with a sharp outline first, possibly with a piece of gemstone mounted on a stick like a lapidarist's dop stick, the rest may have been worked in a similar way to the demonstration. Earlier Sumerian engravings were mostly just outlines but had similar characteristics.

[bumboclat]

People tend to forget what can be archieved if you add decades, unlimited manpower and skills honed over many generations.

[abhrashakya]

Wow impressive. Here in India we have many architectural wonders. Unscientific peoples are arguing god made them.. your channel is serving science and humanity very well.

[abeare]

What struck me when I went to Egypt were the precise edges. The gliphs on the obelisks had a machined look. This is a really good effort in a short time. However, I'd really like to see a demo that comes even close to how precise the Egyptian work is. I noticed your edges are really ragged. Did they achieve this with very careful abrasion after having chipped out the shape? How did they do this for hundreds of symbols all the way up an obelisk without a single chip out?

[GRMNCVS]

I was just watching another video and thought, "hey what if you could use flint to carve granite or andesite" and here we are. Thank you very much, lads

[uttcftptid]

Ancient High Technology! We've finally found it! : )

[AdvancedLiving]

But but but... Jimmy hit a rock with another rock and said it was stupid. Do you guys even have a hat? He has a hat, so he must be the expert.
I’m kidding, of course. Seriously, you guys are great, thanks for stuff like this.

[lnsflare]

Clearly, aliens made the researchers.

[afkbrb]

In the future after the collapse of modern civilization: this is like throwing a ladder across a narrow creek and saying: “See? This is how they could have built the Golden Gate Bridge.”

Only not really, because without constant maintenance the Golden Gate Bridge would collapse, unlike the pyramids which have retained their structural integrity on their own for thousands of years.

[njm]

Nice job. Traces of corundum were found on a tube drill sample from ancient Egypt. Thant's much harder than flint. I'm sure that skilled craftsmen with purpose built tools could have etched the inscriptions found on obelisks and other monuments.

[captainbeeflaps]

Brian Forrester wants to know your location😂

[pharoaher]

This is not cutting granite it’s scratching the surface which is already well documented and clearly evidenced they did

I would love to see a meaningful “cut” done with these techniques. That being said I do appreciate the video and demonstration. Keep it up

[jayc]

The myth is that you could get an optically flat surface with 90 degree corners, polished, using this method. Dream on. Technology cannot reproduce this today.

[lonl]

I would like to try this and make my own sculptures...how long did it take you'all to finish? Makes you really impressed with the stoneworking skills of the Egyptians...I bet their most skilled masons were held in high regard, much like they are in our time.

[meditationmusicbyalexjackson]

Except few flint shards have been found. Did the masons also use flint or chert to drill holes?