Mystery of the Megalithic Stonework - Possible Methodology?

Invent all the victories you need.
The knobs are for transportation, and are smoothed off after placement.

Harte

originally posted by: Harte
Invent all the victories you need.
The knobs are for transportation, and are smoothed off after placement.

Harte

No. First of all, many of the so-called "knobs" are NOT smoothed off, despite adorning numerous blocks in megalithic stoneworks. That this ever happened is pure speculation unsupported by any evidence. Many megalithic walls look unsightly because of these knobs. The truth of the matter is that their builders cared only about the strength and earthquake-resistant qualities of their construction. They did not care particularly about making fortresses to look nice! So why would they bother to smooth them off, as though they wanted them to look pretty? LOL! Your suggestion is ludicrous.

Secondly, they are NOT for transportation. In many cases (in fact, MOST cases), the knobs are located off-centre (often near the bottom edges, where no one with any practical sense would carve them for this purpose because of the difficulty of balancing the block or at least stopping it from toppling over. If the purpose had been transport, the most practical location would have been in the middle of the side face. Instead, they are found all over blocks. This random distribution makes a nonsense of your suggestion (one well-known to serious researchers and rejected long ago for this reason).

Thirdly, some blocks in megalithic sites have several knobs on them. This is not because they are heavier - some are smaller yet still have two or three knobs, when one might have sufficed if they were intended to assist transport. The size of the knob (when it is intact) is unrelated to the weight of the block. You can have a small block with a huge knob on it, sitting next to a five ton block with a small one. This makes a nonsense of the theory that they were carved to assist transportation because common sense would require that the heavier block would require the bigger knob.

Why megalithic blocks throughout the world have these knobs is still a mystery to be solved.

originally posted by: micpsi

originally posted by: Harte
Invent all the victories you need.
The knobs are for transportation, and are smoothed off after placement.

Harte

No. First of all, many of the so-called "knobs" are NOT smoothed off, despite adorning numerous blocks in megalithic stoneworks. That this ever happened is pure speculation unsupported by any evidence. Many megalithic walls look unsightly because of these knobs. The truth of the matter is that their builders cared only about the strength and earthquake-resistant qualities of their construction. They did not care particularly about making fortresses to look nice! So why would they bother to smooth them off, as though they wanted them to look pretty? LOL! Your suggestion is ludicrous.

The knobs were for aiding in transporting the blocks. Your own statements here explain why they're not all smoothed off.

Harte

Given that stone grows (changes composition rather...), perhaps the core holes are to test the veracity of the stone before using it, whilst the 'knobs' could be for internal stress relief (most are located at the base) over many many years, as alot of megalithic construction was built to last a very very long time.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

I always thought they might be spume holes in the mould, where the wall is prefabricated on the ground first, then after one has hardened some fat is put on it and then the next one is poured. The back of some of these walls is sometimes rough, like from the unprepared ground.