The rock in this area is extremely fragmented by natural fissures and the quarrymen exploited these to extract irregularly shaped blocks.The front and back of this block correspond to natural cracks in the stone, while another block has already been removed to the left. Only the right side of this block, in other words, needs to be carved free before it would be ready to split from the bedrock.
On the right side a channel has been carved using a quarry pick. This is a V-shaped channel and it is possible that wedges were going to be used it in to split the blocks free on this side.
Notes
This detail is from one of the more than seventy individual extraction points which constitute the so-called City Quarries at Aphrodisias, located roughly 2 km north of the city. White and grey marbles were quarried in this area.
