I have often thought on the construction of ancient monuments. The question often asked is how did they move the blocks of stone. We get lost in that. Looking at human nature, we like to make our lives easy. We put up with toil for short periods and in the process we see things that could be done differently.
Today I asked Why. Not why did they build the monuments, but why did they choose to move huge blocks. Around the world rocks break down to a convenient size for building, there are even examples of natural dykes where the rock has crystallized resembling dry stone walls. It forms quite sturdy piles. Over the centuries we even learnt to make our own rocks in a uniform manner for convenience in all aspects of the process.
The Romans perfected it, when they turned rocks to dust and moved them, reconstituting the powder with water. When looking at the Pantheon they turned concrete into an art we are just getting hold of.
Why was it easier to move huge rocks than to slice them up a bit more. It will have been asked before no doubt but sometimes how we see old problems from a new angle is a reflection of how we see life.
