Ancient Stone Works/Megaliths

in the example of the 1,200 ton Egyptian granite obelisk they hammered the obelisk out with Dolerite, three times as hard as granite...the dolerite hammers were left on site just where the quarry workers dropped them ...and the ocher lines are still visible in the quarry they used just as today we still use a chalk line...
when my dad as a mason wanted to check a large flat surface for level he'd pour water on it, the water would reveal the dry high points to be removed and grind it down... ridiculously simple but if you'd never been shown you'd be puzzled how a surface could be made so level/flat without modern devices...

 

Fascinating material!

I suspect that you've heard of the "Mega Saw" that some archeologists suspect was used too:

"THE MEGA SAWS OF THE PYRAMID BUILDERS"
STARTLING NEW EVIDENCE SHOWS HOW THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS SLICED UP THEIR STONES
https://atlantisrisingmagazine.com/article/the-mega-saws-of-thepyramid-builders/

 

Except groups have attempted to replicate moving these large blocks, such as the Moab, and have not been able to.

Since it's so simple, why don't you explain how they moved 100 ton stones for us.

 

These are made from dolerite, explain them, Explain the perfect 90 degree inner and outer cuts.

 

They are on every continent, How did S. America do it.

 

I'm a blacksmith who has designed & made wrought iron gates, andirons, fireplace tools, garden sculpture, wrought iron human sized jazz band figures, African animals, Art Deco table bases, grape vine wrapped wine racks and reproduction Elizabethan artifacts along with reproduction Civil War cannon parts & Civil War Combat Engineer tools etc.

The largest piece of equipment I've moved other than jacking up houses is a 3 ton mechanical power hammer that was made in 1911 & is used to shape especially large pieces of hot steel.
However, I can't imagine how much larger & more fragile blocks of stone were so perfectly shaped, lifted & fitted into place so tightly that in some cases you can't fit a playing card between the gaps. Yes, I'm aware of the dolerite stone tools that have been found at different sites but the time & skill required is still mind boggling.

 

How did they drill holes, cut perfect lines. Make huge flat surfaces.

 

That is brilliant, isn't it?

 

And it is not one piece, in some cases thousands of pieces,
Stone cutting was easy for these people.

They did not make these by banging rocks together.

 

To be honest, I have no more idea how massive stone monuments were built on South America's mountain tops than I do how they were built on Easter Island.
I've had a fascination with archeology ever since I was a kid & after being discharged from the Army, I walked & hitch hiked around long enough to spend nights at places from Stonehenge, Delphi, Troy, Babylon etc. I intended to go to Israel & Egypt but got caught up in the '73 War.
It was probably my imagination but there were some awfully strange sounds at Stonehenge at 3AM.

 

The problem is that in places where the megaliths are built of a softer stone, people can accept the banging stones together, oblivious of just how insane the theory is, they are still not possible but some accept it. However when the objects are huge Granite, and Dolorite megaliths, you just can't use that excuse.

And then when every culture who has these, claim the gods did it, it throws another monkey wrench into the mix.

 

never heard of it...I'm skeptical, why would they need a giant saw for the relatively small stones of the pyramid and not use that for the gigantic stones in the quarry that were pounded out with precision?...

here's how rocks of any size are still split, the holes the Egyptians used are still visible
how holes were drilled

and nothing is as self explanatory as Egyptian tomb painting for moving monumental stones, man power,ropes, sledge and water(the guy on the front of the sledge)....this is already been tested by experimental archeologists and it works...again note there no aliens or wizards in their picture

no monkeys required, even the hardest stones are very susceptible to expansion, splitting with wedges is simple and fast...even passive methods work, holes stuffed with wooden wedge that is then soaked with water, wood expands splitting the stone, the marks from these techniques are still visible today...

the problem here is people looking for complicated technical solutions to accomplish what was done when they should be looking for the simplest solutions...look for the materials they had on hand to work with stone, water, wood, sand, rope and some metals..

 

holes-bow drill and sand
perfect lines-the square had already been invented and for really big scale the 3-4-5 method used by every stone mason it only requires a bit of string or 3 appropriate sized sticks, not only can you make a perfect 90degrees you can then plot out a perfect square of any size like the base of a pyramid...
flat surface, water, sand and grind...easy peasy

 

The problem with your theory, is that made made objects are identifiable from the imperfections. Splitting does not make perfect cuts, drilling 1/4 in holes deep into rock, granite. We are speaking of perfect cuts, Inner 90 degree angles, and to avoid the simple excuse of cutting sandstone, lets cut granite.

 

Sorry, what is the drill made of, did you ever try cutting stone. and we are speaking granite.
I have worked with machinery all my life, and have some of the finest cutting tools made, I can't do that, and my tools use air and electric power.

You are making excuses without any tool knowledge.

 

Add to that the fact that many of these stones are perfectly smooth to within 2 ten thousandths of an inch across the whole block.....

You're not going to get that level of precision pouring water on a frickin stone.

 

That's the problem we face, people like yourself, with knowledge of construction, tools, etc. know it cannot be done.
Someone ignorant to the basic principals, will accept anything, that fits into their narrow spectrum.

 

an example that makes my point on how people tend to overthink these things...

there was documentary made about 20 yrs ago it was about some researchers employing experimental archeology testing the various methods to raise an obelisk.
they were in Egypt and hired local labour to do the work and test their ideas...

one of the researchers(an engineer and not an archeologist) was using algebra to solve the math involved but being an engineer it never dawned on him Egyptians didn't have algebra

another researcher hired an american timber framer( from Vermont I believe) who replicated early american timber framing using only old techniques, the researcher's thought was the Egyptians used massive timber structures (A-Frames) to lift the stone, very cumbersome process that didn't work well...then the documentary switched to focus to the timber framer who using simple techniques in his work too thought that was unlikely as suitable timber was rare/expensive in Egypt, and it would need to brought in from elsewhere(perhaps lebanon)...he reasoned Egyptians would've used what they had plenty of, sand and stone...so he went back to the US and in a quarry where there was easy access to huge stones, brought in some sand and raised an obelisk with relative ease, he had found a brilliantly simple method using the most common materials at hand...everyone but the timber framer was over thinking the problem...

 

yup, absolutely perfect using just water and grinding stones, I've watched it being done by modern masons ...

 

Raising an obelisk is easy compared to everything else.
An obelisk is raised by gravity.

 

there are rough cuts and then there's dressing and polishing with abrasives...using the same methods that nature uses to grind down mountains are used by men to shape stone...

 

Sorry, that is absolutely not true, you can do that on a small object, and it still will not be machine perfect.
Try doing it with a 20 by 20 slab of granite, to machine precision.

 

there you go now you're thinking like an Egyptian...although I wouldn't characterize moving and standing a stone up to a thousand tons on end as easy...that's how the timber framer did it, helped by a clue left by the Egyptians, a small groove in the base of plinth the obelisk sat on...he built a stone wall around the plinth, filled it with sand pulled the obelisk over the sand enclosure and slowly began removing the sand through a hole on the bottom of the enclosing wall...as the sand was pulled out the bottom the obelisk slowly dropped into place until it hooked in the plinth groove...whether he got the method completely right can be debated but he did it safely and simply with sand, stone, rope and gravity...

 

It's labor intensive, but is done, try making the obelisk out of granite.