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the Giza Building Project

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Catastrophe
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« Reply #135 on: May 11, 2007, 07:37:36 pm »

Since there seems to be some weird notion that the ancients could not move blocks of 2 tons without pulverizing them and carrying them in their handbags, here is some serious research:

Building with Stone – A Global Perspective

Malta

There is much to be learnt by studying the use of stone in the ancient world. Let us start with the Maltese Ggantija temples which were built between 3600 and 2500 BC.  They were made from local limestone which occurred in two varieties: hard coralline and softer globigerina. The former is more difficult to work but fissures naturally to yield blocks which are very durable and resistant to erosion. Globigerina, on the other hand, would have had to be quarried using antler picks and wooden wedges. The Maltese builders chose the hard coralline limestone for external features (for weather resistance) and Globigerina for internal features.

Stones weighing up to 20 tons were transported from quarries several kilometres away, probably using wooden sledges or cradles. Stone balls found discarded at several sites probably assisted manoeuvring blocks into position. Huge blocks of coralline limestone were carefully jointed in the outer walls, yet they appear crude by comparison with the globigerina façade. Larger blocks were moved into position using a combination of wooden levers and ropes. Many blocks have a notch in the middle of the longer side to take the tip of the lever to ensure it did not slip. Ropes could have been tied around the stones, or looped through the V-perforations found on some of the blocks. Interiors were furnished with carved slabs of softer globirerina limestone. In the absence of metal tools, these must have been finished using small flint blades.

Source: “Ggantija and the Maltese Temples” by Dr Chris Scarre, Deputy Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

Brittany
There are hundreds of monoliths in Brittany (France) but the largest is the Grand Menhir Brisé near Locmariaquer. It was erected to the vertical but was later toppled, which can be seen from the four sections into which it fractures and their disposition in relation to the hole in which the menhir stood. Evidence suggests that this “great broken standing stone” belongs to the earliest phase of the Brittany Neolithic around 4500 BC.

The most likely source of the stone, which would have stood 66 feet high and weighing an estimated 280 tonnes, was the outcrop in the Auray River 12 km (7.5 miles) away. Whilst part of the journey could be by water, considerable effort would have been required as this single stone was seven times as heavy and over twice as long as the largest stone at Stonehenge. Close inspection shows traces of intense pounding and hammering employed to smooth the surface.

The Grand Menhir is so large that, for many years, there was doubt as to whether it had been successfully raised to the vertical, but close examination of the breaks  between the fragments has led French Archaeologist Jean L’Helgouach to conclude that it was felled by human agency, and in two distinct stages. First, a ring of wedges was driven into the stone, eventually splitting off the top two thirds, which fell to the east and broke into three. The remaining stump was dragged from its socket and overturned towards the west.

Smaller sockets show that the Grand Menhir was last in a row of lesser menhirs, whose absence suggests that the sacred stones of one generation were violently overthrown to be incorporated into the burial monuments of their descendants. The passage graves of “La Table des Marchand” are nearby.

Source: “The Grand Menhir Brisé, Brittany” by Dr Chris Scarre, Deputy Director of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

Egyptian Obelisks

Obelisks are massive monoliths particularly erected in Egypt from the 12th Dynasty (ca. 1950 BC) although the largest date to the mid 18th Dynasty (ca 1504-1425 BC). They were usually erected in pairs. Obelisks were carved from very hard stones which were strong enough to be cut to the slender proportions of the finished object without cracking and to withstand transportation. Aswan granite was by far the most popular stone for obelisks and the preference for pink and red granites may reflect solar associations.

A particularly useful source of information is an unfinished obelisk probably dating to Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC) which would have stood 137 feet high and weighed around 1150 tons. Unfortunately it was cracked during quarrying and abandoned but preserves clear evidence of the methods used to carve it. Granite is a very hard stone and cannot be cut with the relatively soft metal tools available to the  AEs and so stone tools were used. Ball-shaped dolerite pounders were used to crush the quartz grains to powder which could then be brushed away. The outline of the obelisk was marked on the rock surface and the rock around it could be pounded out. A trench was cut just wide enough to allow a man to work in the gap, and deep enough to be able to undercut the obelisk. Around 150 men could have worked simultaneously in this trench. The obelisk was split from its base with levers and jacked up above the level of the surrounding stone using wooden struts. It was then manoeuvred on to a wooden sledge for transport. Assuming that a man could pull approximately a third of a tonne over level ground, 1000 men would have been needed to move each of Hatshepsut’s 320-tonne obelisks, and 3500 men to move that of Thutmose, had it been completed. A relief at the Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri shows a pair of obelisks being transported by barge to Karnak.

Obelisks were generally polished to a high shine using stone grinders and a fine quartz powder, and then the decoration was drawn on to the surface by a draftsman and carved by a skilled sculptor using stone tools.

Source: “Egyptian Obelisks” by Dr Kate Spence, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge.

The Colossi of Western Thebes

The colossus of Ramesses II (1290-1224 BC) in Western Thebes was nearly 62 feet tall and weighed around 1000 tons. Each Colossus of Memnon (representing Amenhotep III 1391-1353 BC) was carved from a single block of yellow quartzite, chosen for solar associations. They are now around 51 feet tall but have lost their tall crowns which would have increased their height by about 8 feet. Each sits on a separate pedestal about 7.5 feet high. They weigh around 700 tonnes each.

These colossi of Amenhotep were carved from single blocks which were transported from quarries 435 miles distant. Quartzite is a hard stone and cannot have been worked with the metal tools available . However, the marks left on the quarry walls are very different from those produced by pounding at Aswan and suggest that some sort of chiselling tool was used; perhaps a heavy stone pick. As with obelisks, the blocks for the colossi will have been quarried by cutting separation trenches around and beneath the block. The blocks were probably cut from a vertical rock-face to simplify the problem of removing them from the quarry. These colossi were the largest objects moved by the Egyptians. A representation of the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1850 BC) shows the transport of a smaller colossal statue of Djehutyhotep. This was estimated to have weighed around 58 tonnes and is shown mounted upright on a wooden sledge attached by 4 ropes, each rope being pulled by 43 men. Experiments suggest that about 2100 men were required to pull the Memnon Colossi and 3000 for each of the Ramesses II statues.

Source: “The Colossi of Western Thebes” by Dr Kate Spence, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge.

The Giant Stelae of Aksum, Ethiopia

The giant stelae of Aksum were grave markers erected mostly during the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, and rival even the obelisks of Egypt in their dimensions.
Approximate overall length (metres)and estimated weightstonnes) are:
Stela 1. 33 m    520 tonnes
Stela 2  24.6 m 170 tonnes
Stela 3  20.6 m  160 tonnes
Stela 4  18.2 m   56 tonnes
Stela 5  15.8 m   75 tonnes
Stela 6  15.3 m   43 tonnes
The granite-like stone (nepheline syenite) used was extracted from quarries such as that at Gobedra Hill, about 3 miles from Aksum. Intended breaks were marked and rectangular sockets cut, traces of which are still visible in abandoned quarries. It is likely that wooden or metal wedges were inserted and hit to fracture the stone.

Source: “The Giant Stelae of Aksum” by Dr. Robin Coningham, Lecturer in South Asian Archaeology in the department of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bradford.

The Pharos of Alexandria

Traditionally the seventh Wonder of the Ancient World, the Pharos lighthouse, was completed around 283 BC. Probably built of local limestone, granite was probably also used in appropriate places. Many of the granite blocks now on the seabed weigh up to 75 tonnes. Sophisticated cranes and lifting devices must have been used, and it has also been suggested that a spiral ramp may have existed inside the building. Despite some damage and repairs, the lighthouse largely survived until the 14th century. It finally collapsed in a serious earthquake in 1303.

Source: “The Colossi of Western Thebes” by Dr Kate Spence, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Cambridge.


The Colossal Stone Heads of the Olmec
The Olmec were ornamental sculptors in ancient Mesoamerica around 1200-400 BC. They carved countless objects ranging from tiny jade figures to immense basalt heads, stelae and thrones. Most of the stone heads range in height from 4.8 to 9.35 feet. Most weigh 8 to 13 tonnes but the Olmec are known to have moved much larger stones of 25 to 50 tonnes. The largest colossal head approaches this latter weight.

The Olmecs did not have wheeled vehicles, draft animals or block-and-tackle, and must have moved these objects 60 miles or more by human muscle. Experiments have shown that 25-50 people could have moved the heads but, over long distances, it is likely that hundreds would be needed.

Source: “The Colossal Stone Heads of the Olmec” by Professor David Webster of the Department of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University.


The Easter Island Statues
Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is probably the remotest inhabited spot on Earth but boasts rows of stone figures – estimated at around 1000, of which 394 remain abandoned in Rano Raraku quarry. The largest (El Gigante) is about 20 metres in length and weighs about 270 tonnes.

The statues were carved mostly from porous volcanic tuff though a few were of basalt or red scoria. The quarry is still littered with unfinished statues and around them are thousands of basalt picks — the hard stone tools used to cut the statues from the rock and carve them into shape. With metal tools the carving must have been difficult — it has been estimated that one statue could take 10 or 20 men up to a year to complete. The process is illustrated by those statues remaining in the quarry. They were carved face uppermost, and undercut, leaving only a keel of rock holding the statue to the bedrock beneath. The features of the face and head were finished in situ in the quarry, only the eyes being left for completion later.

Once the statues were complete they were detached from the rock and lowered by ropes down the sloping quarry face. The keel on the statue’s back helped to guide the descent by fitting into a groove.




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