The Unfinished Obelisk

Had it been raised, this would have been the largest obelisk ever cut — 41.75 metres and around 1,200 tonnes, a third larger than anything standing. A crack appeared in the granite during quarrying and the work stopped, leaving the block lying on three sides still joined to the bedrock.

What makes it valuable is the interruption: the tool marks, the dolerite pounders left in the trenches and the partly cut channels show exactly how the Egyptians extracted granite, in a way no finished monument can.

Quarried in the 15th century BC, probably for Hatshepsut. It lies in the northern quarry that supplied granite for obelisks, sarcophagi and casing stones across the whole country.