In North American culture, people often hear that they should finish what they start. Ending a project part of the way through is seen as a weakness, and people tend to view anything half-finished with suspicion. Sometimes, however, a partially-done project can give useful insights into the process of how something is made, giving information that would otherwise be completely inaccessible. The Unfinished Obelisk near Aswan, Egypt, is a prime example. The obelisk lies in the rock quarry where workers abandoned it when they discovered a crack that would have ruined the massive structure. From their failure, scholars have learned far more about how obelisks were made than they ever knew before.
The History of Obelisks
Obelisks are familiar to many people, at least through pictures. The tall pillars, pointed at the top like giant pencils, reside in various places around the world, including Rome and Washington, DC, although they originally came from Egypt, removed from ancient temples by treasure hunters and explorers. Experts believe that obelisks had a religious function in ancient times, perhaps to draw energy from the sky or to point to the heavens. The temple of Karnak near Luxor still has obelisks scattered around the ruins, although not as many as in former years. Even the tallest of them, however, is small compared with what would have been the largest obelisk ever.
No one knows which pharaoh commissioned the obelisk because it was abandoned before any identifying hieroglyphics could be carved, but it was one of the most ambitious projects in the ancient world. Some scholars believe it was planned as a companion to the Lateran Obelisk of Karnak, now located in Rome, but at almost 42 meters (137 feet) tall it would have been far larger than anything ever built before. With an estimated weight of approximately 1170 tons, the obelisk would have been challenging to move without the benefit of modern machines.
Making the Obelisk
The fatal crack ended the project but left future generations with insights into how obelisks were made. On the Unfinished Obelisk’s sides are two shafts where workers cut away the surrounding red granite with implements made of the harder dolomite stone, leaving the rock they intended to use. Later, artists would have carved or painted hieroglyphics onto the stone, featuring the pharaoh’s name in oval cartouches.
Getting to the Unfinished ObeliskVisiting the Unfinished Obelisk of Aswan is an essential part of any visit to the Upper Egyptian city. Most tour guides will include the site in their schedules, and taxi drivers will also take anyone brave enough to bargain for a good price to get there. For a glimpse into ancient construction methods, a trip to the Unfinished Obelisk is well worth the time.
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