Stone in the mountains
If you’ve ever been to Petra in Jordan, ( which I haven’t ) and seen the incredible carvings in the stone cliffs there, then you’ll know what an incredible art stone masonry is. How someone can turn a solid block of stone into the most amazing artefacts. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a statue in Petra, a Phoenix at the Pyramids or a just a simple stone fireplace, the artistry and skills are basically the same.
Of course the artisans who carved Petra or who built the pyramids and the statues there, had few sophisticated tools than the modern mason. He can use electric grinders and cutters to remove much of the stone before doing all the fine finishing work by hand. Massive saws can cut the blocks into manageable sizes so that it can be handled more easily. The ancient mason had no such sophistication. He had vast amounts of labour so the blocks could be sawn up, but the tools with which he did the final intricate work, were basic and crude.
I have no doubt that those ancient masons would consider making a ‘modern’ stone fireplace to be a simple task when compared to the giant feats of skill that they achieved all those 1000s of years ago.