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TheCloudFestival t1_ja054t6 wrote

What's not mentioned by the OP is that the split in the rock displays definite signs of being worked by hand as opposed to being a natural formation.

However, given that the rock is sandstone, such a feat would be fairly easy for even the most primitive civilisations. Take a chain or a stout rope, throw it over the top of the rock and then let it settle into a natural divot. Then simply work the chain or rope back and forth from either side like a crosscut saw, gradually working away at the rock. Pouring sand into the groove/notch as it's worked also vastly speeds up the process.

If the rock was discovered with the hollow underneath it between its two balancing points, as seems to be the case, then using a chain or rope to gradually work it in two could have even be done by a single person, throwing the chain/rope over the top, then pulling it back through the hollow, taking each end in each hand, and pulling the chain/rope back and forth.

It's a beautiful and intriguing monolith, but hardly mysterious.

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underthingy t1_ja0lc9d wrote

Looks more like a stereolith to me.

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OccludedFug OP t1_ja0mcyp wrote

"stereolith." I like that.

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Land_Strider t1_ja2mlsz wrote

wakes up, checks PDA:

Kill Stereolith

Chants: "Praise be upon you, o' Monolith!"

(S.T.A.L.K.E.R. reference)

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HardCounter t1_ja1j115 wrote

Since Stonehinge is made up of many monoliths, would that be a Lithomania?

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Sdog1981 t1_ja0fu6q wrote

The “worked on by hand” is a key pice of information here

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Samuel7899 t1_ja17muk wrote

If it were discovered with the hollow underneath, balancing on two points before being cut... It wouldn't necessarily have its mass distributed in such a way that it even could be cut to balance as two separate rocks. That's definitely unlikely, but not impossible. Edges of the sandstone could've been cut down to help this though.

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DroolingIguana t1_ja1icfr wrote

Maybe they were planning on quarrying those stones for some kind of construction project, but discovered that they didn't need them after they'd already started cutting.

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AmBawsDeepInYerMaw t1_ja1u34u wrote

Maybe they just wanted to fuck with us and troll us from thousands of years beyond the grave.

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dirtballmagnet t1_ja1jx22 wrote

You tie a long rope to one camel and toss it over to your guy who ties it to the other camel. The camels wander a little and fight each other for more line, cutting through the rock in a few days. Now others do it and the bottom gets hollowed out. Then, as the columns of support get dangerously narrow, they start packing them with more rocks or other things to keep it from cutting through, while still using it as an animal parking lot.

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Admetus t1_ja2nnkv wrote

I think on the last part there was a sharp intake of breath as to whether the left rock was balanced.

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nirad t1_ja1m8dm wrote

If the stone is so soft, wouldn’t it have eroded more over time?

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lagginglukas t1_ja3y7ex wrote

Hands? Or tools? It’s still very intriguing since rope is believed to be created sometime a bit less than 5,000 years a go. If it’s believed to be not nearly that old then it’s still very odd to know that someone tried to work with this size of blocks and for what purpose?

I haven’t seen limestone being cut by saws or chains, it if that’s an easier method wouldn’t it bear very visible line cuts on both facing surfaces?

In my opinion its certainly man made. Seeing many other megalithic structures throughout the world I can confidently say that we most likely have no idea how they cut and moves giant stones into place. This seems to be a similar case seeing how well the cut is made pulling a rope back and forth will not provide a straight cut

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rayu_manawari t1_ja1ceap wrote

If it is “fairly easy” for “even the most primitive civilizations” to make it, then for sure YOU can make one right now, right?

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DownInDownieville t1_ja1obp2 wrote

Yeah? If I had the rope tool, a chunk of sandstone, and the determination.

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JVDS t1_ja39phi wrote

They didn't have internet back then. Gotta pass the time somehow

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