Marble at Larissa, limestone at Myra, but there seems to be some blurring of the definition, depends on the degree of metamorphosis.Is the rock at Larissa the same type as that at Myra perchance?
?So the theatre was rebuilt in the Roman era and the tombs still had paint on them in the C19th. So where does that leave the 'burning/melting' theory
At Petra, the inside of one temple still shows strong colours even though the outside seems to have suffered the same destructive forces as seen at Myra and Larissa, so why the paint at the Painted Tomb would have faded, I have no idea.
I have not yet found any reference to scientific testing of the rock that is so obviously different from one area to the other at Larissa, surely there would be some measurable chemical or crystal changes?
Another thing that bothers me is the actual construction of the tombs at Myra. The precision reminds me of other structures found at many other places around the world, this one in India being an example:
http://old.world-mysteries.com/mpl_11.htm
This to me is shows engineering at a level that should not have existed at the time, according to the history we are told. An interesting experiment was done to try and recreate some of the work at Petra, using the tools available at the time, and which showed just how difficult and time consuming it would have been. They did a nice job, but did use power tools for some of the work.
Looking at the amount of carving, particularly some of the fine detail in many of these rock-cut locations, well, I don't know what to think.
Petra: Lost City of Stone (Nova documentary, 55 Minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CowfQRzYoI