em in place (Casson, 129). Just to move one block took the work of forty men. The daily life of the workers constructing the pyramids was one of immense toil spanning over a long period of time. The quarrymen toiled away with soft copper chisels that hardly made a dent in the limestone. Another team dug a network of canals to transport the stones and food for the workers. Finally, another team of workers would haul the massive blocks on wooden sleds and put them into position (Casson, 130-137). This great social organization became the force that knit the country together.Another important group was the artisans. They were the people who decorated the inside of the pyramids. The artisans, also, brought a sense of social organization by the many processes it took to produce a work of art. For instance, the actual sculpting of a statue was not considered a single process, but as on process among many. The quarrymen had to quarry the stone with soft copper chisels, and it was transported to a sculptor. After the sculptor was finished with it, the sculpture was sent to another artisan. This artist would cut hieroglyphs in the statue. The hieroglyphs were about the life of the person that the statue represented. Then, they would send it to a metal worker who inserted the eyes and other details. Finally, the statue was sent to a painter to be painted (White, 153-154). These sculptures were placed in the tomb of a deceased king, as a ka piece. A ka is considered the life force of the deceased king. One can see how exhausting it would be to have a sculpture made, and how much organization was required to produce it.The life of Ancient Egyptian painter was somewhat similar to the life of a sculptor. They both had their share of work. A painter had to learn the important skill of making brushes out of reeds and mixing paint (White, 156). The paint that they used was like tempera paints that we use today. It was a mixture of pigm...
