Posted on 02/24/2015 2:16:11 AM PST by SunkenCiv
A team of archaeologists at a 2,000-year-old limestone quarry in Lebanon’s Bekka Valley recently excavated around a megalith weighing approximately 1,000 tons and dubbed Hajjar al-Hibla, or “stone of the pregnant woman.” It was intended for the Temple of Jupiter, which sits on three limestone blocks of similar size at the nearby site of Baalbek. To the team’s shock, they unearthed yet another block, this one weighing an estimated 1,650 tons, making it the largest known megalith. The German Archaeological Institute’s Margarete van Esse says excavation was suspended when the trench became dangerously deep. “Hopefully in a following campaign we can dig down to the bottom of the block,” she adds. The team wants to find clues there that will show how the megaliths were transported.
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
That’s pretty interesting. If this was the way they moved them, would anyone have thought to look for the buried wood frame anchors along a probable path? Would the builders taken time to dig them up later? Finally, were block and tackle rigging in use then? Regardless, seems a pretty novel way to move large behemoths.
It’s much easier to move something on rollers than sliding it across earth, good idea you have there of looking for the traces of the machinery — the “why do it” mystery remains, regardless.
“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?”
They shipped it UPS, but the oversize package charge was unbelievable.
:’)
Once again, it seems that the middle east is trying to throw the stink on places farther north, and older.
Go figure.
I learned of this when I was about 11 or 12 from Richard Haliburton’s Book of Marvels published in roughly 1936
I learned of this when I was about 11 or 12 from Richard Haliburton’s Book of Marvels published in roughly 1936
I learned of this when I was about 11 or 12 from Richard Haliburton’s Book of Marvels published in roughly 1936
I learned of this when I was about 11 or 12 from Richard Haliburton’s Book of Marvels published in roughly 1936
A YouTube view of LA’s 340 ton magalith being moved from the quarry to it’s new home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se4QlVExLnk
There are lots of other great videos out there about this.
This is news? Baalbek has been known to have extremely large monolith stones for years! Even Richard Halliburton mentioned them in his Book of Marvels back in the 1930s.
Durn your hide! Beat me to it!
This is a new, even larger stone than the ones known previously. So, no, it wasn’t in a book from 1936.
I’m going to have to look it up but I believe Richard Halliburton made note of the other megalith that was not free.
My mom gave me the book bran new for my 40th birthday. I read over and over as a kid
a megalith weighing approximately 1,000 tons and dubbed Hajjar al-Hibla, or "stone of the pregnant woman." ...To the team’s shock, they unearthed yet another block, this one weighing an estimated 1,650 tons...
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