Le Latomie a nord di Eloro

Abstract

The North promontory of the ancient town of Eloro was modified by quarrying activity,
not well-documented by archaeological studies. The opencast extraction areas
have been classified in stepped-type quarry, trench-type quarry and pit-type quarry.
The present research focuses on the main technical characteristics of the quarries
and their topographic traces which might clarify the modalities related to the stone
transport, the owner of lithic resource and the destination of blocks carved out from
quarries. From these archaeological evidences, it is highly probable that Eloro used
both land and sea transport. Moreover, Eloro, just like many other ancient cities, used
to exploit local stone sources rather than importing material. Finally, the data from
the present research are useful also to establish a relative chronology for extraction
procedures and quarries dating.
Keywords: Greek quarries, coastal caves, stone exploitation, lytic transport, ancient
topography.