Stonehenge technology: Moving a 10 ton block of stone with manpower

Impressive, but I believe Stonehenge was build using a Goliath or 2

 

It's impressive what one person can achieve. The principle of jacking up the middle of the see saw can also be applied to jacking up the ground (logs/boards/dirt/whatever) under the ends, effectively raising it.


Click to view full size!

 

The way he did that was pure brilliance. I have no idea how he managed to come up with something so simple and yet so effective. My brain just doesn't work like that.

 

It's funny because it's difficult to comprehend how easy it is. I think it's genuine ease is confounded by the complexities of the present. Still crazy stuff.

 

exactly. Elegant solutions are seldom used anymore because brute force is available.

 

that video was amazing!

that is one switched on dude!

 

I think he is onto something. That block was almost 10 ton, and he managed to erect it completely by himself. Ok, so he got someone to water the sand for him, but he did every bit of the manual labour himself.

 

But we have created that brute force through elegant solutions. Hydralics and gearing that we use to create our modern bute force have similar elagancy. Look at a basic car jack for example.

What this guy has done is nothing spectacular or new. Home handy men have used such techniques for centuries but with more useful goals.

 

That is, in fact, exactly his point.

 

It's fascinatingly simple but not very efficient
That's why we now have cranes and bulldozers

 

Can someone answer the above two questions please? I'm still confused

 

He probably stoned it where he wanted it, then started his jacking process with tiny increments to start with.

As for the second question, no idea.

 

I'm not sure if this is what you're getting at n000b, but how on earth did he move the 19,000 pound block off the ground at all to begin jacking it up?

Obviously you need to start completely flat and somehow get the first plank into the middle; how did he lift the block to do this?

 

Did you watch the video?

All you need to do is dig a very small hole in the ground at one end.

Lever that end up and you are on your way.

The moral of the entire story is, a little bit of brains goes a long long way!

 

Lever 19,000 pounds? Do you mean slightly 'bury' into the ground one end of the whole block as to 'lever up' (comparatively) one end, then go from there?

 

im in london, and was considering going to the stone henge. but discovered you cant get close and its not really that great...
and you dont need to actually be there to marvel at the feats of human effort

 

Never mind. It's all a hoax.

 

Go man. I think it is worth it. esp go on summer or winter equinox. Very very kool


Awesome video. Thinking towards the future how much basic knowledge do you think we will lose as we separate ourselves from reality with technology. That video made me think of walle (the pixar movie) where they don't even know where apples come from. I wonder if in 1000 yrs ppl will be thinking about how did they "grow" food? Food for thought lol.