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Stone has been used for carving since ancient times for many reasons. Most types of stone are easier to find than metal ores, which have to be mined and smelted. Stone can be dug from the surface and carved with hand tools. Stone is more durable than wood, and carvings in stone last much longer than wooden artifacts.
A stone sculpture is an object made of stone which has been shaped, usually by carving, or assembled to form a visually interesting three-dimensional shape. Stone is more durable than most alternative materials, making it especially important in architectural sculpture on the outside of buildings.
Hardstone carving, in art history and archaeology, is the artistic carving of semi-precious stones (and sometimes gemstones), such as jade, rock crystal (clear quartz), agate, onyx, jasper, serpentinite, or carnelian, and for objects made in this way. [1] [2] Normally the objects are small, and the category overlaps with both jewellery and ...
By the mid-18th century, stone-carving had become an industry with its own system of apprenticeships and workshops. Although not considered a fine art, stone crafting required skill and knowledge, including selecting fine stone from rock outcroppings, shaping them, preparing their faces and carving the reliefs.
The majority consist of human heads carved in the round (free-standing without a side attached to a flat background) with relatively shallow carving to depict the faces. Although most are thought to originate from between 300 BC and 100 AD, dating stone sculpture is difficult given that techniques such as radiocarbon dating cannot be used.
The word comes from the Greek prefix petro-, from πέτρα petra meaning "stone", and γλύφω glýphō meaning "carve", and was originally coined in French as pétroglyphe. In scholarly texts, a petroglyph is a rock engraving, whereas a petrograph (or pictograph) is a rock painting. [1] [2] In common usage, the words are sometimes used ...
The Alunda moose is a Neolithic artistic stone axe c.2000 B.C. that was found in Uppland, Sweden. It is displayed in the Swedish History Museum. Dagenham idol; Westray Wife; Folkton Drums; Rock carvings at Alta (Norway) – artwork includes images of Bear worship. Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin; List of stone circles
Central Zimbabwe contains the "Great Dyke" – a source of serpentine rocks of many types including a hard variety locally called springstone.An early precolonial culture of Shona peoples settled the high plateau around 900 AD and “Great Zimbabwe”, which dates from about 1250–1450 AD, was a stone-walled town showing evidence in its archaeology of skilled stone working.