Natural Science in Archaeology

68 3 Exploitation of Mineral and Rock Raw Materials
Ancient Egyptian limestone quarries in the Nile Valley occur in six separate
geologic formations. Harrell (1992) determined that thin-section petrography and
X-ray fluorescence spectrometry allowed him to ascertain the geographic provenance
of the limestone used in ancient Egyptian sculptures and monuments. From
Chephren’s quarry in the extreme south of Egypt, the third and fourth millennium
BCE Egyptians exploited plagioclase feldspar and amphibole gneiss boulders
that had formed by spheroidal weathering. This rock material was used to create
sculptures and thousands of vessels and funerary objects. Middleton and Bradley
(1989) used four separate analytical techniques to provenance three major groups
of Egyptian limestone sculpture to the raw material quarry. For more on ancient
Egyptian quarries see Bloxam and Heldal (2007) and Harrell (1992, 2004a). A stela
over 30 m long, the largest stone monument ever quarried in the ancient world, was
quarried at Axum. In China the famous ancient quarry at Lotus Hill in Guangzhou
dates back more than 2000 years.
Quarrying during the Roman Period was extensive throughout the Mediterranean
area. Many of these quarries can be observed today. The author has visited many
Roman quarries in Tunisia where the step-ledge technique can be seen. Perhaps the
most famous Roman quarries in Tunisia are those at Smitthou, west of ancient Bulla
Rhegia. The rock is a Jurassic low-grade marble, a recrystallized dolomitic limestone.
In contrast to the carbonate rock, the major quarry near the northern tip of the
Cap Bon Peninsula, northeast of Carthage, is cut into a bioclastic sandstone. This
sandstone was used extensively by the Punic inhabitants of Carthage for harbor
quay walls and buildings. A comprehensive volume on quarrying technology from
the Bronze Age through the Byzantine is that by Waelkens et al. (1992). This book
focuses on the eastern Mediterranean, with special emphasis on marble but with
some reports on other stone. This publication also includes a wealth of information
on provenance determination of stone material. Fant’s (1988) study is devoted to
ancient marble quarrying and the related subjects of statuary and trade.
There are abundant ancient quarry sites throughout the world beginning at least
20,000 years ago. Prehistoric lithic quarries in the New World are manifested by
trenches following high-grade layers and the wholesale removal of ridge faces.
Heizer and Treganza (1944) present a major contribution to our knowledge of prehistoric
mines and quarries in California. The extensive treatise covers pigments,
silica minerals, clays, rocks (including chalk and salt), and minerals such as mica,
turquoise, galena, and malachite. For a Paleoindian site in Panama see Pearson
(2003). The Inca quarry of Kachiqhata is located in two giant rockfalls at the base
of a cliff of granite. The Inca quarried the rockfall rather than the rock face. The Inca
quarries at Rumiqolqa are situated in a volcanic outcrop of flow-banded andesite
that allowed extraction of slabs. For Inca quarrying see Protzen (1985).