Colossal sculpture

In many cases, especially in India, these sculptures were carved out of softer rocks like sandstone or volcanic tuff. However, in some cases they were carved out of harder rocks like basalt, or even granite in the case of the unfinished obelisk in Egypt. The Egyptians may have been limited to using 4.5-kilogram (10-pound) dolerite balls to chip away at the granite. Dynamite was used in the carving of Mount Rushmore's Shrine of Democracy, one of the few colossal sculptures that was carved out of granite.