How did the Russian experiment in carving a diorite bowl end

?How did the Russian experiالment in carving a diorite bowl end

?How did the diorite bowl carving experiment end

This is an important story of an experiment by a Russian team working on carving a diorite bowl. The team of two made use of the tool box found in pre-dynastic times as agreed upon in the references, namely wood, stone tools, bones, fine sand, water, and ropes. No metal was used

It took 26 months to work, 5 days a week, to sculpt a replica of ancient diorite vessels. The team stated that the work extended for longer than expected, and the experiment was financially funded by volunteers and spectators. The team live-streamed the sculpting experience over the duration, ending a few months ago in October 2022

The result was announced, so how did the experiment end? This is what we show its translation below

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Sculptor Olga Vdovina and her assistant Yuliya Gukasova could not repeat the carving of the diorite bowl according to ancient techniques as they thought, with the help of stone tools, bones and sand.

For used standards, a well-polished diorite vase, offered at Sotheby's.

According to the official version, this is an ancient Egyptian vessel from the Predynastic Period, Naqada II, and Naqada III, dated to approximately 3600-3000 BC (first image).

A small diorite vase, 15 cm high, took two years to make by hand and the result is far from the original. The sculptors also refused to perform the polishing process

In addition, ancient Egyptian bowls have fairly thin walls, and the inside of the bowl has the same pattern as the outside in these bowls, and based on what the sculptors mentioned, the bowl they made has a cone on the inside [unlike the original bowl].

Sculptor Olga Vdovina admitted that it is almost impossible to polish diorite using the techniques supposedly used by the ancient Egyptians, namely wet sand.

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The importance of this experiment lies in the fact that it is the first almost complete experiment from a team that adopts the official version of the tools, and in which the sculptors go through most of the steps, trying to carve a diorite bowl using traditional methods, and they refused to complete the polishing and polishing procedure because of its difficulty.

Two individuals worked for more than two years to produce a bowl, which was supposed to have been made in a period when there were no effective tools. The final result was not the desired result, as the sculptors admit, and was different from the original, such as the thickness of the bowl, the shape of the internal space, and the smoothness of the surface. Anyone would pass by. At the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, you will find vessels reaching a height of one meter displayed outside the curtains, and they are smooth as silk

There are thousands of hard stone carvings, from statues, coffins, to vessels, made from stones of the same hardness. If a vessel with a length of 15 cm took two years to carve, then we must now assume that the statue of Khafre was carved in 50 years, for example?!

There are approximately 40,000 stone bowls found in Saqqara alone. Is it reasonable for the sculptor to spend a year or two carving each bowl, then finish the bowl and its owner puts aromatic oils and ointments in it?

It is assumed that the pot time does not exceed a few days or weeks at most. Otherwise, it becomes a matter of wasting time

Therefore, some archaeologists, such as Alfred Lucas, in his book Materials and Industries among the Ancient Egyptians, claimed that they had produced hardened metals, the secret of their composition and preparation being lost, or that they had known steel and used it in sculpture since ancient times.

Thanks for the effort and patience for two years, but this experience has proven to us that this is not the method that the ancient Egyptians used to carve vessels... regardless of the fact that some do not acknowledge this fact.

They had other means than what is displayed in museums, even if we do not find or see them