SLAB THEORY - How Megalithic Blocks might've been Fitted
Here's my theory in short:
Tightly fitting megalithic blocks (like those seen at Sacsayhuamán) might not have been individually shaped from scratch, which is what the current leading hypothesis is. (Introduced by the late Jean-Pierre Protzen.) Instead, I believe that they may have been quarried sequentially from a source slab, and then reassembled vertically into a wall.
Think of it like this...if you drop a ceramic mug on a tile floor, the mug will shatter into many organically shaped pieces. You can collect those pieces and reassemble the mug perfectly. All the pieces will naturally lock into place. This concept, is the basis of my idea.
Yesterday, I tested this theory (albiet at a significantly smaller scale) to verify feasibility and to compare the completed characteristics with the walls of Sacsayhuamán. The photos included with this post are evidence of what I accomplished in my garage in ~5 minutes using ONLY river cobbles. I was not expecting the results to be so quickly achieved but, there it is.
How did I do it?
- Tiny cobble stones were forced into (x's 3) locations across the face of the intact block (block is ~11” in height, by ~ 6” in width, and by ~4” in depth) via repeated blows with a larger river cobble; serving as a rudementary hammer and wedge to force propagation along an already natural fracture.
- Once the block was split, the large river cobble was used to chip away a crude bevel along the edges of the split. This was achieved through varied pressure and direction of strikes. After a general bevel was achieved, the river cobble was rubbed along the bevel several times to “smooth over" the rougher surface into a more refined one.
- All in all, from solid block to what you see in the photos, this was achieved in roughly five minutes. Very minimal work. You can test it yourself at home, you just need to make sure that the block is a softer stone than the river cobbles. Which, shouldnt be difficult because river cobbles are naturally consolidated/hardened through iterative tumbling and removal of sedimentary deposits.
- An intersting/unexpected finding: the tiny cobbles that were hammered into the block left "impressions" along the bottom edge of the upper block. These impressions look strikingly similar to the interval impressions that can be observed on the lower edges of blocks at Sacsayhuamán.
- *Note: I plan to create another seam today, this one will be vertical and therefore perpendicular to the existing seam. I plan to record it instead of just photograph the results. If you're interested, I plan to release those results on my Substack...which is hyperlinked below.
If you're interested in a more comprehensive explanation, I've already written this theory out in depth and included specific ways to falsify the theory. I've also submitted this to several applicable researchers for feedback (Dr. Vranich, Dr. Berquist & Dr. Ogburn) but, given that they're actively in the field, and that I am a construction Project Manager and not an academic, I'm likely not to recieve any response.
As you will see within my linked Article, both the existing field evidence and the current leading hypothesis support my theory rather than dismiss it. (i.e. observed block characteristics align with my theory and Protzen's iterative stone hammering technique is implemented in my own stone refinement process.) For those unfamiliar with Jean-Pierre Protzen, his consolidated theory can be found here. Great piece of writing and mapping!
I think I might be on to something here but, what are you thoughts? Also, if any of you know how to get this in front of those who matter, please feel free to reach out directly or share as desired. Just please credit me where possible as I've invested quite a lot of effort to compile this.