Per una definizione del ciclo produttivo. Il cantiere per il chiostro di XII secolo / Towards a definition of the production cycle. Building operations for the 12th century cloister

The research was conducted by first distinguishing the types of stone, systematically recording the marks left by tools, and the techniques and devices used to make the individual architectural components. Bearing in mind these aspects, as well as the way they were assembled, the various phases in which the production process was divided were highlighted (supply, processing, setting in place), in a backward-looking conceptual process leading from the particular (the architectural element) to the general context (the building) which it belonged to. The stone types identified are: white marble of saccharoid type, used for architectural, decorative and scuptural elements; solid sandstone, used as a building material in the firstnd and in the various parts of the monastery; calcarenite, for structural and architectural elements, or as a building material; clay schists/clay levels within palombino limestone formation, for paving slabs; and other sporadic types, especially metamorphic, quarzite rock; magmatic rock, rich in quartz; and granite, used exclusively for millstones. Even only with reference to tool marks, the possibility of observing parts that were intended to be hidden in the fabric of the building, once set in place, and of sampling hundreds of elements, was an opportunity that rarely presents itself. Thus, tracing the first appearance of the artefact, and going as far as to reconstruct how the building operations themselves were organized, it is possible to assess the extent to which all this becomes translated into constant features and changes within sculptural production, keeping the technical analysis distinct from stylistic analysis. Thus, tools become one of the indexes for assessing the operational skills of the artisans. We can see the use of the typical array of tools used by sculptors in this period: tools for striking objects directly, awls of various sizes, flat-blade chisels, other kinds of chisels and drills. The production process of the individual elements is divided into the four phases involving the preparation of the stone block, shaping it, adding details, and finishing.