The Ancient Egyptians were at home with stone tools, and continued to use hammers and axes of basalt, gabbro, limestone and quartzite alongside tools of bronze or copper for thousands of years.

This heavy and awkward-looking stone mason's hammer was the type used by Ancient Egyptian sculptors in the production of their wonderfully sophisticated and beautiful statues.  We know this because one of their fellow craftsmen carved an image of two sculptors at work on a statue in the tomb of the 5th Dynasty nobleman, Ti, at Sakkara.  Although considerable numbers of the stone heads of such tools have been found, few examples remain of the entire tool, complete with handle made of two crossed wooden sticks, and the rawhide used to attach the handle to the quartzite head.