Stylolite networks and their insoluble residues (IR) are among the major concerns and the fundamental controls on the mining and processing of sedimentary decorative stones, largely made from dolomitized limestones. They are mainly used, as natural rock blocks and polished slabs, to construct and decorate floors and walls of buildings and monuments. Representative quarries in Khur areas, east o...

Abstract We present a scheme for non-destructive provenancing of granite shafts dating from the Roman to medieval period using combination visual, magnetic, and chemical determinations. Our results on two monumental complexes in Europe, Pisa Lyon, shows both oriental provenance, most likely spolia, shaft quarries within influence zone Republic (Elba, Corsica Sardinia) that possibly correspond n...

Human prosperity is closely linked to the availability of raw material resources, among other things. Despite enormous technological progress, we cannot dispense with mineral extraction. Since mining industry still represents a key sector for society, striving keeping abreast best practices, technologies, and knowledge available in field crucial. Benchmarking can serve this purpose, as it alrea...

In addition to reinforced concrete and steel buildings, a large part of the existing building stock in Europe is made stone masonry. Prediction structural behavior requires development systematic material characterization mechanical properties details (units, arrangement, bonding, inter-connection). This study aims analyze physical stones historical city Gjirokastër, Albania, known also as Ston...

I the article several unfinished and semi-finished Roman period artifacts made of Proconnesian marble have been described and discussed. They were discovered in the ancient cities of Odessos and Marcianopolis (in Moesia Inferior) and have been dated to the 2nd-3rd c. AD. Among them are gabled sarcophagi, a fluted capital and two statues: of Heracles and the Thracian Horseman. These finds eviden...