Curated category
Sculpture materials
- ConcreteConcrete floors appeared in the royal palace of Tiryns, Greece, dating to 1400 BC. Lime mortars were used in Crete and Cyprus by 800 BC.
- MarbleHeat and pressure transform limestone or dolomite into marble. This metamorphic process recrystallizes carbonate minerals like calcite (CaCO3) or dolomite…
- GraniteGranite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, mica and plagioclase. The word granite comes from the Latin…
- ClayA 23,500 times magnified electron micrograph reveals the plate-like structure of smectite clay. These tiny sheets consist of aluminium and silicon ions…
- Roman concreteThe harbor of Caesarea in Roman Judaea rose from the sea between 22 BC and 15 BC. Massive quantities of pozzolana arrived from Puteoli to build its…
- IvoryIvory is a hard, white material derived from the tusks and teeth of animals. It consists mainly of dentin, one of the physical structures found in mammalian…
- GlassA single crystal has atoms in a near-perfect periodic arrangement. An amorphous solid such as glass has no periodic arrangement even microscopically.