We all know that ancient cultures spread between different continents, regions, and in the countries of Peru, China, and Egypt (only to name only a few), quarried. Ancient cultures lifted, transported, and crafted vast megaliths, some weighing several hundred tons. How did the achieve all this? And until now, theories as to how these stones were moved in prehistory have been abundant, but demonstrations in the field have been thin on the ground. However, a highly creative experiment by a team of MIT researchers is now revealing our forebears as masters of gravity, balance, and leverage.
The team of scientists released a video showing how cement blocks of 25-ton can be easily carried and being pushed effortlessly by two men with one hand. Spoiler alert, this is no internet stunt. On the contrary, the blocks can be pivoted, rocked, walked, tilted or rolled with almost no physical exertion required to achieve what a Gizmodo article rightfully referred to as “remarkable ease and precision.
The man behind the magic is Brandon Clifford, an assistant professor at MIT and co-founder of Matter Design, who together with building material specialist CEMEX, designed sets of over-sized concrete monolithic building blocks which interlinked to form lager structures. By now, you might have already noticed how similar in style these cement blocks are to the massive boulders that were used to build Sacsayhuaman, the vast fortified citadel historical capital of the Inca Empire situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Cusco, Peru. Does this explain it all?
Video available at: 3,900-Pound Boulders Could Be Moved by Hand
References
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- Andrew Liszewski, Gizmodo, Researchers Made 3,900-Pound Boulders They Can Move by Hand, Giving More Insights Into Ancient Engineering (https://gizmodo.com/researchers-made-25-ton-boulders-they-can-move-by-hand-1834106230)
