Round the obelisk, partly separating it from the surrounding rock, is a narrow trench, whose depth averages about 2/3 that required to disengage it to a square section.
Plate [I] is a plan, with sections, of the obelisk to a scale of 1/100, and plate [II], nos. 1 and 2, shews the obelisk viewed from the tip and butt respectively; the trench around the obelisk can be seen in plate [II] and in plate III, no. 1, and is discussed in chapter ii.
As to the date of this obelisk, I have found nothing which gives any real clue to it. One
utiy, in the reign of
atshepsôwet, mentions an obelisk of 108 cubits (56.7 metres) long, which is longer than that of Aswân, even if we allow for the pedestal as having been included in the measurement (see BREASTED, Ancient Records, II, p. 156, and section [43] of this volume). Neither can the Aswân obelisk be an abortive attempt to extract the obelisk, a part of which is now at Constantinople, as the thickness of what is now the base is only 2.37 metres, whereas the Aswân obelisk measures 2.50 metres at the base of the pyramidion. Unfortunately we are compelled to leave the question of the date open, until we get some definite evidence, which may well appear when the whole quarry is completely cleared. {4}
(4) There are abundant traces that the rock, from which the obelisk was to be extracted, was reduced to an approximately correct level by burning and wedging, the former being used wherever possible. In the excavations, a large quantity of burnt and semi-burnt mud bricks were noticed, while a considerable percentage of the chips round the obelisk and other quarries had the pinkish-brown colour and crumbling texture peculiar to burnt granite. Some large pieces of rock shew quite clearly how the burning was done; it appears that a stack of dried reeds was banked with brick, near a fissure if possible, and after firing, the rock was easily hammered away. It is very likely that water was poured on the hot stone to make it break up. This method of heating and chilling is used on the granite in India at the present day. Traces of burning are seen in the obelisk area at A and B on plate [V], no. 1. Such a vast amount of stone has been removed in the neighbourhood which shews neither wedge nor chisel marks that, without the proof of the burnt brick and stone, we should have been driven to the conclusion that burning was the method employed [1].
