Science The Theory Of The Humongous Stones Thread

FAX · 06-15-2010, 11:47 PM

Whilst working this evening, I happened to have the TV tuned to the History Channel as they were re-airing a documentary on Ancient Aliens. Basically, it was the same old hash about huge, old monuments and the assumed difficulties involved in building them without the use of technology in some form or fashion ... blah, blah, ho hum, etc.

But then, all of a sudden, this one wacky dude made a statement that caught my attention. He said, "Why would the builders make their job so much more difficult by carving, transporting, and elevating these mammoth, individual stones?"

When you think about it, that's a darn good question. The weights we're talking about are formidable. For example, The Colossi of Memnon in Egypt are carved from two stones weighing an estimated 1000 tons each (some archaeologists peg them at 1200 tons each, actually).

Then there's the Stellae of Axum which weighs about 500 tons, the Ramesseum in Egypt which weighs in at an estimated 1000 tons, the 'Stone of the South' in Lebanon which is around 1200 tons, and the Unfinished Obelisk also in Egypt and also in the 1200 ton range. And these are just a few examples of enormous, megalithic stones which modern builders would have great difficulty manipulating in a construction setting.

The reason is that there are a variety of modern cranes rated to the 100- to 300-ton capacity. However, it takes a custom crane to lift anything beyond that tonnage. NASA, for example, had to build a custom crane with a lifting capacity of 430 tons to lift the shuttle. And, a New York engineering company has a specialty crane with a lift capacity of 500 tons that is used to lift other cranes to the top of high-rise construction sites. So far, I haven't identified any modern crane with the lift capacity to handle a 1000 ton rock. And, of course, that's just lifting ... not transporting, or manipulating the stone into place at the job site.

Okay, so these builders liked big rocks. I get that part. However, it's completely obvious that they could have used smaller stones that were easier to quarry, easier to transport, and far easier to use in construction to accomplish the same building objectives. So why did they choose to make their job so much more difficult by using these enormous stones?

The argument for many "ancient technology" theorists seems to be that the builders used big rocks because, for them, it just wasn't all that difficult ... in other words, they had super secret methods and means of which we modern dudes are unaware (like those used by the crazy Coral Castle guy, maybe).

I know that Planeteers understand building stuff, hauling stuff, and stacking stuff, so I thought I'd throw this thread out there to see what you guys think about the question. Is it possible that the ancients worked with megalithic stones because they had the ability to do so easily? Or, were they just making their slaves work their asses off for the sheer joy of it?

FAX

Disclaimers: Sorry if repost.

06-15-2010, 11:47 PM	Topic Starter
FAX testing ... 1, 2, 3 Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Tennessee Casino cash: $6753759	The Theory Of The Humongous Stones Thread Whilst working this evening, I happened to have the TV tuned to the History Channel as they were re-airing a documentary on Ancient Aliens. Basically, it was the same old hash about huge, old monuments and the assumed difficulties involved in building them without the use of technology in some form or fashion ... blah, blah, ho hum, etc. But then, all of a sudden, this one wacky dude made a statement that caught my attention. He said, "Why would the builders make their job so much more difficult by carving, transporting, and elevating these mammoth, individual stones?" When you think about it, that's a darn good question. The weights we're talking about are formidable. For example, The Colossi of Memnon in Egypt are carved from two stones weighing an estimated 1000 tons each (some archaeologists peg them at 1200 tons each, actually). Then there's the Stellae of Axum which weighs about 500 tons, the Ramesseum in Egypt which weighs in at an estimated 1000 tons, the 'Stone of the South' in Lebanon which is around 1200 tons, and the Unfinished Obelisk also in Egypt and also in the 1200 ton range. And these are just a few examples of enormous, megalithic stones which modern builders would have great difficulty manipulating in a construction setting. The reason is that there are a variety of modern cranes rated to the 100- to 300-ton capacity. However, it takes a custom crane to lift anything beyond that tonnage. NASA, for example, had to build a custom crane with a lifting capacity of 430 tons to lift the shuttle. And, a New York engineering company has a specialty crane with a lift capacity of 500 tons that is used to lift other cranes to the top of high-rise construction sites. So far, I haven't identified any modern crane with the lift capacity to handle a 1000 ton rock. And, of course, that's just lifting ... not transporting, or manipulating the stone into place at the job site. Okay, so these builders liked big rocks. I get that part. However, it's completely obvious that they could have used smaller stones that were easier to quarry, easier to transport, and far easier to use in construction to accomplish the same building objectives. So why did they choose to make their job so much more difficult by using these enormous stones? The argument for many "ancient technology" theorists seems to be that the builders used big rocks because, for them, it just wasn't all that difficult ... in other words, they had super secret methods and means of which we modern dudes are unaware (like those used by the crazy Coral Castle guy, maybe). I know that Planeteers understand building stuff, hauling stuff, and stacking stuff, so I thought I'd throw this thread out there to see what you guys think about the question. Is it possible that the ancients worked with megalithic stones because they had the ability to do so easily? Or, were they just making their slaves work their asses off for the sheer joy of it? FAX Disclaimers: Sorry if repost.
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