Alabaster
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Alabaster is a soft rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word alabaster. In archaeology, the
Calcite alabaster: The tomb of Tutankhamun (d. 1323 BC) contained a practical objet d’art, a cosmetics jar made of Egyptian alabaster, which features a lid surmounted by a lioness (goddess Bast).
Alabaster artefact: A composite bust of the Emperor Septimius Severus; the head is marble and the bust is alabaster.
Alabaster windows in the Church of Santa Maria la Mayor of Morella, Spain (built 13th–16th centuries)
Alabaster workshop in Volterra in Tuscany, Italy
Gypsum
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Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms o
Alabaster
…alabaster. In archaeology, the term alabaster includes objects and artefacts made from two different minerals: (i) the fine-grained, massive type of gypsum, and (ii) the fine-grained, banded type of calcite. Chemically, gypsum is a hydrous sulfate of calcium, whereas calcite is a carbonate of calcium. As…
Gypsum from southwest France (27 × 22 cm)
Gypsum crystals are soft enough to bend under pressure of the hand. Sample on display at Musée cantonal de géologie de Lausanne.
Large gypsum crystals in Lechuguilla Cave's "chandelier ballroom"
Gypsum crystals in the Cave of the Crystals in Mexico (person at lower right for scale)