i was watching the news a while back and i heard an ingenious method of transporting the stones instead of all the hassle of sliding them all accross rolling logs he spoke about incasing the stones in logs to make it round so it could be rolled has any one else heard this theory or others

Its possible. I think the solution to how many massive structures were built have a simple solution. The greatest feats of human ingenuity have been those that are very simplistic in nature.

Those would have to be some pretty wide trees!
Anyway, the only problem I can think of would be the wear and tear of the logs... wouldn't the weight of the stones flatten them? I for one wouldn't want to be the guy trying to push those things up hill!

This is a good idea, but there were no roads and it would be hard to get them up any hills. Still, it's just as good as any other thoery I have heard.

C4 had a good programme on a while back about rebuilding the ancients - they did the pyramids and Stonehenge (one word not two) - was pretty conclusive as i recall - the tripod structure and the method of transport. Incidentelly Bernard Cornwall - he of Sharpe fame has writtain a very good - if fictional account of the erection of ancient Britains greatest monuments.

Originally posted by soothsayer
Those would have to be some pretty wide trees!
Anyway, the only problem I can think of would be the wear and tear of the logs... wouldn't the weight of the stones flatten them? I for one wouldn't want to be the guy trying to push those things up hill!

well u know those tacky log edgings they do for gardens if u rap those a round one of the uprights and roll it the pressure would be equal on all sides and it would keep it's shape.
also u need very little force to roll something. i understand problems of getting these stones up hills but the log overcoat isn't a permanent addition
its the best theory i have heard for a long time

i seen a reinactment of them trying to build stone henge and the pyraminds they were doing like a smaller scale but they still failed miserably i dont how they do it i doubt it they could have used magnetic levetation or it could have been an alien race

I don't know about that.... The recreations I've seen were on smaller scales and with guessed numbers as far as manpower.... The tests did conclude that with more manpower, and the methods used, it would indeed work fine... and all without aliens, or levitation, etc. The log wrap is intriguing, but unlikely imho....as it would have been more practical to use the rolling log method of the pyramids...

I think it is very possible with the logs. But I always think about how they did it. Just how did they do that?!

I think the magnetic anti-gravity theory is the true one.

Same goes for pyramids and other huge structures.

I think the magnetism theory is hogwash. Too many totally different types of stone moved, composed of totally different metals. Stonehenge, the pyramids, Easter Island all used different stone, and they generally find the quarries in the area (sometimes far off, but in the area).

I wonder if ley lines had anything to do with them though. A bit mystical, but a better explanation than aliens.

I've seen some good re-enactments, and an especially good one where they used logs lined up on the ground to move them along the earth like a conveyor belt.

I'm more apt to think it was all done with human ingenuity and sheer manpower, though. Carving cities out of the jungle and erecting HUGE monoments is just something we do. A basic human behavior and shared tenacity.


jakomo

[Edited on 5-10-2003 by Jakomo]