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{{WikipediaImport}}{{short description|Finely dressed stone and associated masonry}}
{{Confusing|date=February 2021}}
[[File:Perfectwall.jpg|thumb|[[Dry stone|Dry]] ashlar masonry laid in parallel [[Course (architecture)|courses]] on an [[Inca Empire|Inca]] wall at [[Machu Picchu]]]]
[[File:Banbury TownHall north.jpg|thumb|Ashlar masonry north gable of [[Banbury Town Hall]], Oxfordshire]]
[[Image:Mur Inca Décembre 2007.jpg|thumb|Ashlar polygonal masonry in [[Cuzco]], Peru]]
[[File:North Congregational Church, Springfield MA.jpg|thumb|Quarry-faced red Longmeadow sandstone in random ashlar was specified by architect [[Henry Hobson Richardson]] for the [[North Congregational Church]] (Springfield, Massachusetts, 1871). Although each block was cut with great precision on adjacent faces, the external face was left rough as when removed from the quarry. The blocks were laid randomly without continuous courses or vertical and horizontal joints.]]

'''Ashlar''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|æ|ʃ|l|ər}}) is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual [[rock (geology)|stone]] that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone [[masonry]] unit, generally rectangular [[cuboid]], mentioned by [[Vitruvius]] as [[opus isodomum]], or less frequently [[trapezoid]]al. Precisely cut "on all faces adjacent to those of other stones", ashlar is capable of very thin joints between blocks, and the visible face of the stone may be [[Quarry-faced_stone|quarry-faced]] or feature a variety of treatments: tooled, smoothly polished or rendered with another material for decorative effect.<ref name="Ching et al 2007 p759"/><ref name="Sharon 1987 p32-33"/>

One such decorative treatment consists of small grooves achieved by the application of a metal comb. Generally used only on softer stone ashlar, this decoration is known as "mason's drag".<ref name="Dundee"/>
 
Ashlar is in contrast to [[rubble masonry]], which employs irregularly shaped stones, sometimes minimally worked or selected for similar size, or both. Ashlar is related but distinct from other stone masonry that is finely dressed but not quadrilateral, such as curvilinear and [[polygonal masonry]].<ref name="Sharon 1987 p32-33"/><ref name="Wright GRH 2000 p100"/>

Ashlar may be  [[course (architecture)|coursed]], which involves lengthy horizontal layers of stone blocks laid in parallel, and therefore with continuous horizontal joints. Ashlar may also be random, which involves stone blocks laid with deliberately discontinuous courses and therefore discontinuous joints both vertically and horizontally. In either case, it generally uses a joining material such as [[mortar (masonry)|mortar]] to bind the blocks together, although [[Dry stone|dry]] ashlar construction, metal ties, and other methods of assembly have been used. The dry ashlar of [[Inca architecture]] in [[Cusco]] and [[Machu Picchu]] is particularly fine and famous.

==Etymology==
The word is attested in [[Middle English]] and derives from the [[Old French]] ''aisselier'', from the [[Latin]] ''axilla'', a diminutive of ''axis'', meaning "plank".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ashlar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820161706/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ashlar |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 20, 2017 |website=Oxford Dictionaries |title=Definition of ashlar}}</ref> "Clene hewen ashler" often occurs in medieval documents; this means tooled or finely worked, in contradistinction to rough-axed faces.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Ashlar|volume=2|page=733}} This also attests the alternative spellings '''ashler''' and '''ashelere'''.</ref>

==Use==
Ashlar blocks have been used in the construction of many buildings as an alternative to [[brick]] or other materials.

In [[classical architecture]], ashlar wall surfaces were often contrasted with [[rustication (architecture)|rustication]].

The term is frequently used to describe the dressed stone work of [[Aegean civilization|prehistoric Greece and Crete]], although the dressed blocks are usually much larger than modern ashlar. For example, the [[Beehive tomb|''tholos'' tombs]] of [[Bronze Age]] [[Mycenae]] use ashlar masonry in the construction of the so-called "beehive" dome. This dome consists of finely cut ashlar blocks that decrease in size and terminate in a central [[Coping (architecture)|capstone]].<ref name="Preziosi 1999"/> These domes are not true domes, but are constructed using the [[corbel arch]].

Ashlar masonry was also heavily used in the construction of palace facades on [[Crete]], including [[Knossos]] and [[Phaistos]]. These constructions date to the [[Minoan chronology|MM III-LM Ib]] period, c. 1700–1450 BC.

In modern European masonry the blocks are generally about {{convert|35|cm}} in height. When shorter than {{convert|30|cm}}, they are usually called '''small ashlar'''.
== As metaphor==
In some [[Freemasonry|Masonic]] groupings, which such societies term [[wikt:jurisdiction|jurisdiction]]s, ashlars are used as a symbolic metaphor for how one's [[personal development]] relates to the tenets of their [[Masonic Lodge|lodge]]. As described in the explanation of the [[Tracing board|First Degree Tracing Board]], in [[Emulation Lodge of Improvement#Emulation Ritual|Emulation]] and other [[Masonic ritual]]s the rough ashlar is a stone as taken directly from the quarry, and allegorically represents the Freemason prior to his initiation; a smooth ashlar (or "perfect ashlar") is a stone that has been smoothed and dressed by the experienced [[stonemason]], and allegorically represents the Freemason who, through education and diligence, has learned the lessons of Freemasonry and who lives an upstanding life.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rough and Perfect Ashlar|url=http://www.masonic-lodge-of-education.com/rough-and-perfect-ashlar.html|website=Masonic Lodge of Education|access-date=15 March 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ablaq]]
*[[Dimension stone]]
*[[Opus quadratum]]
*[[Stone cladding]]
*[[Stone veneer]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=

<ref name="Ching et al 2007 p759">
{{cite book |last1=Ching |first1=Francis D. K. |last2=Jarzombek |first2=Mark M. |last3=Prakash |first3=Vikramaditya |title=A Global History of Architecture |url=https://archive.org/details/globalhistoryofa0000chin |url-access=registration |year=2007 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |isbn=978-0-471-26892-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/globalhistoryofa0000chin/page/759 759] }}
</ref>

<ref name="Dundee">{{cite web | url = http://www.trp.dundee.ac.uk/research/glossary/ashlar.html | title = The Conservation Glossary | publisher = University of Dundee | access-date = 2009-05-04 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100519104019/http://www.trp.dundee.ac.uk/research/glossary/ashlar.html | archive-date = 2010-05-19 | url-status = dead }}</ref>

<ref name="Preziosi 1999">
{{cite book|last=Preziosi|first=D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2tn3ffOnbocC&pg=PA175|author2=Hitchcock, L. A.|isbn=0-19-284208-0|title=Aegean Art and Architecture|year=1999|series=Oxford History of Art|pages=175–6}}
</ref>

<ref name="Sharon 1987 p32-33">
{{cite journal |last1=Sharon |first1=Ilan |date=August 1987 |title=Phoenician and Greek Ashlar Construction Techniques at Tel Dor, Israel |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |issue=267 |pages=32–33 |location=Boston |publisher=The American Schools of Oriental Research }}
</ref>

<ref name="Wright GRH 2000 p100">
{{cite book |last1=Wright |first1=George R. H. |title=Ancient Building Technology, Vol 1: Historical Background |series=Technology and Change in History |year=2000 |publisher=E. J. Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |isbn=978-90-04-09969-2 |oclc=490715142 |page=100 }}
</ref>

}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Ashlar}}
{{wiktionary}}

{{Stonemasonry}}
{{Native american styles}}

[[Category:Building stone]]
[[Category:Stonemasonry]]
[[Category:Types of wall]]
[[Category:Wallcoverings]]
[[Category:Architectural elements]]
[[Category:Garden features]]
[[Category:Masonic symbolism]]