Chapter 37

Sophie’s Believe it or not! (How did they do it?)

37(a) Heavy lifting

The mystery of cutting and lifting ancient huge blocks has not yet been fully proven. Source: http://www.neowebz.com/largest-stones-ever-cut.php

“The largest known obelisk stone lies unfinished in the Aswan stone quarry in Egypt. It is estimated to weigh nearly 1,200 tons OR 2 million 400 thousand pounds and is 135 feet long. Today’s modern construction cranes would not be able to hoist this massive stone and move it hundreds of miles to put it in place straight up. Ancients moved similar stones. Many “old theory” archeologists claim the stone masons used dolerite balls and copper chisels to cut the stone. Contemporary experts prove that not enough workers could fit in the slim passage between the stone to complete the work in time, that old theory suggests (20 years). Diamond blades and saws and yet undiscovered tools must have been used. Also did the Egyptians do all the work without outside help? The ancient stone masons began to carve it directly out of bedrock.

Cracks appeared in the granite and the project was abandoned. The bottom side of the obelisk is still attached to the bedrock. THE WORLD’S LARGEST FINISHED CUT STONE BLOCK IS PICTURED BELOW In Baalbek, eastern Lebanon lays the largest cut stone block found in the entire world. Weighing an estimated 1200 tons. It is 69 feet by 16 feet by 13 feet 10 inches, making it the single largest piece of stonework ever crafted in the world.

The mysteries of the transportation and lifting of the great blocks have not yet been proven. The largest Obelisk that was actually erected in Egypt was no more that 500 tons. Robert Temple and his colleagues concluded that by using a technique called optical thermo-luminescence, they dated the casing stones to around 3590 – 2640 BC SIDE NOTE – Many refer to the structure in Washington DC as- “The Obelisk in Washington DC” “The tallest obelisk in the world” “The worlds tallest stone structure” standing 555 feet tall. It is not of Egyptian origin. IT IS NOT ONE PIECE OF STONE -The monument was built with SMALL BLOCKS of marble and granite. Construction of the monument began in 1848”

Note: there are several not quite so large stones at Baalbek (in the 800 – 1,000 ton range) that have been lifted into place and form the foundation of one of the stone walls!

stay tuned next week for more related to this subject