The Ancient Egyptians lived along the banks of the Nile river thousands of years ago. The desert that stretched on either side of the river was a great source of stone for carving.
There were many different kinds of rock to use such as Granite, Alabaster, Limestone, Sandstone, Porphyry, Breccia, Jasper, Lapis and Lazuli.
The Egyptians used this great source of stone to build temples and tombs and to carve statues of Gods and Goddesses, Pharaohs, and Queens.

These sculptors used only a few simple tools such as chisels and mallets.
the sculptors worked close to the quarries and often cut the blocks of stone. Once this had been done they made a rough out line of the figure they were sculpting. This was copied from a drawing.
The sculptor made a brief outline and then started chipping away, after quite a while, the sculpture was finally finished.

After the sculpture had been totally carved out it was tied to a sledge and dragged to the Nile river.The the sculpture was carried by boat to the temple or tomb it was going to be kept in.
Just before the sculpture was going to be put away in the temple or tomb, workers then polished the sculpture with sand and water and stones covered in leather. Finally the sculpture was painted.