From Quarries to Rock-cut Sites: Echoes of Stone Crafting

The archaeological study of quarries and rock-cut sites has often focused on architectural styles or art-history, but a holistic structural approach could provide a better understanding of the agency of those who carved the stone. The proceedings volume aims to provide new data on sites located in Africa, Europe, and Asia studied with a diachronic approach, as well as new theoretical reflections for the international debate on the archaeological investigation of rock-cut spaces and stone quarries. It targets researchers and a wider audience interested in these peculiar and impressive sites.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 260 pages
Publication date: 23 May 2023
Publisher: Sidestone Press

The archaeological study of quarries and rock-cut sites has traditionally focused on the reconstruction of the extraction process, while rock-hewn spaces have often been approached from the perspective of architectural styles or art history. However, a holistic structural approach to the study of these spaces could provide a better understanding of the agency of those who carved the stone. Stone quarries and rock-cut sites have rarely been included in global studies of historical landscapes, and few forums have been dedicated to the theoretical and methodological debate over their importance for understanding past societies. To address this gap, the proceedings volume aims to provide new data on sites located in Africa (Ethiopia and Egypt), Europe (France, Croatia, Italy, and Spain), and Asia (Turkey and Saudi Arabia) studied with a diachronic approach, as well as new theoretical reflections for the international debate on the archaeological investigation of rock-cut spaces and stone quarries. The volume is structured in two directions: the analysis of individual rock walls, considering the study of tool traces as a proxy for understanding the carving phases, and the analysis of the structure (site/quarry) as a whole, by contextualizing the results of the study of the single walls. The volume primarily targets researchers who are interested in discovering quarries and rock-cut sites as aspects of the same mining phenomenon: places in which specific empirical and handcrafting knowledge related to stone working is expressed and conveyed, as well as a wider audience interested in these peculiar and impressive sites.

Dimension: 254 x 178 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789464261646