Stone

Stone is a type of block introduced very early in the game. It has an identical texture located on all 6 sides of the block. Stone makes up a very large portion of a normally generated map. Under a dirt layer, a stone layer may extend all the way to to the bottom of a map (And in Creative mode, to the edges). In the stone layer of the map, Caverns, Ore and Dungeons (Alpha only) can be found.

Stone can be used in Creative mode. It is often used for making roads, paths and to make walls of stone for dungeons or tunnels.

In Alpha mode, stone is a valuable resource. If mined with a pickaxe, Stone will drop Cobblestone. Making a "staircase mine" is a great way to get lots of Cobblestone as well as an efficient way to find and locate ore. A staircase mine is simply a staircase made for the purpose of venturing underground and continues until it hits the bottom of the map, or a specific destination of choice. Deep underground, staircase mines can be rerouted to tunnel along the bottom of the map to find rarer resources like diamond and Redstone. Cobblestone can be smelted into normal Stone again.

"Normal" Stone can be crafted into Stone Pressure Plates, which can only be activated by stepping on them, and into Stone Buttons, which are activated by clicking on them.

Trivia

 * In very early Minecraft footage, Stone had a Cobblestone texture.
 * Stone has the largest amount of blocks in a normal map.