The word “marble” reproduces from the Greek “marmaros” and means shine. The current meaning of marble includes all kinds of natural stones with high decorative properties in the stone industry. Petrographically, marble is a carbonate rock transformed due to regional or contact metamorphism. It is practically a mono-mineral rock composed mainly of calcite and/or dolomite. Pure marbles, which contain more than 95% calcite, are usually white. It may contain small amounts of quartz, feldspar, mica, chlorite, and other minerals (Mrozek-Wysocka 2014). Marbles are usually found in the crystalline complex where igneous and regionally metamorphosed rocks. Turkey has many large complex crystal structures that are contained in different colors of marble. The quarrying of these marbles has been dated to ancient times. Nearly all-important antiquity statuary, monumental, religious, and important buildings are made of marble, for this reason, only the trade of marble was common in ancient times. Besides marble, many natural stones (limestone, travertine, and sandstone) were also extracted, but most of them were only used locally (Herz 1988).
Many of the cultural heritages (important historic buildings and monuments from ancient times) are made of natural stone. Different civilizations used natural stones for decorative purposes in architectural elements, floor and wall facings, sculptures, and sarcophagus in ancient times. There are many natural stone types such as marble, limestone, sandstone, travertine, granite, basalt, and tuff that can be used for this purpose. Marble has been an important material used in monumental, religious, and important buildings, especially for decorative purposes since ancient times. The most important reason for this preference was especially its aesthetic and technical features. Due to these properties, the high requisition for marble in ancient times triggered the opening of quarries in the Mediterranean region, especially in Italy, Greece, and Western Anatolia (Mrozek-Wysocka 2014; Moropoulou et al. 2019).
Marble is abundant in Italy, Greece, and Western Anatolia regions, so it was widely used in ancient times. In the Greek and Roman Periods, both Greece and western Turkey quarries provided materials for the monumental, religious, important buildings, and statuary marble. Greek marble sources were contained on the northern Aegean island of Thasos, the Cycladic islands of Paros and Naxos, Athens and Doliana, near Sparta. In western Turkey, the principal marble quarry sites included Proconnesus (Marmara Island), Ephesus, and Dokimeion (İscehisar-Afyon). However, many secondary or smaller marble sources were exploited throughout the Aegean area (Rapp 2009). The source for antiquity marbles, except for Proconnesus, was the Menderes Massif, while no trace about the ancient quarries is known from the other massifs in Turkey. The Menderes Massif extends from about Mylasa (modern Milas-Muğla) in the south to Eskişehir in the north. The Menderes Massif contains Ephesus, Denizli, Dokimeion (Afyon), Aphrodisias (Aydın), and Mylasa (Milas) antique marble quarries. Menderes Massif was metamorphosed and deformed in both the Late Paleozoic and Alpine (Mesozoic-Cenozoic) Orogenic (Herz 1988).
Dokimeion (İscehisar) marble quarries, which are important marble sources of both ancient times and today, still maintain their importance. Approximately 24 marble quarries are operated in the İscehisar-Afyon site (Çelik and Sabah 2008). The İscehisar-Afyon marble quarries have attracted the attention of many researchers because the traces of ancient stone cuts from the Roman period are still visible, and the presence of many semi-worked artifacts. After the first studies that were started in the 1920s, studies have been conducted on the semi-worked architectural pieces and sculptural materials in the Dokimeion marble quarries, and various artifacts (extensively sculpture and sarcophagi) made from these marbles (Waelkens 1985).
Until today, there has been too much research on the Dokimeion white marble, and this number is increasing amount of. Some of these studies are related to marble quarry management and stone quarrying in ancient times. Albustanlıoğlu (2002) and Fant (1989) investigated the Dokimeion marble quarries operation and export organization in the Roman periods. Many of the scientific studies on the İscehisar marble quarries include topics such as the economy of marble, environmental problems, and evaluation of marble waste. Çelik and Sabah (2008) studied geological and technical characterization of İscehisar marble deposits and the impact of marble waste on environmental pollution.
There are many architectural artifacts, sarcophagi, and sculptures exhibited in museums in Anatolia and many Mediterranean countries. Many researchers examined the artifacts made of İscehisar marbles exhibited in museums in the Mediterranean countries. These studies have been conducted on subjects such as the archaeometry study, determination of the origin, mineralogical, petrographic, and geochemical properties of the Dokimeion white marble. Some researchers, such as Hall and Waelkens (1982), Topbaş (1987), Attanasio et al. (2011), Pensabene et al. (2012a), Çalik-Ross (2013), and Bruno et al. (2015) have worked on this topic. Bağcı (2020) has determined the petrographic, mineralogical, and geochemical features of İscehisar marbles. Çelik and Sert (2020a) examined the Pavonazzetto marble (Dokimeion), and they specified its importance in ancient times, and to be a source of global heritage stone source.
The inscriptions of the abandoned marble artifacts in the İscehisar marble quarries gave important clues about the working order and production in the quarry. Some researchers such as Fant (1984), Herrmann and Tykot (2009), and Lubotsky (2017) have worked on this subject. Albustanlıoğlu (2013) studied the inscriptions on abandoned blocks in the Dokimeion marble quarries during the Roman Imperial period. Researchers studied the abandoned marble blocks and semi-worked artifacts in the İscehisar marble quarries. Fant (1985) reported that four unfinished sarcophagus lids, made of fine-grained white marble were found in the Docimium quarry in İscehisar. Fant (1988a) stated that two sculptures and some architectural artifacts were found from the Docimium quarry in İscehisar.
Several researchers examined the physico-mechanical properties of Turkish natural building stones, including Afyon white marbles. Ozguven and Ozçelik (2014) examined the physico-mechanical properties of some Turkish natural building stones. Çelik and Sert (2020b) investigated the significance of Afyon violet (Pavonazzetto) marble from the Roman age until today and the evaluation of durability by aging tests.
The present work was performed to introduce the Docimian white marble (Dokimeion-Phrygia/Iscehisar-Turkey), which was widely used in statues and sarcophagi in antiquity, and represents an important ancient white marble. For this purpose, this study focused on three topics. Firstly, this paper characterized the Docimian white marble widely used in the West Anatolia and Mediterranean areas in ancient times using chemical (major and trace elements), and mineralogical-petrographic (XRD, optical and scanning electron microscopy). In the next part, the phases of Docimian white marble were investigated starting from the quarry to the final usage area. These procedures contained the transport of architectural materials, sculpture, and sarcophagi extracted and worked from the quarry, and its usage in monumental, religious, and important buildings in many Roman cities. In the next section, examples of architectural materials, sculptures, and sarcophagi, made of Docimian white marble exhibited in museums, in Anatolia and many Mediterranean countries were given.