The Salentine stone has ancient origins.
Scholars of the second half of the nineteenth century
agreed in dating back it to Miocene, a period of the
Tertiary lasted from 27 to 17 millions of years ago,
even if they argued about the precise position of its
different levels.
It was not so easy to go back to the historical origins
of such a distant and complex structure whose characteristics
depend on millions of years of history.
It is a calcareous rock belonging to the miocenic limestones family.
It is characterized by a great number of fossils , especially the planktonic
and bentonic ones, sometimes fully preserved. They are real archeological finds
revealing millions of years the stone lived. So they prove the antiquity of the
Salentine stone increasing the value of its applications: monuments, villas and
complements of furnishing
.
MINERAL COMPONENTS
To the petrological test, the Salentine stone consists
of a granular mixture (microfossils, fragments of fossils,
intraclasti and pellets) englobed in the calcite cement
The most important element is calcium carbonate.
A smaller quantity of granules of glauconite, quartz, feldspars, muscovite and
argillaceous material enrich the substance and create different facetings to
the stone, sometimes hard and resistent, sometimes soft and ductile.
As a consequence of different litofacies characterizing Miocene in Salento, there
is a variety of stones differing in colour, granulometry,homogeneity, compactness
and period.
Among these stones we can remember : "cucuzzara", "tosta", "bianca", "dolce", "gagginara" and "niura"..
The Salentine stone likes being equal to every situation, so that it has different
structures for different needs.
