How Marks Pave(d) the Way: Stonemasons’ Marks and Stone Carving Techniques in Roman Sagalassos (South-Western Asia Minor)

Abstract

The study of stonemasons’ marks in ancient constructions, a subject that has been systematically investigated since the 1980s to the present, tends to focus on a few standard uses and consider other seemingly random patterns as issues of preservation, leaving the archaeological potential of such marks largely untapped. This article presents a methodological approach to explain these apparently arbitrary patterns and a diachronic analysis of local labour organization at Sagalassos in south-western Turkey in four case studies: the Upper Agora, Lower Agora, Hadrianic Nymphaeum, and Makellon. The spatial analysis of the stonemasons’ marks and examination of the stone carving techniques and epigraphic data suggest that the different marks were either produced by the same individuals and/or formed part of the same construction process.