The EssayCornerstonesEpisodes Episode guide

Back up to: The Essay

1. Clay Bricks

   5/5Poet Fiona Hamilton contrasts clay's different states, before and after it's baked hard.
2. Gypsum and Alabaster

   4/5Archaeologist Rose Ferraby gets to grips with gypsum, the key mineral in plaster.
3. North Sea Oil and Gas

   3/5Esther Woolfson contrasts Aberdeen, the 'Granite City', with its oil and gas industry.
4. Lewisian Gneiss

   2/5Writer Sara Maitland conjures with Lewisian gneiss, two-thirds the age of the earth.
5. Flint

   1/5Alan Garner sparks with flint, the stone that has enabled human civilisation.