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quarrying

(Encyclopedia)quarrying, open, or surface, excavation of rock used for various purposes, including construction, ornamentation, road building, and as an industrial raw material. Rock that has been quarried is commo...

dolmen

(Encyclopedia)dolmen dŏlˈmĕn, dōl– [key] [Breton,=stone table], burial chamber consisting of two or more upright stone slabs supporting a capstone or table, typical of the Neolithic period in Europe. See mega...

Xi'an

(Encyclopedia)Xi'an shēˈänˈ, sēˈ– [key], city (1994 est. pop. 2,114,900), capital of Shaanxi prov., China, in the Wei River valley. Situated on the Longhai RR, China's principal east-west line, it is an imp...

Old Man of the Mountain, in Islamic history

(Encyclopedia)Old Man of the Mountain, in Islamic history: see Assassin. ...

Blarney

(Encyclopedia)Blarney, village, Co. Cork, SE Republic of Ireland. Those who kiss the Blarney Stone, placed in an almost inaccessible position near the top of the thick stone wall of the 15th-century castle, are sup...

Decoration Day

(Encyclopedia)Decoration Day: see Memorial Day. ...

Rushmore, Mount

(Encyclopedia)Rushmore, Mount: see Mount Rushmore National Memorial. ...

Paleolithic period

(Encyclopedia)Paleolithic period pāˌlēəlĭthˈĭk, –lēō–, pălˌ– [key] or Old Stone Age, the earliest period of human development and the longest phase of mankind's history. It is approximately coexten...

bluestone

(Encyclopedia)bluestone, common name for the blue, crystalline heptahydrate of cupric sulfate called chalcanthite, a minor ore of copper. It also refers to a fine-grained, light to dark colored blue-gray sandstone....

Kaaba

(Encyclopedia)Kaaba or Caaba both: käˈbə or käˈəbə [key] [Arab.,=cube], the central, cubic, stone structure, covered by a black cloth, within the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The sacred nature of the...