Hauran Basalt: The Volcanic Black Stone of Southern Syria and How to Specify It Today

Hauran Basalt: The Volcanic Black Stone of Southern Syria and How to Specify It Today

In Syria, basalt is tied to the Hauran and to whole towns built from black stone. This guide explains where that stone comes from, what it means for a buyer today, and how to order the Volcanic Black Basalt that Phoenician Stone Group supplies from Syria.

A volcanic origin

Southern Syria lies on the edge of a large basaltic volcanic field known as Harrat al-Sham. It spans Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel; Jabal al-Druze forms its northern, Syrian part, and the historical Hauran region partly overlaps it. Volcanic activity there began in the Miocene.²

Bosra, a city of black stone

Bosra, capital of the fertile Hauran, stands on a basalt plateau, and this black rock was long used for constructing its buildings. The city keeps exceptionally well-preserved remains of a 2nd-century Roman theatre and has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1980.¹ That heritage shows that basalt in the region is not a modern decorative material but a building stone tested over centuries.

What a buyer sees in the surface

Building stone is judged by colour, grain texture and pattern, and surface finish, then by durability and strength for the intended use.³ Basalt is usually charcoal-grey to black with a dense texture, and its appearance changes a great deal with the finish:

• Flamed: the surface is roughened with intense heat, giving a textured, grippy finish often chosen for outdoor paving and steps.
• Honed and polished: a smoother, more even face.
• Raw: as it comes from the saw.
• Colour-treated surface: a treatment that emphasises the stone's black appearance.

Volcanic Black Basalt at Phoenician Stone Group

We supply Volcanic Black Basalt, a dense volcanic basalt with a charcoal-to-black tone, in raw, polished, honed, flamed and colour-treated finishes, as slabs and cut-to-size. Its applications include paving and outdoor flooring, wall cladding and facades, steps, landscaping and architectural details. This guide describes the basalt tradition of southern Syria in general and does not attribute our stone to a particular quarry.

Order the sample in the right finish

Flamed and honed basalt differ a great deal in texture, colour and grip, so request the sample in the finish you will actually use, and ask our team about the technical information available for your project. You can start through our contact page.