building construction
Like the other great river valley cultures, Egypt built its cities with mud brick; fired brick did not appear there until Roman times. Timber was used sparingly, for it was never abundant. It was used mainly in roofs, where it was heavily supplemented by reeds. Only a few royal buildings were built with full timber frames. It was against this drab background of endless mud brick houses that a new technology of cut-stone construction emerged in the temples and pyramids of the 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 bce). Egypt, unlike Mesopotamia or the Indus valley, had excellent deposits of stone exposed above ground; limestone, sandstone, and granite were all available. But the extracting, moving, and working of stone was a costly process, and the quarrying of stone was a state monopoly. Stone emerged as an elite construction material used only for important state buildings. The Egyptians developed cut stone for use in royal mortuary buildings not only for its strength but also for its durability. It seemed the best material to offer eternal protection to the pharaoh’s ka, the vital force he derived from the sun-god and through which he ... (200 of 34,254 words)Stone construction in Egypt