The Stone Cutter

Media: photography

Number of images: 1

Print size: 16x20 inches

Execution: 2020 / 2022

Azimuth: in astronomy, the angle formed between a reference direction and a line from the observer, to a point of interest projected on the same plane.

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I know almost nothing about geology or cosmology as what I learned in school has been washed away by the tidal lapping of memory. So when I found this rock in our yard it seemed familiar but foreign, unusual even, as there were no other companions and appeared to be an abandoned orphan.

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In 1907, one year after the San Francisco earthquake, our house was built by an ironworker employed by a cast iron foundry (Phoenix Ironworks). 89 years later we left San Francisco for Oakland and moved into this house. For at least 15 of the 24 years that we've lived here, this rock went unnoticed.

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It is not hard transforming a rock into an object of interest: just use gravity when transiting.

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Occultation: in astronomy, the concealment of one heavenly body by another passing between it and the observer.

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After photographing, I realized how upset I would be if it was stolen. Of course I thought “who would want to steal a rock?” But where there was a possibility, I wanted to lower the probability, so I hid it from view.

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This rock is an example of igneous basalt which is found on the Earth, the Moon as well as on Venus and Mars. I think it is safe to assume that it exists on other planetary bodies throughout the universe. Basalt forms when lava cools quickly which is why the ocean floor is composed of it, whereas granite comprises the continents.

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The Widan el-Faras quarry in the Northern Faiyum Desert is 37 miles from Cairo, Egypt and was mined for basalt used for the pyramid temple floors and the sarcophagi of the dead (c.2610 to c.2375 BCE). It is recognized as the oldest stone quarry in the world.

Quarry Road, the oldest paved road, is also made from basalt (as well as limestone, sandstone, petrified wood) and courses 7 miles from the Widan el-Faras quarry to Lake Moeris. Stone from the quarry traveled this road to the lake where it was transported to the Nile and floated downriver by boat to the Giza Temple Complex. The pharaohs used basalt for the floors and the sarcophagi because of the color of the stone.

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Socrates's father was a stonemason and sculptor. According to some (suspect) sources Socrates as a youth worked with him on the Charites [1] (statues) located on the Acropolis.

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Throughout human history many surviving artifacts show that sculptors chose basalt to depict dark skinned people and their dark skinned gods. [2]

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Local basalt in the 19th century was quarried in Sonoma county which may be the source for this piece. Stonemasons would chop and carve the black gray rock into the size of a bread loaf and load them onto a train to Petaluma. From there, they would be ferried down the river to San Francisco via a paddle wheel steamer to pave the streets of the city.

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When I realized that this rock was a hand cut stone, it metamorphosed into an elegant artifact. Why did it take me so long to notice? It didn't fall from the sky or tumble ashore by a wave: it was quarried and chiseled by human hands like an obsidian arrowhead found in the Sonoran Desert.

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My great-grandfather, John Flynn, emigrated from County Cork, Ireland to Philadelphia in 1878. By the time my grandfather was born in 1893, John had his own company that specialized in constructing ecclesiastical buildings for the Catholic Church. John Flynn was a master stone cutter by trade and while I never met him, I think of him now when I see this stone in our garden, a silent cenotaph of place and time.

[1] Charis Wilson, Edward Weston's second wife and perhaps his most famous model, was named after one of the Charites

[2] Olmec Heads circa 900 BCE, Black Aphrodite Roman 1st CE copy of a 3rd BCE Greek sculpture, Basalt Statue of Cleopatra circa 34 BCE, Easter Island Moai circa 1000 CE

Hand Cut Basalt Stone

Hand Cut Basalt Stone