August
08
/ 2026
Archaeology is not an exact science. It is full of doubts, uncertainties, surprises, and unanswered questions. One of its unsolved mysteries concerns the seemingly impossible methods of ancient stonework, skills lost in the mists of time. All existing stones, listed in the Mohs Scale according to their hardness - from the 1st degree (softest, talc), to the 10th (hardest, diamond) - are workable with tools made of something harder than them. This means they are worked and altered with a mineral tool with a higher degree of hardness, or more often with a metal tool. From the 1st to the 6th degree (mostly calcareous stones), copper or bronze tools are enough. But for stones from the 7th upwards (much harder
