Editing Stone carving (section)

==History==
The earliest known works of representational art are stone carvings. Often marks carved into rock or [[petroglyphs]] will survive where painted work will not. Prehistoric [[Venus figurines]] such as the [[Venus of Berekhat Ram]] may be as old as 250,000 years{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}, and are carved in stones such as [[tuff]] and [[limestone]].

These earliest examples of the stone carving are the result of hitting or scratching a softer stone with a harder one, although sometimes more resilient materials such as antlers are known to have been used for relatively soft stone. Another early technique was to use an abrasive that was rubbed on the stone to remove the unwanted area.
Prior to the discovery of [[steel]] by any culture, all stone carving was carried out by using an [[Wear#Abrasive wear|abrasion]] technique, following rough hewing of the stone block using hammers. The reason for this is that [[bronze]], the hardest available metal until steel, is not [[Hardness|hard]] enough to work any but the softest stone. The Ancient Greeks used the [[ductile|ductility]] of bronze to trap small granules of [[Silicon carbide|carborundum]], that are naturally occurring on the island of [[Milos]], thus making a very efficient [[File (tool)|file]] for abrading the stone.

The development of [[iron]] made possible stone carving tools, such as chisels, drills and saws made from [[steel]], that were capable of being [[Hardness|hardened]] and [[tempering (metallurgy)|tempered]] to a state hard enough to cut stone without deforming, while not being so brittle as to shatter. Carving tools have changed little since then.

Modern, industrial, large quantity techniques still rely heavily on abrasion to cut and remove stone, although at a significantly faster rate with processes such as [[water jet cutter|water erosion]] and [[diamond saw]] cutting.

One modern stone carving technique uses a new process: The technique of applying sudden high temperature to the surface. The expansion of the top surface due to the sudden increase in temperature causes it to break away. On a small scale, [[Oxyacetylene|Oxy-acetylene]] torches are used. On an industrial scale, [[laser]]s are used. On a massive scale, carvings such as the [[Crazy Horse Memorial]] carved from the Harney Peak granite of [[Mount Rushmore]] and the [[Confederate Memorial Park (Albany, Georgia)|Confederate Memorial Park]] in Albany, Georgia are produced using [[Jet (fluid)|jet]] heat torches.