| Quarrying techniques in the past of Turkey |
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issue time:2006-06-22 13:51
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The first pieces of marble used by sculptors, architects, and decorators in Roman times were those that were simply lying around, waiting to be picked up.
Once that source was exhausted, Romans began inserting wet wooden wedges into the marble's natural cracks. As the wood expanded, it helped detach huge slabs off the mountainside.
They then started making their own cracks, using pickaxes to make channels six to eight inches deep and then inserting iron bars into them. The slabs, usually about two yards thick, were felled by crude hammering and chiseling.
Quarrymen worked to obtain manageable sizes of blocks needed for local construction. Blocks were also sent to Rome, where there was a high demand for statuary marble from Carrara.
Danesi shows me some Roman tools, explaining, "It's not hard to tell how the Romans quarried. The hammers and iron pickaxes found here as well as grooved, uneven surfaces clearly point at the Romans." The Romans improved their cutting techniques by intro- ducing handsaws. "Incredibly," Danesi explains, "this laborious method continued until the late nineteenth century. Two workers could spend a whole day cutting through seven to eight centimeters (about three inches) of marble."
Some seven hundred years ago, blasting with gunpowder was introduced. Blasting became an indispensable means of quarrying everywhere. A prohibition against this dangerous practice was implemented in 1932; by 1936, major explosions had shaken the Apuan Alps for the last time.
Even more fundamental to the quarrying evolution was the introduction of the three-strand wire saw in 1895 at Fanticritti. The saw, accompanied by sand and water, moved swiftly along a pulley system powered by gasoline-operated generators. The abrasive action of the sand and cooling and lubricating effect of the water ensured a fast and smooth operation. What the handsaw did in a day, the wire saw could do in a half hour or less.
By 1910, electricity and pneumatic hammers had arrived on the scene, launching a new phase of marble extraction. Starting in the 1950s, even more powerful, precise, and faster diamond-toothed wire saws became the norm, greatly increasing efficiency and production.
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