Monoliths

[xelasnave]

So much on youtube re monoliths and unfortunately the vids I have come across seem to have a nutter feel.

However I do wonder how folk back then cut some of them (all of them really).
Lime stone would be easy I expect but how did they cut granite?

So many of these folk presenting on youtube this stuff claim that there was a civilization that disappeared I think 12,000 odd years ago that was responsible and that those who came after incorporated their earlier work such that we think the Romans (as one example) built on top of earlier ruins such that they were seen as constructing the monolith.

There are some huge blocks out there ...as much as 1000 tons and as many question how could these things be moved with rope and blocks and tackle ... I expect thats how but just think of how we would today move 1000 ton...a big trailer with how many wheels 100 maybe 200.

I expect that a sled lubricated with something and how many humans?

Anyways how would you cut a granite block of 1000 tons:shrug:

Alex

[RB]

Slowly.

Oh, sorry Alex, I thought this was one of Lewis' I.Q. Tests.

RB
:P

[Ric]

Definitely food for thought Alex. :thumbsup:

I have seen some of those types of videos and have often wondered myself how they managed to achieve what they did.

The pyramids are a great source of wonder, I remember a documentary suggesting that they put blocks onto rollers made from the palm trees but that doesn't make sense as you are destroying your food source for the workers.

However it was achieved I think it is a lost art for sure.

Of course there is always the "Aliens" helped theory :D ;) :ship2:

[xelasnave]

I suppose you could have a copper or bronze saw blade with diamonds or some other stone harder than granite but I dont think deer antlers would do it...

Alex

[JA]

Provided you already have the 1000 tons as a block (to put it into perspective some 7 x 7 x 7m), then nowdays, if you wanted to do it semi-manually then score a cut with a diamond saw partly or completely around the block. Insert a string of steel wedges along and into the cut and pound them in and a crack will propogate, hopefully in the desired direction depending on the homogeneity of the material. Also support the material on only one side of the proposed cut, thereby leaving gravity to help load the crack if possible.

In earlier days they used chisels and lots on labour in lieu of the saw described above, and wedges. In earlier times iron and steel was not yet discovered/made and copper tools were about, I have also heard that a string of wooden wedges were deployed along the cut/chiseled line onto which water was poured. As they wooden wedges (think hard timbers) slowly swelled they were also beaten in and they pushed sideways on the cut and then eventually cracked the stone over a long period. They may have also used metallic wedges.

Or lots of drill holes and small explosives :D

Best
JA

[xelasnave]

A sled arrangement is shown in one of the old carvings with someone pouring something on the path...a mud slide approach.
The effort must have been incredible...say with the pyramids...2.5 million blocks ...how many a day ...quarry transport placement.

I dont like to side with the nutters but when you look at some of these big blocks at the bottom of various contructions one wonders how.
But keeping a populace busy is the name of the game and the economy that grows as a result.

We do similar today with huge spending on military stuff and infrastucture...
One can point to so much waste but keeping the populace occupied is a really important feature of a sucessful civilization...thank goodness we have video games...
Alex

[LewisM]

Yes, we know you are slow... :P

[LewisM]

Ancient lasers powered by Babylonian jar batteries, moved by hoverboard?

It's a good question actually.

[RB]

Answered your second IQ test pretty quick.

:lol:

[deanm]

I visited an old Roman quarry outside of Frankfurt some years ago.
They could 'cut' huge stone pillars out of a cliff face by pouring water into holes made in the rock. In winter, overnight, the water would freeze, expand and fracture the stone.
They used elephants to drag the pillars to where they were wanted!
Dean

[Zuts]

LOL, where's an elephant when you need one...:P

[billdan]

These monoliths are still a mystery as to how they cut them and then moved them into position.

[xelasnave]

Interesting?
https://youtu.be/v0JY5Ga0iPk
Alex

[xelasnave]

This is rather long but to a degree presents the prospect of a pre Roman approach.
In any event there are some 1000 ton blocks in place in a construction which if nothing else means whoever had to move them around and laying "bricks" of 1000 ton makes one wonder.
https://youtu.be/FlRHPbfauGQ
Alex

[billdan]

Maybe Von Daniken was right and it was all done by Aliens. ;)

[speach]

I wonder what he'd been smoking

[speach]

As Marie Curie was reputed to say "give me a fulcrum and a leaver long enough and I'll move the Earth"

[xelasnave]

Reported by The Daily Mail....In 2012 a Saudi Arabian logistics company smashed the record for the 'heaviest item moved by road freight', when it delivered a water desalination unit weighing in excess of 4,800 tonnes and covering more ground than a football field.

[el_draco]

Ya think?
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=walking+statue s+easter+island

[Shano592]

And in the case of the Pyramids in Egypt... stacking them, once moved into place.

20000 slaves on one end of a very long lever or pulley system.

[xelasnave]

If a pyramid has two and half million blocks and built over twenty years thats about 400 blocks a day...I am on the run I will look at those numbers again later...
Alex

[xelasnave]

I can get ot down to 270 a day...so placing 10 an hour each and every hour of those 20 years .... busy little lot.
And they must have consumed a lot of food...and beer☺
Alex

[sharpiel]

Hmmmm :question: So then...slavery....really gets stuff done!

[xelasnave]

I have read that slaves were not used and that it was an honour to be involved in the project.

Each block is approx 2.5 ton on the one I am thinking about...I wonder how many it would take to drag a block sliding on mud probably not many...maybe only ten...
Alex