Troublesome Topic: ADDITIONAL INFO – THE LIMITS OF USING HUMAN POWER ALONE

HOW HEAVY WOULD STONES HAVE TO BE BEFORE HUMAN POWER WOULD NOT BE ENOUGH TO MOVE IT?

Someone who knows much more about megalithic construction than I do has said that it is possible for men to move objects weighing up to 50 metric tonnes using only man-power and lots of force-multiplying and friction minimizing techniques. However, at some point after the weight gets into the hundreds of tonnes, the task becomes completely impossible for man-power alone, no matter how many men are thrown at the project. This individual was not willing to venture a guess on where the exact line should be drawn between possible and impossible. 

But there is a case that seems to quantify the upper limit for us. I’m referring to what is now called the Lateran Obelisk that was moved from the Karnak temple in Egypt to Rome. It is thought to have originally weighed about 455 short tons, but it now only weighs about 323 short tons.

The difference is because it was either cut to be shorter, or it broke from a fall, resulting in the lowest 4 meters, or 13 feet, being removed. Remember that the lowest part is bigger and heavier than the rest. I think it was cut.

It took them 350 years, but the Roman engineers finally moved it, well, they moved the top 32 meters of it, from Egypt to Rome. I’m sure they had to have used a combination of the best force multiplying and friction minimizing devices possible.

So, it seems that around 323 short tons or 300 metric tonnes is probably the heaviest thing that humans have ever moved without power equipment.

HOW DO WE KNOW THAT THE LATERAN OBELISK NOT ALREADY IN ROME?  In the cases of Baalbek and Jerusalem, the big stones were found already pre-cut.  Is there any evidence in Rome that helps us know for sure? There is nothing conclusive, but most observations suggest that the stories we have been told are true in these cases – the Romans were the ones that moved the obelisks that are in Rome, including the Lateran obelisk which now weighs 323 short tons.

My only other thought is that WE DO NOT KNOW WITH CERTAINTY THE WEIGHT OF THE BIG OBELISKS IN ROME.  It is possible, that when the stones were in a fallen condition, they could have made them partially hollow to remove some weight.

Emperors wanted to look good and didn’t care how they achieved it. I can hear one of them saying, “For me to look good, it does not matter how heavy this object is; it only matters how heavy people think it is.”

Admittedly, so far I have found no evidence of such tampering – only cutting off the lower end.

We will only know if someone scans them with ground penetrating equipment.

Therefore, when it comes to moving heavy objects with human and animal power alone, objects of 50 metric tonnes – maybe, objects of 100 – 200 metric tonnes were moved with great difficulty, and 300 metric tonnes is probably the uppermost limit, and that after 350 years of pondering and trying.