The Northern Quarries, Aswan, from which the ancient Egyptians quarried syenite (red granite) for obelisks, colossi and temples

The red granite (syenite) Unfinished Obelisk was abandoned due to the discovery of a flaw after three of its sides had been prepared. It remains attached to the parent rock. Had it been extracted successfully it would have stood 41 metres high and weighed some 1200 tons.