Syrian Marble: What the Trade Means by It

Syrian Marble: What the Trade Means by It

Ask for Syrian marble and the offers that come back can describe very different stones: pale polished limestones, fossil-rich shell stones, travertine and, now and then, a true marble. None of them is necessarily misleading. The word simply means one thing to a geologist and something broader to the stone trade, and a buyer who knows the difference can compare offers properly.

This guide explains the two meanings, the main stone types that come from Syria, and how to write a specification that leaves no doubt about what you are buying.

Two meanings of marble

To a geologist, marble is a metamorphic rock: it forms when limestone is subjected to the heat and pressure of metamorphism.¹ The trade uses the word more broadly. In the dimension stone industry, any crystalline carbonate rock that can accept a polish is called marble, and the name is sometimes used for travertine, serpentine and some limestones.¹

Industry bodies describe the same practice. The Natural Stone Institute notes that dense or partly metamorphosed limestones, especially those that take a polish, are often included in the marble group because they look, behave and perform more like marble than like limestone. Its own example is a marble vanity top that a geologist would call limestone, because scientifically it is.²

Customs classification follows the trade. Heading 2515 of the Harmonized System covers marble, travertine, ecaussine and other calcareous building stone with an apparent specific gravity of 2.5 or more,³ so travertine and dense limestones can share a heading with marble. Our HS codebook sets out the headings.

So when a Syrian stone is offered as marble, the useful question is not whether the word is allowed. The useful question is which rock it is, and how it will perform where you plan to use it.

What Syria quarries

Syria's building stones are mainly sedimentary limestones and volcanic basalt, with some marble.

• Limestone. Pale limestones have been quarried around Aleppo for centuries. A historical account of the city's quarriers describes blocks of white stone for its buildings and notes that a yellowish marble was also quarried in the region.⁴ Damascus pairs pale limestone with dark basalt in its banded ablaq architecture, as our article Damascus, Written in Limestone and Basalt describes.
• Shell stone. A limestone made largely of shell fragments is known as coquina or shell stone: coquina is a variety of limestone composed almost entirely of fossil debris.⁵ Polished, such a stone may be offered as marble, but it remains a fossil limestone.
• Travertine. The trade and the customs headings group travertine with marble, as above, but it is a stone of its own, with natural cavities that are either left open or filled.
• Basalt. The black volcanic stone of southern Syria comes from the Hauran, where Bosra stands on a basalt plateau and the black rock was long used for building.⁶ Basalt is not a carbonate rock, so it is not a marble even when it is polished.
• Marble. The U.S. Geological Survey's yearbook on Syria lists dimension marble among the country's mineral products, with quarries recorded at places including Latakia and Sabboura and small-scale quarrying at Rheibah in Rif Dimashq, the countryside around Damascus. It also notes that the information available was not enough for reliable output estimates.⁷ Our Syrian stone and minerals production data collects the published figures.

Our guides to Aleppo stone and Hauran basalt go further into two of these stones.

Why the difference matters

The name on an offer does not change how a stone behaves. A limestone sold as marble keeps a limestone's density, porosity and water absorption, and those properties decide where it can be used: indoors or outdoors, on floors or walls, in wet areas, or in climates with frost. Two polished samples can look alike and still wear differently on two floors.

The safe approach is to judge every offer on the stone itself. Dimension stone is selected on colour, grain texture and pattern, surface finish, durability and strength,⁸ and these are the points a specification should fix. Where test data matters, ask for it against the standard for the actual rock type. In the United States, for example, limestone dimension stone is specified under ASTM C568, which sets density classes with requirements for absorption, density and strength,⁹ and in Europe the water absorption of natural stone is tested to EN 13755.¹⁰

How to specify Syrian marble

1. Name the rock type as well as the trade name, for example Syrian limestone, polished, or travertine, filled and honed, rather than Syrian marble alone.
2. Name the stone by the supplier's stone name, and agree a reference sample or photographs of the actual production.
3. Fix the finish: raw, honed, polished, antique or flamed, and for travertine filled or unfilled.
4. Fix the format and thickness: blocks, slabs or cut-to-size pieces, with dimensions and tolerances.
5. State the use: interior floor, wall cladding, facade, paving or pool surround. The use decides which properties matter.
6. Agree the checks and documents before loading: photos or video of the actual stone, a packing list that matches the crates, and the certificate of origin.

Our specification checklist covers the full list, from enquiry to shipment.

Our stones by rock type

Each of our stone pages names the rock type, the finishes and the formats, so you know what you are buying whatever name the market uses.

If you have been offered Syrian marble elsewhere and want a comparison, tell us the look, the finish and the use, and we will suggest the closest stone in this list or show you the marble we supply.

Questions buyers ask

Is Syrian marble real marble?

Sometimes. Syria does quarry some marble, but much of the stone offered as Syrian marble is polished limestone, shell stone or travertine, which the trade groups with marble. Ask which rock type it is.

Does Phoenician Stone Group supply Syrian marble?

Yes. Alongside the Syrian limestone, shell stone, travertine and basalt of our collection, we also supply marble, which we show to buyers on request. We name the rock type of each stone, and the limestones and shell stones in our collection are also supplied polished, the finish the trade associates with marble.

What should a Syrian marble order say?

The rock type, the stone name, the finish, the format and thickness, and the use. With those five points, offers from different suppliers can be compared like for like.

Short answers on quotes, inspection before loading, delivery, payment and export documents are in our buyer questions.