Murray,
Once again for taking us to marvelous places and sparing our limbs the aches and strains by once more, so generously sharing your rich well-crafted photographs.
Here, let me draw attention the impressive rock tombs you have introduced us to!
One might wonder how copper-age settled farmers could possibly move 7 ton slabs of sandstone. So I studied that matter. Briefly hereโs how they did it!
Sandstone, however massive it seems, is not chiseled off the rock formation. Inatead, wooden wedges were forced into cracks and gaps in the rock face, soaked with water so the wood swells or else, the rocks were heated with fires, then quenches rapidly with water, splitting away a giant slab.
Now the massive slab was ready for moving to a site with ropes of rawhide!A team of 7-10 men could drag slabs over crushed stone, over logs or fat at about 1mph.
Typical sequence:
- Dig a trench for the chamber.
- Tilt one massive slab into the trench as a wall.
- Fill behind it with soil for support.
- Repeat for the opposite wall.
- Slide the roof slab up an earthen ramp.
- Remove the temporary earth or leave it as a burial mound.
The key idea:
The earth itself functioned as scaffolding and cranes.