Ancient Egyptian woodworker from the the Tomb of Rehmire, Thebes.
Ancient Egyptian woodworker from the the Tomb of Rehmire, Thebes. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Woodworking_in_Ancient_Egypt.jpg

According to the eminent philosopher Henri Bergson, human intelligence is first evident in the creative evolution of tools. Ancient Egyptian craftsmen were at the leading edge of technology.

In the early, pre-dynastic period, the first pieces of furniture were no more than boxes and indeed, many of those boxes were coffins or sarcophagi.  Wood preparation was achieved using wedge, chisel, and adze, initially made from bone and stone, then of copper.  As metallurgy improved and, copper tools became better, from crude serrated knives in the First Dynasty (c. 3000BCE) to saws with regular teeth by the Fourth (c. 2500BCE).  Bronze tools were of a simple nature.  Axes, knives, saws, and chisels were let into wooden handles.  The use of the adze was universal in squaring and shaping lengths of timber.  Wood that needed to be rip-sawn lengthwise was fastened vertically to a post and worked with a one-handed saw in conjunction with wedges to open the cut.  Small holes were made by a socket drill worked with a bow.  Mortising was done by drill and chisel.  Surfaces could be finished with knife, chisel, or adze and smoothed with sandstone.  Fastening was done by lashing early on and then replaced by joinery and the use of bronze nails.  By the end of the old kingdom (the age of the pyramids, c. 2100BCE), every basic woodworking tool now common in the modern world was in use in ancient Egypt: axe, adze, saw, hammer, mallet, wedge, chisel, lathe, plane, rasp, and drill.  Techniques included splitting, cutting, lashing, mortising, levelling, nailing, gluing, and inlay.  In the tomb of Rehmire at Thebes, we find mitre joints, lap joints, dovetail joints, mortise and tenon, butterfly cramps, and veneer.  The craftsmen of ancient Egypt employed plaster, stain, and paint to beautify their creations. 

 By Israelite times, around 1200 BCE, building in the near east had become very precise and sophisticated.  This is evident in excavated Egyptian toolkits that include chalk lines, levels, squares, plumb-bobs, and measuring rods.