THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO'S "ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STONE COLLECTION"
Stone samples collected from Egyptian quarries are housed in the University of Toledo's "Ancient Egyptian Stone Collection", which is located on the main campus in Bowman-Oddy Laboratories. Besides hand specimens, the collection includes thin sections for nearly all samples as well as polished slabs for marble, travertine, and all hardstone samples. All other samples are slabbed but not polished. Geochemical data (XRF, ICP-MS and/or NAA) are available for most samples. In terms of the number of quarries and stone varieties represented, this collection is the largest in the world for ancient Egyptian stones.
I do not loan out samples but do welcome visitors interested in examining the stones at the University of Toledo. Binocular and petrographic microscopes will be provided. Powdered subsamples suitable for chemical analyses are available for most stones and small amounts can be provided to qualified researchers.
If you have an archaeological stone sample from Egypt that you would like to have identified and provenanced, just send it to me and I will be happy to do it at no charge.
Companies Selling Egyptian Stones from Modern Quarries
Some of the stones marketed by these companies are very similar to, and
occasionally megascopically identical, to those quarried anciently in Egypt. If
you cannot collect samples from the ancient quarries then the next best thing is
to buy them from the modern ones. There are a few companies that offer such
stones, but the only reputable one I am aware of is MARMONIL at
www.marmonil.com.
James A. Harrell
Professor Emeritus of Archaeological Geology
Department of Environmental Sciences
The University of Toledo