Very frequently the stone was roughly blocked out before being actually extracted from the bed.

Thus at Syene (Asuan) we see a couchant obelisk of granite, the under side of which is one with the rock itself; and at Tehneh there are drums of columns but half disengaged.

The transport of quarried stone was effected in various ways.

At Syene, at Silsilis, at Gebel Sheikh Herideh, and at Gebel Abufeydeh, the quarries are literally washed by the waters of the Nile, so that the stone was lowered at once into the barges.
At Kasr es Said,[11] at Turah, and other localities situate at some distance from the river, canals dug expressly for the purpose conveyed the transport boats to the foot of the cliffs.

When water transit was out of the question, the stone was placed on sledges drawn by oxen (fig.