Macroscopic paste description: Greyish white stonepaste, moderately porous, with granularity visible.
Petrographic description: Stonepaste body comprising about 40-50% cryptocrystalline to microcrystalline quartz, and 3-10% macrocrystalline quartz, in some cases almost entirely polycrystalline. Granulometry is difficult to assess, but would appear to be subangular population with mode of about 0.05mm and maximum of 0.03mm. Also about 5% micritic carbonate of similar granulometry. The crypto- and micro-crystalline quartz may in some cases represent chert, but in other cases appears to include crystal growth into voids, as may occur in basalts (samples with laboratory number beginning with HLB are from Aleppo and are currently in the excavation storehouse).
Figure 10a: PPL view at x10 of sample HLB.02 showing general texture (width of field c. 6mm)
Figure 10b: XP view at x10 of sample HLB.02 showing general texture (width of field c. 6mm)
Figure 10c: PPL view at x40 of sample HLB.02 showing general texture (width of field c. 1.5mm)
Figure 10d: XP view at x40 of sample HLB.02 showing general texture (width of field c. 1.5mm)
Figure 10e: PPL view at x100 of sample HLB.02 showing general texture (width of field c. 0.6mm)
Figure 10f: XP view at x100 of sample HLB.02 showing general texture (width of field c. 0.6mm)
Figure 10g: PPL view at x100 of sample HLB.02 showing cryptocrystalline quartz (width of field c. 0.6mm)
Figure 10h: XP view at x100 of sample HLB.02 showing cryptocrystalline quartz (width of field c. 0.6mm)
Figure 10i: PPL view at x100 of sample HLB.03 showing polycrystalline/cryptocrystalline quartz (width of field c. 0.6mm)
Figure 10j: XP view at x100 of sample HLB.03 showing polycrystalline/cryptocrystalline quartz (width of field c. 0.6mm)
Figure 10k: PPL view at x100 of sample HLB.17 showing quartz with growth texture (width of field c. 0.6mm)
Figure 10l: XP view at x100 of sample HLB.17 showing quartz with growth texture (width of field c. 0.6mm)