Moving The Stones
See also: List of megalithic sitesThe quarry was slightly higher up than the temple itself so no lifting was required to move the stones the 800 meters (2,600 ft) to the temple. In 1977, Jean-Pierre Adam made a brief study suggesting the large blocks could have been moved on rollers with machines using capstans and pulley blocks, a process which he theorised could use 512 workers to move a 557 tonne block (approximately 243 tonnes lighter than the trilithon blocks). Adam did not approach the problem of archaeological dating, suggesting that the maritime technology that may have moved the larger stones came from a pre-Roman era, concluding "Knowing that the Egyptians knew about the pulley, it is not unreasonable to attribute the construction to a people of sailors, such as the Phoenicians or Minoans".
Read more about this topic: Baalbek
Famous quotes containing the words moving and/or stones:
“We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling under canvas, looking for work, for another foothold somewhere on the land.... The country was ruined, the whole world was ruined; nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no hope, but everyone felt the courage of despair.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (18861968)
“this ant-and stone-swallowing uninjurable
artichoke which simpletons thought a living fable
whom the stones had nourished, whereas ants had done
so.”
—Marianne Moore (18871972)