Ancient methods: these 25-ton boulders can be moved by hand

How to build giant structures likeStonehenge or the head of Moai on Easter Island at a time when cranes and trucks did not exist? Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology firmly believe that the ancient engineers were masters of balance and leverage, so they conducted an experiment in which giant concrete structures weighing about 25 tons were made. The meaning of the idea is that these boulders can be moved by hand.

How to build the pyramids, Stonehenge and statues of Easter Island?

Matter Design in partnership with CEMEXdesigned a series of large-sized monolithic concrete structures that could be assembled as giant building blocks into a large, functional structure. Despite the fact that concrete blocks weigh many tons and have sufficient strength to survive hundreds of years, their unique forms make it relatively easy to move them even by the forces of one person.

There are several approaches to the design of such blocks. Massive stone blocks - ICD, if shorter - are made of concrete with different densities, which allows you to precisely control where the center of gravity of an object ends, adding stability and balance. And although each giant block looks like a random mite, it has strategically located bevels, rounded edges, turning points, handles, and blocking elements. The resulting structures are still too heavy for man to lift, but they can be rocked, rotated, tilted, pushed, driven and even rolled from one place to another with surprising ease and precision.

Therefore, the idea that the 82-ton statues of Moairocked and carried across Easter Island to their final location, quite a believable. But this experiment does not simply confirm this hypothesis. Given advances in 3D printing, especially on a large scale, this approach can be used to design and build permanent, durable structures in places where a truck or a tower crane will be impossible or too expensive to use. In places where flooding poses a threat or the water level is already rising, local people could easily build concrete walls. One day you could even build your new home, as if from a giant set of Lego concrete cubes.

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