SACSAYHUAMAN - How They Did It | Polygonal Masonry

In this one, Dr. Miano gets two questions about ancient polygonal masonry, and the inevitable questions about the great Inca fortress of Sacsayhuaman. How was it built? An interview with architect Vincent Lee sheds some light on the issues.

CONTENTS
00:00 Introduction
02:32 Ancient Greek polygonal masonry
05:31 Ancient Italian polygonal masonry
06:04 Intro to Sacsayhuaman
12:05 Vincent Lee on Inca stone quarrying
17:53 Vincent Lee on Inca stone transportation
24:35 Vincent Lee on stone placement at Sacsayhuaman
31:59 Vincent Lee's theory of stone placement at Sacsayhuaman
43:56 The worldwide polygonal masonry phenomenon

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► REFERENCES

On Inca quarrying and stonecutting:

On Sacsayhuaman:

More on polygonal masonry:

Professor Miano's handy guide for learning, "How to Know Stuff," is available here:

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[socialismfailsallday]

Pedro Cieza de León wrote and published Crónicas del Perú. In said book he explains that the Inca's told him, during the Spanish conquest, that they found ruins of a much older civilization and build their civilization on those ruins. You're a liar.

[BongoFerno]

This video is so great that you can't possibly had made it.
You found it in an archeological excavation, built by an ancient civilization, who had long time lost video technologies, out of our understanding.

[moerakibeachbumb]

the skills of those ancient tradesmen are humbling and impressive.

[MadnessMotorcycle]

You had me at Sacsayhuaman. I have just recently read Hiram Bingham's books on Peru and the Inca. Excellent questions by the way. Thanks for taking the time to discuss. This is a great channel.

[shaunmadden]

I love that I finally found this, the 'possible' answer to how they carved the stones to fit so perfectly. People have been amazing for 100, 000 years and we shouldn't just say it was aliens and dismiss there skills and efforts. The strength and smarts of 1000s of men should never be under estimated.

[garfieldisgod]

I firmly believe that polygonal masonry was builders in antiquity answer to earthquakes. Regular blocks
just got tossed around in an earthquake; but irregular shaped blocks, tightly fitted, had a better chance of
surviving tectonic movement. Big, heavy, multiple shapes tightly fitted, was their engineering guess at stability.
Look at how many remain when the colonnades and regular blocks are all strewn about ancient sites, but most
of the polygonal walls remain.

[rosetownstumpcity]

i found this channel fairly recently and I feel so lucky that I did. Such a great wealth of knowledge, interesting topics, and trustworthy research. Thank you for the effort that goes into these videos just for the benefit of the viewer

[nexpro]

@World Of Antiquity before I discovered your channel and other realist channels I had come to the conclusion that polygonal masonry is how you get the strongest and biggest wall for the least amount of work. Our ancestors were just as smart as us.
Drag all the largest stones you can find to the site or an area near the quarry. Spend some time arranging them on the ground (imagine the wall laid flat on the ground) until an arrangement with the minimum amount of gaps is found. Proceed from there.
I really appreciate your presentations. There are all too many self-appointed experts claiming advanced technologies and civilizations. Keep up the good work.

[oldschool]

I thought that perhaps these stones already were a perfect fit before they arrived at the site. Imagine a quarry where the cutters follow some natural fractures in the face of the rock and chisel fracture lines along those natural lines, then they begin the quarrying from above to shear off a section of the rock face. As the rock face falls, the stones break along the chiseled fracture lines and you end up with a bunch of stones that fit back together like puzzle pieces. Once moved to the site you only need to fit the blocks that meet up with the prior course and the rest just stack back in place the way they broke off the quarry wall. Once stacked up your finishers come along and clean up the face to a uniform style.

[larrys]

I love history. Your channel has become my go to place for the truth. It’s refreshing to find a historian that sticks to the real historical facts. The term “advanced technology” is relative to the period of time being referenced as well as the context in which the term “advanced technology” is being used. At one time in history the bow and arrow would have been classified as “advanced technology”.

[megatondiplomat]

As a former stoneworker who later went into engineering, I can think of one way that they might have done it that would have been relatively quick and easy. When I put in a slab of stone to walk on or to make a wall look nice, there are some occasions where I can avoid using the tape measure and still achieve a very tight and precise fit. One of those methods I can use is scribing.
Now Scribing isn't going to work here, not without lifting an enormous stone, over and over, but I still want to transfer those exact curves and dimensions to my next piece. So I can probably take either paper or a strong, flat leaf, even cheap cloth. I have my friends place it up to my piece I need to match on the left, my bottom interface, and my right interface and they hold it flat. I may even use a clamping frame to make sure it stays flat enough. I can then use a sharp knife to cut along the edges that I have to meet. Now I can take my perfectly sized cut-out and trace around it onto my new stone. If I did everything right, we lift the new piece right up and slide it in, and the Inca King doesn't let the Jaguar Knight capture me and sacrifice me to the rain-god. All is well in my world until the Spanish come.

[bogieviews]

Having been to Peru several times, and once on the east side of the Andes, what really impressed me was that there are stone walls and stone terracing all over the place. There must have been masonry teaching for hundreds of years. Stone shaping schools, maybe.

[andreaarchaeology]

I love that you're covering this topic! Another great video.

[fecalmatter]

I'm fascinated by this I'm a builder/chippy and have worked sandstone I believe this is the hardest and surprisingly most stable possible way to build a wall. The fact that these blocks can weigh over a hundred tonnes makes this infinitely more difficult. I'm not a stone mason by any means but have built sandstone walls (softstone). Used diamond steel power saws to cut and it wasn't a walk in the park. Of course I used mortar I'm just in awe of these ancient master stone masons it's like they were showing off an engineering feat.

[jimgrant]

I've tried finding information on how these stone structures were made, and usually run into wild theories involving lasers or ESP. It's refreshing to see actual SCIENCE on YouTube. Thanks a lot!

[oscresson]

Vincent Lee shows us how he thought through these problems, it didn't all come to him at once. Thanks for introducing us to this remarkable person. One detail about his comment, "I found Inca plumb bobs, they have them all over the place" (36:30). Those could also be weaving weights that hold down warp threads in a vertical loom. The Incas were great weavers.

[AwesomeJerkface]

Finally all of my questions are being answered. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this information with those of us unable to pursue these subjects in an academic setting.

[bobman]

Rock solid vid Professor also big thanks to Vincent Lee, so privileged to hear him speak. PS: Has anyone noticed the world famous handbag on the Wizard/foreman's arm in the pulling the rock drawing 18.28?

[podemosurss]

Hi. I remember visiting an archeological site in which there was a bridge made using a similar method to that you describe: the blocks were designed in a way such that they supported each other, without need for concrete. Greetings from Granada, Spain, a province where you can find a lot of Neolithic and Ancient archeologic sites.

[ritaandcharlescorley]

I can see a lot of work went into this answer and by interviewing this expert you are in essence creating a historical document. This so important work you are doing and highly impressive. Your work and channel are both informative and vital to bringing this knowledge into a more accessible format that works strongly against the tide of misinformation. Thank you so much