Mardin stones

Civilizations leave their traces onto their living environments by embroidering natural objects around.



While some of them destroy traces of older dwellers of their land, some others show respect to the prior



and flourish over its heritage. In the ancient graveyard of the Mardin, Muslim graves are found in the



Christian-Nisrani graves together. They still exist as protected. Gravestones, probably the first example



of our country, are the products by the way that embroidered motifs on the Mardin Stone. The greatness



of the lenience and the tendency to the respect toward other civilizations depend on that in our opinion.



Our research on the Mardin Stone, which we recognize as the Civilization Stone, has been performed in



the area comprising Kızıltepe, Ömerli and Midyat regions. A detailed mining-geological map in the scale



of 1/25000 has been prepared, the sampling for chemical, mineralogical, petrographic and technological



test has been done and lithological characteristics of the Mardin Stone has been evaluated. Our purpose



is to detect the distribution and the properties of this stone, which will be able to attract the public, then,



identify the methods of new technology to operate it in the industry.



The Mardin Stone is a bed in the Lower Eocene to Lower Oligocene aged Hoya Formation of the reef



origin. The thickness ranges 50 to 600 meters. Lithologies combining the formation are chalky limestone,



biomicrite, dolomitic limestone, clayey limestone and fosilifereous limestone. They are in the colors of



yellow, pink, red, white, dirt white and gray. The environment of the deposition of the formation is the



shallow sea-continental shelf and place-to-place settlements of reef environments are observable. The



formation lies among Mardin, Diyarbakır, Siirt and Adıyaman regions. In Kilis Gaziantep side, it is



called as the Havra Stone and the geologic name of it is the Gaziantep Formation. The Hoya and the



Gaziantep formations are laterally changing lithologies.



The industrial marble gained from the pits excavated in the Hoya Formation is highly demanding in the



world market. These are produced in the city of Diyarbakır with the market names of Hazar Pink in the



Çermik County and Diyarbakır Pink in the Hazro County. Moreover, there are two more products



named, as Silvan Beige and Hani Beige in markets are the sublithologies of the Hoya Formation.



The Mardin Stone is generally prepared in the dimensions of 19 x 20 x 30 cm and it is used in the



construction of buildings, artistic stone carving and detailed ornamenting arts. Blocks of the Mardin



Stone in the pits is cut on a straight lines perpendicular to each other to obtain required dimensions.



Highly porous blocks of it is preferred to be used in construction. But others in good conditions are



embroidered in shadowy places in ateliers. After they are given a new shape, they are opened to the



sunlight. Since these kinds of the limestone are chalky, fine grained and easy to be scratched when they



excavated, they do not make the embroidering difficult. Therefore, they are able to attract customers.



Although the number of them is small, there are ateliers where the detailed work on the Midyat Stone is



made. They are found in caves. The stone is cut and worked under the shadow of the cave, then, they are



got outside. In the city of Mardin, there are several abandoned atelier caves.



In addition to the coarse work, detailed work like embroidering is applied to graves, parapets of



balconies and harpuştas (copings). Besides the chalky limestone, the coarse work is preferred for the



porous, dirt white color and harder limestone pieces.



The hardness of the Mardin Stone is 2.5 to 3 degrees and its strength to the pressure is smaller than 500



kg/cm2. Weathering by the impact increases after dried out. It is a highly porous material and it can



reach the saturation of 85 to 90%. Consequently, dry Mardin Stone is light. The ratio of the CaCO3 is



very high; it is about 99%.



Because of the indifference, the number of professional talented workers of Mardin Stone decreases day



by day. In such a situations, detailed work over the stone, as an industry will be on the way of the



disappearing unless some precautions are reinforced. Therefore, several computer software are planned



to print motifs on the stone by using necessary electronic devices. This alternative method of the human



hand will increase the demand in international markets.



Very soon, the Mardin Stone will be a famous material of decorative purposes in houses or different



places with its mystic-antique view.