I don't think Wally is a wally

[AsleepInYorkshire]

How to move heavy weights [really heavy weights] with one man

Perhaps a clue as to how Stonehenge was built?

Poor quality video but amazing nonetheless

AiY(D)

[marronier]

It can't be proved but I imagine that with so much timber around , it wouldn't be much problem to use wood "rails" with poles lashed to the stones and liberal use of hot animal fat , then they could slide the stones with relative ease . They were mathematically proficient so they could apply brain to reduce reliance on brawn alone.

[bungeejumper]

Another account of this principle, this time by a Welshman (who, admittedly, doesn't seem to have actually tried lifting more than a third of a tonne ). The mechanics of this device are explored in detail - but as the first illustration shows, the secret is to have a ten foot giant supervising your team, and a minuscule wizard who can stand safely on the see-saw without needing to worry about getting killed if it goes wrong. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-57639510

I'd always understood that the art of getting your stone pillar upright into the ground was relatively simple - you just dug a deep hole and tipped one end of your stone over the edge, and pulled it over the fulcrum with a rope, and gravity did the rest? But I'm reminded of some older research into the mechanics of shifting stones for long distances. Using wooden sleds on rollers, they found that a team of 10 men could move a one tonne stone at 1 mph for extended periods. https://www.sciencealert.com/it-turns-o ... ment-finds . And that similar sled set-ups have been dated back to 2000 BC in Japan.

At university, I was once part of a nine-man team that lifted a half-tonne grand piano off a three foot stage, down onto the auditorium floor. It was doable, but it was at the very limit of what a human should sensibly attempt. (It's only around 55 kilos/120 pounds each, but the slow and careful descent down to ground level was the killer.) I'm built like a wrestler, but it had me bothered. And I have been haunted ever since by the thought of what would have happened if even one of us had lost his footing during the lift? Coulda killed some of us. Respect to those ancients!

BJ