Moving large heavy boulders and statues is one thing, carving something like this without using diamonds... ****ing impossible (only rock harder than the one being carved is a ****ing diamond)!
This one has equidistant holes drilled in the carved line. It almost looks like the way we fasten metal or plastic pieces to each other today... imagine a strip of gold or silver running down the insert cut out, and the back of the metal would have pegs that snap into the equidistant holes. At least that is what it looks like to me.
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This is pretty ingenious. Apparently similar "metal ties" have been found in Egypt and Angkor Watt. What I think is pretty cool is that they are all the exact same size and cut (the metal tie inserts).
These are just ****ing fascinating to me. The show FAX is talking about had a guy on there that uses the same tools that ancients used (the ones found), and he basically said there is no way to do this without some form of modern tools (diamond tipped cutting devices or ultra high heat torches).
Then there are these ****ing blocks. They work like giant granite legos.
This is all fascinating shit. They apparently hauled these stones (without trees to use in any way) 10 miles from the quarry to their temple spot at 4000 meters above sea level. Then they carved the 2nd hardest stone, diorite (2nd to diamond), by hand using copper and the same diorite... even though copper isn't strong enough to do this, and using diorite to cut itself would take almost forever. Either they had help or they threw all their tools into some sea or we have severely underestimated how boring their lives were and the collective willpower of a people with no written language (but apparently masters of mathematics through oral discussion/tradition).
Oh yeah, I forgot, the
massive ****ing stone walls/terraces. No mortar is used, nor is there a simple angle on any stone, yet they all fit together perfectly.
