††††Stone is the non-metallic mineral matter of which rock is made.
Stone has been used throughout history as a building material. There is evidence from 4,000,000 BC of stone being used for tools. In the Orkney Islands in 3000 BC there were squarish stone houses with rounded corners. The roofs were made of whalebone rafters. Later, stone was used to build monuments, temples, palaces and large public buildings. The huge stones may have been dragged on sledges or even, in some cases, floated on rafts.
The first version of Stonehenge, a megalithic monument on Salisbury Plain in England, was built in 2750 BC. Building stones weighing as much as 220 tonnes were used to build the mortuary temple of the Pharoah Menkaure in 2490 BC.
The quarrying of stone began in the Stone Age, when people dug shallow quarries for flints and other stones. It became more widespread with the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Today there is still a huge demand for stone for buildings, ornaments, roads, railway ballast and the production of cement and concrete.
