Talk:Stone carving

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looking for stone carving I found that the page redirected to Petraglyph, which is relevant but isn't the whole story. Seems that wiki suffers from a lot of theoretical info at the expense of the practical sometimes. so i fleshed out the page with a 'hopefully' inclusive definition and added some content about stone carving as an activity.

hope it meets with your approval.

DavidP 21:54, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Reason for removal of sentence.

I cannot find any evidence that 'jet engines' were used to heat the rock to carve more easily at Mt. Rushmore. I doubt seriously that any were used since the thing was finished in 1941...Tracyfennell 09:16, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

you are right - of course. the work on the presidents did stop, but the carving of 'crazy horse' seventeen miles away, is still ongoing and there almost all carving is now done by jet this is also true of the confederate sculpture at stone mountain geogia.

see [1] quote

"Indeed, carving Crazy Horse has been a learning experience, Ruth Ziolkowski says. In the beginning, they used dynamite but soon switched to detonating cord, which is much easier to control and better preserves the rock left after the explosion. Once the general shape of the sculpture is blasted out, the sculptors bring in a jet-finishing torch to smooth the surface.”

as the page is about stone carving rather than specific works I shall replace the reference to the jet as a carving tool. thanks DavidP

Hi. Someone with Wiki savvy/authority ought to change the paragraphs regarding iron age coming after the bronze age. Hittites, Cannanites, Indus people had Steel and irons as well as bronze... the reason the greeks were part of a bronze age (if thats right) is that they were a new culture and didn't have the technology of the previous more developted Cultures.

There's problems in this 'article' the least of which is: (metaphorically) "God Created the Greeks, and the Romans destroyed everything." Seriously and reasonably though... all the greek myths originate in West and Central Asia, thats where the heros always quest off too... so?

Wishing Well

Good point - it would be a shame to get hung up on timelines for a subject where the historical timing of a process isn't really crucial. the main point is that prior to the widespread use of steel in ancient greece bronze was used (so abrasion preceded percussion)- It could well be the case that steel was known, but it sure wasn't handed over to the stone carvers (probably because the military could make better use of it, some would say).

In a sense it might be better to say "up until the widespread use of steel in a culture fine stone carving was performed using abrasives" - all early greek carvings are made this way, as are ancient egyptian works. most Hittite work is also drilled & abraded from the earliest portrait of King Yarim-Lim, c. 1760 B.C. to the first Hittite sculpture in the round in the 9th century BCE. There is only one surviving Indus stone sculpture, it too is abraded.

From your message I get a distinct sense that you feel you have identified a greek bias, and I am sorry if you feel that other cultures aren't fully represented. the reason that the greeks are mentioned here is largely due to the fact that the greeks changed the face (and practice) of stone carving. personally is see the transition from pre-Ptolomaic egyptian, through greek, roman, byzantine, holy roman and modern - as more of an evolution than a creation/destruction cycle. I am truly sorry if I was inadvertantly falling into any archaeological disputed territory. DavidP