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Experiments in Egyptian Archaeology: Stoneworking Technology in Ancient Egypt
107. Similarly, four tapered holes, drilled into the lid of the rose granite sarcophagus of Prince Akhet-Hotep (Brooklyn Museum of Art 48.110) possess these striations. Each hole is 31 cm long and tapers from a average maximum diameter of 5 cm to an average minimum diameter of 4.5 cm (see Figure 6.2).

133. The gyratory actions of the drill-tube’s exterior wall wore the hole into a taper which sloped inward to its bottom, and the tube’s interior wall wore the core into a reversed taper, i.e. narrower at the top and wider at the bottom (Figure 4.23). The tubular slot, importantly, also became tapered. Additionally, the drilltube’s lateral movements across the slot, caused by the bow’s reciprocating action, overcut it; this phenomenon reduced as the hole deepened.