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Originally posted by jeep3r
In the meantime, I found at least one more important site in Greece, that also features polygonal masonry which is quite similar to that in Peru: The Oracle of the Dead (Necromanteion), Ephyra ...
Here go a few images:
Originally posted by SQUEALER
Another reason why build with irregular stones. Nobody steals the building materials (...)
So, the irregular stone design could just be an anti-theft device.
Originally posted by KilgoreTrout
This one has piqued my interest up to the next level...and while I still believe there is a clear development of technology, I am beginning to suspect that there is also a deeper aesthetic significance.
Not sure how that can be applied to the South American examples though, other than, in terms of again, same source, neolithic expansionism and convergent technological development. It is not easy to hold all that together though.
I suppose the acid test would be whether the practice on both continents ends when the societies become more structured and urbanised. Not really sure...but still very interested.
Originally posted by jeep3r
As for a possible convergent and independent development in masonry (concerning this very specific polygonal style with precision fitting), I still think it's too unique and too complicated to have evolved twice. Of course there's no evidence for that claim and the obvious similarities between Greece and South America would rather indicate otherwise, I know ...
Originally posted by jeep3r
To make a long story short:
The above aspects are some of the things I'm really interested in and even though I knew about these walls before, I really had to take a closer look in order to appreciate the precision involved in this kind of masonry. Obviously, this thread will have run its course soon and I might dedicate a new thread to polygonal masonry once I've had the time to look into this more in detail!
Originally posted by KilgoreTrout
In the Etruscan case, it ends rather abruptly when Rome becomes an empire and the Fanum Voltumnae is overtaken and disbanded by Rome. I suspect, similarly, that the practice in Greece ended, if not with Apollos arrival, then with the end of the Amphictyonic League.
In terms of the indentations and protrusions, just running with the techniques employed by the cathedral buildings, post holes? For pulleys, scaffolding and leverage????
Originally posted by jeep3r
It could have been linked to something like that, yeah, but then again ... hmmm, not sure?! They're irregular, some stones have them, others not, they're not symmetrical and most of them are so inconspicious, they probably wouldn't offer much hold considering the weight. But perhaps it was indeed related to leverage and transport who knows (I have some doubts though)?
Here again an example from Cusco:
Originally posted by punkinworks10
The knobs left on the surface were anchor spots for ropes. They are attested to in megalithic constructions.
I'd like add that in the case of the andean masonry, that perfectly fitted joint is purely ornamental and only extends a short distance beyond the joint itself, like 2 inches, and the rest of the joint is very rough.
Originally posted by skybolt
At some point we have to start acknowledging that the human race had some form of contact with each other across the continents sometime in the distant past. For now we don't have enough evidence to state that this civilization was advaced as ours, but perhaps were equivalent to our advancement in the late 19th century.
What is the likelihood that various cultures across our entire planet developed the technology to construct these massive structures to such detail and precision, but after several hundred years degenerated into building crude structures that looked like childs play compared to their predecessors?
What we are supposed to believe is that the Greeks, Egyptians, Mayans and multiple other cultures across the globe all lost their past knowledge of construction, astronomy, mathematics, etc. at the same time for no specific reason, and became a lot less knowledgeable as their civilization grew in size.
Not only that, but none of these cultures even take credit for their great accomplishments in the past. For instance why did the later Egyptian dynasties build such crude and small pyramids, while their ancestors constructed the Great Pyramid of Giza to such precission (perfect alignment to true north, air shafts perfectly aligned, eight sided pyramid, dimensions correlating to Pi and the center of Earth's mass, 80 ton blocks within the inteior)?
What is becoming a lot clearer with each passing year (and discovery) is that an ancient world wide culture did exist at some point in the distant past, but were decimated by some sort of catastrophe (flood, polar shift, etc.).
Originally posted by skybolt
The timelines are all screwed up because archaeologists use organic material from various sites via carbon 12 dating to estimate the construction date. For instance, if 10,000 years from now a group of nomads settle the Mt. Rushmore area and make it their home, would another semi advanced civilization 20,000 years from now give them credit for building it as well?
The same things applies to sites like Giza, Puma Punku, Easter Island, Nazca, Petra, etc. There's no written record that the cultures within the past 5,000 years (or in many cases much less) actually built these structures.
On the contrary, most of these people give credit to the gods or people that came before them. Sure, the Egyptians settled the Giza area and made it their home.
They also used some form of mortar material to patch up the Pyramids, which led to the inaccurate carbon dating.
Also, I do agree that there are other crudely built Pyramids dating back before 2400 BC, but this is assuming that the Great Pyramids were built by the Egyptian Pharoes around that time. If we assume the Pyramids and the Sphinx are thousands of years older, then all the crudely built pyramids by the Egyptians came afterwards.
In my opinion, the discovery of Gobekli Tepe changed everything for me. How could these multiple circles of perfectly cut 15 ton columns be constructed at a time that we were just considered hunters and gatherers.
IMO, these structures take massive planning, mathematics and engineering skills to construct. Again,as I mentioned above, I do believe that hunter gatherer tribes did make this area their home (due to the animal bones found there), and may have even placed the small stones around the perfectly cut columns, but probably thousands of years after their original construction.
If we compare these structures to the Moai statues (and even the "H" symbols in Puma Punku), the similarities are staggering. The long finger hand positioning to the belt area is exactly the same, as well as some of the writing. How could these cultures be 9,000 years apart with Gobekli Tepe being burried for the past 8,000 years or so?
IMO a cataclysm of some sort did occur (perhaps at the end of the last ice age) and these structures were left behind by the orginal builders. As the years went by hunter gatherer tribes began inhabiting these areas again and calling it their home. They left their organic imprint and stone tools there, so this is all we have left to go buy when dating these sites. Unfortunately for us the original builders did not leave there construction tools on site after construction just like us today.
The reason why I mentioned the 19th century is because there's no way that our society could've constructed the pyramids or other sites that are located on top of mountains in South America at that time without massive cranes and other building material.
We are talking about flattened mountain tops and huge geometric shapes in Nazca; 1,200 ton stones in Baalbek;
multi ton perfectly cut stones being dragged down one mountain and up another, and then pefectly fit together in Peru;
machined holes inside of granite stones that are exactly at the same depth to the nearest milimeter at Puma Punku, mountains cut out to make a city in Petra, etc. The credit for all these accomplishments has been given to tribes, that in some cases like Puma Punku, did not even have a written language (let alone being able to put together contract drawings).
We are supposed to believe that these cultures over various periods in the past 5,000 years sprang up at different times, built these amazing structures, and then just disappeared without passing on their knowledge.