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The missing obelisk, discovered in 2005, is located on the northern edge of the Obelisk Quarry, which is the largest granite quarry in Aswan, Egypt. Its stones were used in the construction of the pyramid group of King Khufu and many obelisks were also cut.
This obelisk is one of the longest Egyptian obelisks, with a length of around 42 meters and a weight of around 1,000 tons. Work on this obelisk was not completed due to the cracked surface.
The unfinished obelisk
The significance of the missing obelisk is due to the fact that it showed how obelisks were made and huge stones hewn. For example, balls of diorite stone, each weighing 6 kilograms, were found in the quarry, which were used as hammers to separate and cut the sides of the obelisk.
Nasr Salama, former undersecretary of the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, told Al-Arabiya.net that this obelisk was known as the Missing Obelisk because it had not been fully retrieved from his site on it. The appearance of a crack in the middle of the obelisk’s surface may be the reason for not completing his retirement from his career.
The unfinished obelisk
The date of this obelisk can go back to the time of Queen Hatshepsut, as that was most of the time when the obelisks were built. Archaeologists have also confirmed that this obelisk, had it been completed, would have been the largest and heaviest in the world.
Nasr added that the obelisks were one of the innovations of the ancient Egyptians, as they consisted of a piece of stone erected in front of and inside the temples and engraved on all four sides with scenes and texts related to the king. , and there is a stone monument in the form of a column, the base of which is square and decreases as it rises, and ends in a hierarchical form.
The unfinished obelisk
The site of the obelisk carving was chosen from the granite quarries south of Aswan, where the ancient Egyptian technical worker explored the quality of the stone and the absence of any interference from other qualities, then drilled wells around the workpiece. to ensure the quality of the stone in the ground.
Then he starts figuring out the exact dimensions of the obelisk, and then starts digging two trenches around it until two sides appear in addition to the top side. And after making sure that there were no flaws in the block, he separated it from its underside and tied it with a very large group of ropes and put wooden cylinders in it so that he can push it until it reaches the bank of the Nile where it is carried over the palm trunks which accompany the current of the Nile until it reaches its place of residence and is lowered towards the shore, he pulled it to its specified place, lifted it, and began to record the inscriptions and inscriptions of the king on its four sides. Then the pyramid shape at the top of the obelisk is covered with a golden layer to reflect the sun’s rays.
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