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Granite

Technically in geological terms this is porphyritic hornblende biotite granite. It consists of about 50% pink potassium feldspar, the other parts being 15% opaque, 25% translucent grey quartz, 6% biotite and 3 % hornblende (both black), 1 % granular sphene. Granite was quarried at Aswan.

The Ancient Egyptian word for the pink granite from Aswan is mAT.

It was commonly used throughout the Pharaonic, Ptolemaic
and Roman Periods in architecture and sculpture.

UC 49 fragment of a statue, Amarna

Aston/Harrell/Shaw 2000: 35-36
Aston 1994: 15-18


 

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