History of Diamond Drilling

They discovered that mixing granular quartz, found in the sand, with water and agitating it with a spinning copper pipe would create an abrasive agent powerful enough to cut through rock. Perfectly finished bore holes were created using this technique, impressive by even modern day standards.

The downside was the amount of manual labour it took to make this work. The Egyptian slaves would have had to spin the copper pipe with a cord, working in intense heat, resulting in blisters and injuries.

Egyptians were very clever at inventing ways to get around problems but not so hot on PPE!