Square, plumb bob and A-frame level of Egyptian builders
Escuadra, plomada y nivel en A de los constructores egipcios
- Date
- c. 1300 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Deir el-Medina, Luxor, Egypt
- Credited to
- Egyptian craftsmen and builders
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A right-angled wooden square, a plumb bob with a stone or metal weight and an A-shaped level with cord and plumb line, used to check verticals, horizontals and right angles. Finds from Deir el-Medina and New Kingdom tombs show them in use.
The surviving objects date to the New Kingdom, but the accuracy of the Giza pyramids (base levelled to within centimetres) suggests that they were already in use in the Old Kingdom; the range reflects that uncertainty.
What it led to
- precise verticality and levelling of temples and tombs
- basic instruments passed on to Greek and Roman construction
- forerunners of the mason's level and the modern plumb bob