The Theory Of The Humongous Stones Thread

[FAX]

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.

[Otter]

The really awful news stemming from all of this is that David killed Goliath - otherwise, we'd all be about 16' tall and not quite as amazed by all these feats of strength in ancient times. Way to go, David! Jerk!

[Fish]

[Bill Lundberg]

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Bill Lundberg

.... good call...

If one fella can move giant blocks like this around his back yard... imagine what 10,000 workers could accomplish...

[Bill Lundberg]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

oops

[Fish]

Originally Posted by rockymtnchief

http://www.amazingabilities.com/amaze10a.html

Amazing.

Perhaps the most spectacular of Ed's carvings is a huge nine-ton stone door through which he drilled an eight-foot longitudinal hole that was precisely aligned with the stone’s center of gravity. Edward fitted the hole with a shaft resting on an automobile gear, and then installed the door. The door fits within a quarter of an inch of the walls on either side. The door is so perfectly balanced that it may be easily pushed open by a five-year old child using one finger. Today's engineers, using advanced laser and computer technology, would be hard pressed to duplicate this phenomenal engineering feat.


A local contractor was hired to cut a stone from Ed's quarry. Using a diamond tipped power saw and a 600 horsepower crane the contractor had difficulty removing a smaller sized stone. Also, the contractor could not extract the stone by cutting horizontally across the bottom of the stone, but had to break it away to extract it. Edward Leedskalnin cut his huge stones to create the four vertical sides, and then he also cut horizontally across the bottoms to extract the stones.

[rockymtnchief]

Originally Posted by KC Fish

Amazing.

What is really amazing is that he built it, took it down, shipped it ten miles, and reconstructed again...by himself! People estimate he weighed around 100 pounds. He was so tiny that he eventually died of malnutrition.

[joesomebody]

Yeah, I had never heard of Coral castle. That is amazing. Unbelievable really. I wish he had shared his trick with us before he died.

[DMAC]

Originally Posted by joesomebody

Yeah, I had never heard of Coral castle. That is amazing. Unbelievable really. I wish he had shared his trick with us before he died.

No one witnessed this happening?

It was in the early 1900's...not B.C.

[FAX]

He worked at night. In secret. Built the whole damn thing using some weird magnetic thingy that levitated the blocks (or so they say).

FAX

[rockymtnchief]

Originally Posted by DMAC

No one witnessed this happening?

It was in the early 1900's...not B.C.

Apparently not.

I first heard about Coral Castle on some old show that Leonard Nimoy hosted. None of the locals could catch him moving, setting up, or cutting these big stones. I remember the story of the trucker delivering a large stone, turning his back for a minute, and the old fart some how had the stone unloaded off the truck without a crane or tools.

[DMAC]

Originally Posted by rockymtnchief

Apparently not.

I first heard about Coral Castle on some old show that Leonard Nimoy hosted. None of the locals could catch him moving, setting up, or cutting these big stones. I remember the story of the trucker delivering a large stone, turning his back for a minute, and the old fart some how had the stone unloaded off the truck without a crane or tools.

If he could levitate boulders, you think he would do something else besides build a castle, then move the castle.

[MOhillbilly]

my grandpa dug out two basement witha pick,shovel, & barrow.

[Christofire]

Structures made with little rocks can be disassembled easily by smaller attacking forces. If you need 5,000 people to take apart a huge stone structure, it's going to last a lot longer.