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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...

natural rights

(Encyclopedia)natural rights, political theory that maintains that an individual enters into society with certain basic rights and that no government can deny these rights. The modern idea of natural rights grew ou...

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...

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...

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...

cromlech

(Encyclopedia)cromlech krŏmˈlĕk [key] [Welsh or Breton,=crooked stone], term that has changed in meaning from its original equivalent to dolmen. It later came to be used for a single standing stone and now usual...

Borobudur

(Encyclopedia)Borobudur or Boroboeder both: bōˌrōbo͝odo͞orˈ [key], ruins of one of the finest Buddhist monuments, in central Java, Indonesia. Built by the Sailendras of Sumatra, this magnificent shrine dates ...

pipestone

(Encyclopedia)pipestone, hard, dull red or mottled pink-and-white clay stone, carved by Native Americans into pipes. Called calumets (see calumet) the pipes were used extensively in ceremonials. Native Americans he...