Harder Than Granite! How Did the Ancient Egyptians Cut QUARTZITE With Such Precision? Quartzite is one of the hardest stones on Earth — sitting at 7–8 on the Mohs hardness scale. For comparison: the famous red granite of Aswan ranks only 6–7, and that is already extremely difficult to work with. Yet the quartzite boxes of Abydos show perfectly flat surfaces, razor-sharp inner corners, and a glass-like polish. How could an ancient culture shape a material that is almost pure silicon dioxide — as