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This video discussed and shows the use of vinegar and acids to dissolve stone, and questions the possibility if this technique was used by ancient cultures to help fit and finish their cyclopean polygonal stone walls.
Inca masonry is highly regarded as some of the most advanced stone work on the planet, especially as it was done by an ancient culture who we’re generally taught only had access to primitive tools and building methods, it’s no wonder why even the top researchers and scientists around the world are still scratching their heads about how these stones were cut and fit together so perfectly and uniquely. The stone work is truly mesmerising to look at, every block being individually shaped and cut to fit the ones surrounding it, it’s like an elegantly perfect megalithic jigsaw puzzle. The material used for the blocks ranges from limestone in mainly foundation constructions, to granite and andesite which would usually be used for the more prominent constructions or widely visible walls. Some of the most notable places featuring this architecture include Machu Picchu, Sacsayhuaman, Cusco, and Ollantaytambo in Peru.
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Paper by Helmut Trebutsch – https://www.academia.edu/37497925/On_the_reddish_glittery_mud_the_Inca_used_for_perfecting_their_stone_masonry
There’s 1 piece of evidence I’ve found that this architecture could have been constructed around 1,200-800bc as there is radiocarbon dating to around that time found in Machu Picchu in this paper, but any items carbon dated from the actual levels of the constructions still all date to the Incan time period – https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291381517_Radiocarbon_dating_Machu_Picchu_Peru
Jean-Pierre Protzen Paper – https://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/anthpubs/ucb/text/nap021-006.pdf
World Of Antiquity Video with Vincent Lee Interview – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5AplOCegMA
#PolygonalWalls #IncaWalls #PeruvianWalls
11 Comments
Is this how the Inca fit and finish their polygonal stone walls? They had the means, but did they have the idea and use it? I look forward to conducting and actual experiment to see how feasible this was! Share this video so we can get a discussion going!
I've been fascinated by the Egyptian and Peruvian stonework as well. Vinegar has been used for millenia to dissolve limestone by thieves carving passageways into pyramids, so limestone doesn't appear to be extraordinarily hard to cut or shape. However, iIt would seem the ancients must have had some way to cut/finish hard granite, andesite or basalt. It doesn't seem practical that they would spend weeks patiently pounding each block in large wall, there must have been an easier process. As theorized in the Trebutsch paper, I think they happened upon a combination of acids that softened the stone, making it easier to shape and also allowing for the production of a mortar made out of the same stone ground up, allowing the blocks to mold into each other. I'm going to test a combination of sulfuric and oxalic on andesite, using different concentrations and combinations, and heat to see what effect it would have.
0:51 no, because that would be asinine.
Occam's razor says the most simple answer is probably the most likely.
We know for a fact that geopolymer technology was used and we can replicate ancient blocks using geopolymer technology
The geopolymer institute even made some stones using the same stuff they would have had available at Giza and they made pyramid stones that look exactly like the Great pyramid
They even made small statues from the granite Aunt sent them in to be authenticated as ancient Egyptian carvings and they were. They were authenticated to being from ancient Egypt. Because they used the same granite
Then the geopolymer institute sent a video to the authenticators of them making the statues at their office
What makes more sense, carrying debris and pouring it into a form and ramming it in place and then removing it and therefore the blocks are all made in place whatever shape. The block under it was is the shape. The block on top of it now has. And then it hardens in place
How is this concept hard? You've watched concrete your entire life. It's similar but different
And yes, the ancients had better technology than we did in a lot of ways. Only in the last decade have we figured out? Roman concrete but the Romans were using it thousands of years ago
How is it that hard to believe that the ancients who were far older than the Romans had geopolymer technology and it got lost through the ages
We know how the Egyptian ones were done, as regular stone pounding tools could do this in both Egypt and Peru for the larger stones with very find joints, but there are a lot of them in Peru that are on another level compared to Egypt where it seems there might be another method. Many of them are likely by skilled artisans, but the general form and lips that lock in with the Inca stuff just looks so different. They could be done with regular tools but it would be such a mind boggling task that there just seems to be another method behind it.
The shiny surfaces of some Inca stones also begs the idea that there's more going on. Even if you used stone hammers which can get the intricate edges, even common polishing techniques don't result in the way a lot of the surfaces appear.
I don't think it's the acid in these clips, though, because that wouldn't be as precise and fine as the stuff we see in some of the Inca work. It doesn't seem possible to utilize this acid method to get the results in their stones. Nothing in the acid videos results in anything like we see in Inca structures
Sorry to butt in ..it is simply water under high pressure. All stone newly quarried is "green" even the hardest if stone can easily be hewned.
https://youtu.be/KMAtkjy_YK4?si=XnPMVGEpuHTn5dEx
Whilst taking his army over the alps, Hannibal's path was blocked by a large rock fall which prevented them from proceeding. To clear the rocks, Hannibal used vinegar and fire to make the boulders friable and able to be cleared
OK, years ago I was reading "Exploration Fawcett", an account of Major P.H. Fawcett's explorations in S.America, written/ compiled by his son Brian Fawcett.
Somewhere in there (if my memory serves me well — but it's possible that I haven't remembered the source correctly) is the theory that it was possible to use some sort of sap or resin from a plant, which softened the surface of the stones that the Incas worked with. Fawcett Snr. claimed that birds had been seen using material from the plant to soften the surface of rock, so that they could then burrow into the rock for nesting purposes.
Has followed up on this possibility?
I live in Peru at the moment. After it was pointed out on another YouTube video, I can confirm that there does indeed seem to be some sort of discolouration (chemical?) around the joints of many of the stones in Inca masonry. To me, this suggests that more was involved than just the use of physical tools like hammers and chisels.
Muriatic acid probably give better results
How practical is it to pump a crocodiles stomach?
Stomach acid is essentially hydrochloric acid and crocodiles are known to have some of the strongest. With upping the concentration to truly aggressive levels being just basic alchemy.