Where did the artists obtain their materials?
The expense involved in royal building projects–which included statue manufacture–was enormous. Expeditions were sent to quarries to extract quantities of choice stone. Hard stones like quartzite came from Gebel Ahmar, near Cairo; red granite and granodiorite from Aswan; graywacke from the Eastern Desert; and soft stones such as limestone and travertine (Egyptian alabaster), were found along the Nile. Each type of stone was prized for its specific color and texture. Curiously, the Egyptians did not care much for marble, using it only sparingly; the marble quarries in the Eastern Desert were exploited mainly in the Greco-Roman period.
