Graham Hancock on archaeology: what the evidence says · JRE #872
SUBJECT: ARCHAEOLOGY
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
It's the single largest block of stone ever cut and quarried in the ancient world.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Smithsonian Magazine reported that in the summer of 2014, archaeologists from the German Archaeological Institute excavating the Baalbek quarry in Lebanon uncovered a limestone block measuring roughly 64 by 19.6 by 18 feet and weighing an estimated 1,650 tons, which the Institute described as 'the biggest boulder known from antiquity,' i.e. the largest ancient quarried stone block yet documented. This supports the core of the guest's claim that the block is the largest ever cut and quarried in the ancient world. The guest's cited weight of 1,460 tons runs somewhat below the approximately 1,650-ton figure most commonly reported for this block, so the claim is directionally accurate but imprecise on tonnage.