An ancient scholarly dispute between Egyptologists Lucas and Petrie regarding how the ancient Egyptians drilled granite is explored. Lucas believed wet quartz sand was the abrasive, while Petrie proposed emery. Experimental evidence suggests emery, used with water, olive oil, or lubricant, produced concentric cutting lines on granite. Other abrasives like sand and crushed quartz did not. The use of a tubular copper drill is also suggested based on evidence from a drilled sarcophagus lid. Further research is needed to definitively determine which abrasive was used and how drilling techniques evolved in ancient lapidary technology.
https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-egyptian-stone-drilling/