How were large slabs of stones cut for use in constructing ancient forts, without using electric tools ?
In: 1
Hammer and chisel basically. They had specialized tools to split big rocks in a controlled way and then chiseled them into shape.
It was a huge amount of work done by hundreds of skilled specialists. Building a whole fortress was extremely expensive and took years to sometimes decades.
The knowledge of the masons was considered so valuable that they kept a lot of the details secret. Archaeologists now have to experimentally figure out how large scale construction projects worked back then.
Use iron/steel drill bits to drill a series of holes into the stone along the proposed cut line. Insert metal wedges into the drill holes and hammer them down evenly. This will crack and then pry the stone apart.
He made a mistake with the original cut line, as there was an unseen fault line in the stone. But he repeats the process (albeit saving some effort by using an electric drill) on a good part of the stone and makes a pretty clean cut using the iron wedges.
Though it varies by type, most stone has a pretty solid “grain”. By driving a wedge into a large stone at the right angle, you can create a fairly straight, flat split. Any rough or pointy edges can then be broken off using a hammer and chisel.
Hammer and chisel mostly very large stones are split by drilling down into them several times in a line, then hammer down into the bars until the rock splits.
Just to add: fire!
Some types of rocks can be splitter by heating one side differently from another. Just relax and wait.
You can split rocks with wooden wedges and water, insert a wooden wedge into a gap (natural or manmade) in the rock add water the wedge expands and opens the crack up splitting the rock.
Some of the existing examples of stone artifacts were milled more perfectly than we are able to do today. The size of some of the pieces used in ancient architecture alone would be impossible for modern man to accomplish. If you believe that the ancients used hammer and chisel to create these things you are an Idiot .
Pumapunku, here you can learn that we are less advanced than our ancestors in at minimum stone masonry.
Latest Answers