People have quarried soapstone for thousands of years. Native Americans in eastern North America used the soft rock to make bowls, cooking slabs, smoking pipes, and ornaments as early as the Late Archaic Period (3000 to 5000 years ago). [1] Native Americans on the west coast traveled in canoes from the mainland to San Clemente Island (60 miles offshore!) to obtain soapstone for cooking bowls and effigy carving as early as 8000 years ago.

The people of Scandinavia began using soapstone during the Stone Age, and it helped them enter the Bronze Age when they discovered that it could be easily carved into molds for casting metal objects such as knife blades and spearheads. They were among the first to discover the ability of soapstone to absorb heat and radiate it slowly. That discovery inspired them to make soapstone cooking pots, bowls, cooking slabs, and hearth liners.

Throughout the world, in locations where the soapstone is exposed at the surface, it was one of the first rocks to be quarried. Soapstone’s special properties continue to make it the “material of choice” for a wide variety of uses.