Glossary Metals, materials and technology
Chalk
A soft, fine-grained white limestone, widespread in the Lefkara Formation of Cyprus and easy to carve into moulds, figures and statues.
Chalk is a pure limestone built up from microscopic marine shells. In Cyprus the chalks of the Lefkara Formation and the chalky limestones of the Pachna Formation are the island's most workable stones. Cyprus has no marble of its own, so sculptors of the Archaic and Classical periods used these soft local stones for the votive statues that filled their sanctuaries, often finishing them with paint.
Chalk had practical uses too. At Early Bronze Age Marki-Alonia three chalk moulds were used to cast bar-shaped ingots and flat axes, and the rare stone plank figures are described in the literature as whitish chalk, gypsum or limestone. See Archaic limestone statues.
Full entry: Archaic Limestone Statues
Related terms
- Gypsum
A soft white or translucent mineral (calcium sulphate), found in thick beds in southern Cyprus and occasionally carved into objects.
- Votary
A worshipper shown in a statue or figurine, usually dedicated in a sanctuary to stand before the deity on the donor's behalf.
- Picrolite
A soft blue-green stone, a variety of serpentinite from the Troodos, carved into pendants, beads and figurines in prehistoric Cyprus.