The Metal

• Around 200 years after the people of Gerza first started using copper, the dynastic period of Egyptian history began. Copper tools and implements became more desirable because they were easier to make than stone tools. The Egyptians began mining copper-bearing rock on a wider scale as the demand for copper grew.
  
  The Egyptians founded the world's first large-scale mining operation at sites in the Sinai Peninsula. The green malachite found in the Sinai was highly prized because copper metal could be extracted from it easily. The Egyptians also mined blue azurite, which contains blue copper carbonate and copper-bearing blue-green turquoise.
  
  

Grave Goods

• Copper tools and ornaments were buried for use in the afterlife.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Tools and weapons made from copper were so highly prized by the Egyptians that they were placed in tombs as grave goods. Hetepheres I, the queen of Pharaoh Snefru and mother of Khufu, was entombed with an assortment of lavish grave goods. Included among these were copper chisels for working limestone.
  
  Other copper implements found in tombs include axe heads, knife blades and saws. Copper scissors, pincers and sewing needles found in early Egyptian graves indicate that wealthy Egyptian households may have used similar copper tools. Later tombs also held bronze serving ware, implements and tools, according to Kibbutz Reshafim.
  
  

Copper Building Tools

• Copper tools shaped the limestone blocks used in building pyramids and monuments.Medioimages/Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images
  
  Copper tools played an important role in the building of the pyramids and other monuments. Artisans used copper chisels to carve statues and monuments. Copper saws and chisels were used to quarry and dress the stones used to build the pyramids.
  
  The huge limestone blocks were quarried in a grid pattern by cutting channels between the blocks. First copper, and later bronze, chisels and saws were used to cut the channels between the blocks. After the channels had been cut, logs were placed into the channel and then soaked with water. The wet wood expanded, breaking the block free from the hillside, according to Duke University.
  
  

Growing and Gathering Food

• The Egyptians developed agriculture during the Neolithic period, and by the time of the pharaohs, agriculture assumed the most important role in Egyptian society. The regular flooding of the Nile provided rich soil for growing cereal grains, dates and other crops. Copper, and later bronze, farming tools included sickles, mattocks and plows.
  
  Copper and bronze fishhooks and arrow points were used to harvest fish and game birds in and along the river. Barbed and simple copper and bronze fishhooks and arrowheads as well as bronze farming implements have been found in graves dating from the Bronze Age in Egypt.
  
  

Art and Beauty

• The artists and craftsmen of ancient Egypt used copper and bronze tools also. Copper and bronze axe blades and adzes for cutting and shaping wood have also been found in Bronze Age Egyptian tombs, according to Dartmouth College. Saws, chisels and knives made of copper and bronze were used by artisans to create beautiful wooden furniture and statuary.
  
  The Egyptians also used copper implements in their daily lives. Copper and bronze razors and mirrors were important to the beauty-conscious wealthy Egyptians. Copper and bronze dishes, cups and cookware made life easier and adorned the home.