Ancient Egypt Tools ... Wooden Tools.

Of all the ancient Egypt tools, the wooden ones were among the oldest. But they still did their job well.

While wood and stone could not match the strength and versatility of the metal tools that superseded them, they played an important part in Egypt's development.

One of the great benefits of wood was the ability to shape it easily for a designed purpose.

So lets take a closer look at the pointy end of wooden tools.

What types of tools were made with wood?

Many tools were made with wood. In fact, many metal bodied tools still retained a wooden handle.

There were many wooden tools used in areas such as ancient Egypt agriculture, carpentry and weaving.

Ploughs.

When you think of pre-tractor farming, do you imagine the farmer whipping the oxen pulling the plow between them?

Do you imagine that the ground must be pretty tough to have to break it up like that?

So a wooden plough would last about five seconds before it splintered up into pieces, right?

Well, luckily for the ancient Egyptians, their soil was not like that. The annually flooded fields meant their was no need to turn the dirt to revitalise it.

So their lightly built wooden plows were more than adequate for the task.

Ouch. Major back strain.

The Egyptians can't have been a lanky bunch.

Their wooden hoes were short handled, which meant they really had to bend over and put their back in a hunched position while they worked.

The hoes were not fixed. The wooden blade was attached with rope to the handle.

It's a good bet that if the soil was tough to turn they would have come up with a better design.

Ducking and Weaving.

Well... not ducking and weaving, but rather, crouching and weaving.

Wooden looms that were horizontal and built low to the ground, meant that the weavers had to crouch down to use them. (Those Egyptians were either all midgets or didn't like to work with a straight back.)

Pictures of looms have been found on pottery dating back to the 5th century BCE, and pictures of weavers appear a little later on.

So it appears the wooden loom certainly stood the test of time.

Other wooden tools

Some other ancient Egypt tools constructed mostly of wood include:

*The mallet - for carpentry

*The rake - for farming

*The sickle - used with flint embedded into the wooden blade for a cutting edge.

*The scoop - for moving grain.

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