The use of dimension stone by mankind started in the dawning of the human civilization, during the neolithic period. To the present days we can watch several graves in Europe, Asia and America which were built at that time with the use of blocks of granite, marble, sandstone, etc.

     In the Paleolithic period, in a region of Russia, 200 cities of primitive men existed where they made a great use of dimension stone in the construction of houses and graves. 

     Huge pyramids in Egypt are to this day significant constructions to our civilization. Only for the Keops pyramid (147-meters high) 2,3 million of limestone blocks were used. Egypt opened their first quarries of dimension stone about 5 thousand years ago for the extraction of big blocks of limestone and sienite for the construction of these pyramids. 

     The old Greece and later the Roman empire, inheritors of this great civilization, built huge buildings, monuments, graves, sculptures, roads, bridges, ports, etc., with several types of dimension stone such as marbles, limestone, travertine, breccia, sandstone, porphyries, granites, etc. in Europe, Africa and Asia, many of which exist to this day, in spite of the fact that they were constructed before the birth of Christ. At that time an intensive trade of several rocks extracted in the three continents was started. 

     Later on, during the Middle Age, mankind again takes use of huge quantities of dimensional stone for the construction of buildings, palaces, castles, churches, monuments, sculptures, squares, roads, bridges, ports, etc. Italy used marble and travertine, Spain used marble, France used sandstone, Finland and Sweden used granite, etc., and again a great commerce with these stones was started. As an example, for the construction of the church in Saint Petersburg, Russia bought from Finland a great quantity of Rapakivi granite which is very well known worldwide to this day. Transportation was carried out by ship and then on the snow and ice. At that time the use of marbles and travertine was increased in Italy and also in other countries that bought large quantities of white marble from Carrara in Italy. 

     In the 19th century the use of dimension stone in civil construction was started again. Production of Carrara marble increased in several quarries and consequently the export of blocks, mainly to France and Germany in Europe and the United States in America, also increased. At that time, the extraction of several dimension stones in many countries in Europe (Spain, Greece, France...) was started. 

     Nowadays, the application of marbles and granites in modern architecture increases every year all around the world. Aired façades, high floor, furniture, public flooring, etc., are nowadays common and the production of dimension stones, from quarrying to finishing, has become an industry in constant expansion. Also the use of other stones, such as quartzite, slate, serpentinite, soapstone, etc. has expanded. Brazil and, especially, the states of Espírito Santo , Southwest Bahia , Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro are big producers of dimension stone.