Who Invented the Claw Chisel?

Abstract

Summary. Part I discusses the problem of the introduction of the claw chisel in stone masonry and sculpture. This tool was thought to have been invented in 6th‐century Greece for the needs of marble carving. The detection of its traces on a tomb of 7th‐century Egypt in soft limestone, however, now suggests not only that the Greeks borrowed it from the Egyptians but also that it was not originally a marbleworker's tool. Part II deals with both the tomb and career of an Egyptian official designated Nespeqashuty D in order to place into a chronological framework one of the earliest securely dated attestations for the use of the claw chisel in Egyptian art. Both parts are intended to place the impact of Egypt on Greece into sharper focus.