Guided
Hiking

The stone quarries

We would like to draw your attention to the uneven ground in front of you, and particularly the succession of different sized basins. They are open quarries used for extracting hard limestone. These quarries, which you can trace by following the markings on the Roman road, have supplied the material used to pave the road, for the foundations and the internal locking device of the mausoleum, and also to make the lime needed for the masonry of the oven which you will see.

This stone was not the right size, so they looked in another quarry nearby for the material needed for the sculpted slabs of the mausoleum.

Almost all the even slabs of the mausoleum, but mainly the rectangular ones, being easier to take, have disappeared. They were used for new constructions.

The site of the mausoleum has been used as a stone quarry. For some slabs, of a more complex form or with decor, the uneven parts were taken off and abandoned on site. The more complete slabs, such as the capitals, were spared. Out of the tens of thousands of pieces and slabs of all sizes found, most of them were unusable.

Continue your route to the lime pot hole.