January 10, 2019 | By Webmaster
Marble quarrying on Thassos reaches back to the sixth century BC, when knowledge from Paros helped shape the first organized workings. At Alyki, the ancient extraction areas remain visible beside the sea, where the white stone, blue water and weathered quarry faces form a remarkable cultural landscape.
For roughly twelve centuries, marble was quarried, shaped near the source and shipped throughout the known world. Columns, capitals and architectural pieces travelled from Thassos to major monuments, making marble an early ambassador for the island’s craftsmanship and heritage.
Ancient quarries were small specialist enterprises. Their teams included quarry masters, stone workers, tool makers and transport crews, combining many of the skills still found in modern quarry operations.
Unlike modern operations, which plan extraction to maximize yield and reduce waste, ancient quarry masters selected each extraction point for a specific commission. Natural cracks, wedges and carefully placed channels helped separate blocks of the required size and quality.
Much of the shaping was completed at the quarry before transport. The essential measuring, marking, splitting and lifting tools evolved over time, but many of their basic principles remain recognizable in marble working today.