• Warl0k3@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      Cyclopean walls (haphazard stacks of boulders) are what most Europeans think of as “stone walls” so ones that aren’t just loose piles of rocks are pretty impressive by that standard.

      The coolest part is really that they’re so complexly fitted without mortar - which allows for stone constructions to survive in an earthquake prone region. The stones can slip past each other without losing their place relative to each other when jostled, which is why Incan stoneworks like this are still standing when all the stuff the murdering bastards Spaniards built have long since collapsed.

    • Quilotoa@lemmy.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 day ago

      Have you seen a rock that weighed over 100 tons sit on another rock and not have space for a piece of paper along its full length?

      • Scubus@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        19 hours ago

        As long as both rocks are relatively flat on the connected faces, in most cases no. A piece of paper is, what, 8 inches wide on its second shortest axis? For two “relatively” flat pieces of rock, your going to have multiple places where a small segment juts out. Those are the segments that will support all the weight of the rock, and a heavier rock will have more/thicker supporting segments. Both of those factors combined, especially on rocks as heavy as these, would lead me to expect not being able to stick a fairly large piece of paper between them. Something much thinner, like a sticky note, would be significanly easier to fit through those gaps. But a standard piece of notebook paper would not be able to fit through the gaps on my window hinges, and they are by no means sealed.