Prehistoric Construction Techniques.

[Ian Nottingham]

Prehistoric Construction Techniques.
Brick-Ties at Puma PunkaCuzco, Peru.Mortise and Tennon - Osireion, Abydoss.OllantaytamboMachu Pichu




Featured Masonry Techniques:

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      'Folded' stone corners.
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      Multi-facetted stones.
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      Metal 'Block-Ties'.
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      Quarry marks - (Splitting stone).

   

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      Moving large stones.
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      Extreme masonry.
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      Vitrified Stone (Vitrification).
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      'Manoeuvring Protuberances'.

   

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      Mortise and tenon Joins...
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      Concrete in ancient structures.
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      Drilling in Prehistory.
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      The specific selection of Stone.

    The earliest examples of stone masonry in both the 'Old' and 'New' worlds demonstrates a high skill level, something which is often suggested as being a result of the existing knowledge of carpentry at the transition in working from wood to stone. This idea is borne out somewhat in Egypt where for example, the masonry of the ceilings in the temples of 1st dynasty Saqqara were carved to imitate the 'reed-bundle' ceilings of pre-dynastic Egypt. There is however, no evidence of such a transition in the Americas.

        The transport and use of unnecessarily large blocks of stone, the specific selectivity of stone type along with various examples of 'extreme' masonry at numerous sacred and ancient monuments is starting to reveal a reverence for stone itself, an idea which has foundation in mythology, religion and can still be seen today at Jerusalem, Mecca, the 'Lignum' of India and at the crowning of any new king or Queen in UK (i.e. Scottish 'Stone-of-scone', English 'kings-stone') etc.

    It is noticeable that there are several specific construction techniques in the masonry of (apparently unrelated) cultures from around the ancient world. The specific similarity in design, technique and engineering skills is, in  certain cases very suggestive of a common source of knowledge, or at the least - of contact between cultures. In response, it has been argued that such similarities are 'co-evolutionary', being the natural result of working with stone.

    The following examples demonstrate the sophisticated skills of the prehistoric masons.

[Ian Nottingham]

Folded Corners:
 

Several structures show the blocks cut with an internal angle, so as to 'fold' the stone around corner's. It is suggested that this was incorporated as an earthquake 'preventative'.

[Ian Nottingham]

[Ian Nottingham]

 Valley-Temple,  Ghiza, Egypt. -  There are several stones with this design feature in the valley-temple. It is interesting to note that the stones  have been cut so as to continue only a short distance around the corner which hints at the idea that    style might have been involved (rather than, or as well as, function).

[Ian Nottingham]

 Luxor, Egypt. (Left),   Machu Pichu, Peru (Right).

http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/constructiontechniques.htm