# The Ancients Were Good at Moving Rocks **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755 "2012-03-04T21:45:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/1 "2012-03-04T21:45:40Z")
As you may be aware, a 340-ton stone is slowly moving its way from a quarry in Riverside to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to become part of a new work known as Levitated Mass. (See [www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/levitated-mass](http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/levitated-mass) for more details.) It’s quite a huge apparatus they have to move this rock, so naturally, I assumed that this rock was one of the largest ever moved. After some clicking on the internet, I have determined that it doesn’t even crack the top ten. And the largest stone ever moved, the Thunder Stone, weighed more than 3 and a half times as much as Levitated Mass and was moved by human muscle alone. I’m know there are larger things that humans have moved around, but none of them are quite as much pure dead weight as are giant rocks. So, here’s to the people of the past. Damn, they could move some heavy shit. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/2 "2012-03-04T21:50:21Z")
Yeah, but they had all the time in the world to move them and didn’t have to worry about messing up rush hour traffic. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/3 "2012-03-04T22:42:11Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > Yeah, but they had all the time in the world to move them and didn’t have to worry about messing up rush hour traffic. 😃 Or minimm wage laws, Unions, or OSHA. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/4 "2012-03-05T18:24:16Z")
They had nothing else to move, so they might as well do move rocks well. Its not like they haz an internets to worry about ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/5 "2012-03-05T18:54:53Z")
Aliens. (Just kidding) ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/6 "2012-03-05T21:04:48Z")
Trained gorillas. . . ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/7 "2012-03-05T22:50:12Z")
I’m with garygnu. [Aliens.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SEgcOk2KwAI/Tz7bCCYNJyI/AAAAAAAAD64/_7B7mz8L3-g/s1600/ancient-aliens-it-was-aliens.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/8 "2012-03-06T00:18:36Z")
Tell us about the other giant rocks that have been moved! Now I’m curious ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/9 "2012-03-06T00:42:05Z")
you need to watch that amazing documentary about Ancient Man moving Rocks – **10,000 B.C.** You see, they got Wooly Mammoths to move them. They got the mammoths by sending raiding parties from Egypt (I think) to the frozen wastes of Whereveritisistan, which is across burning deserts and through swamps filled with giant flightless carnivorous birds. But it’s _really_ worth it, believe me. ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/10 "2012-03-06T04:36:25Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Or minimm wage laws, Unions, or OSHA. Are you suggesting that we could move bigger rocks today without OSHA? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/11 "2012-03-06T04:38:59Z")
Yeah, but the shipping & handling costs are outrageous. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/12 "2012-03-06T04:42:30Z")
sometimes Cyclopses moved rocks for them ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/13 "2012-03-06T04:46:52Z")
Bedrock wasn’t built in a day. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/14 "2012-03-06T05:48:08Z")
I think for the final installation, the museum should mount the boulder in one of [these](http://images.funagain.com/cover/huge/13640.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/15 "2012-03-06T05:48:51Z")
Curiously, it weighs about the same amount as the obelisk that Caligula moved from Alexandria and erected in Rome. This achievement was admired for 1600 years, when it was moved to the center of St. Peter’s square at the request of the Pope. This has been described as the greatest engineering feat of its time. It required 907 men, 75 horses, 40 cranes, and miles of rope to accomplish. [Here is a drawing](http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Exterior/Obelisk/Obelisk-erect-engrav-fsp.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/16 "2012-03-06T05:55:51Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Tell us about the other giant rocks that have been moved! Now I’m curious Sisyphus had some experience in this area. [sup]. . . and presumably is still having . . .[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/17 "2012-03-06T12:57:32Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > Curiously, it weighs about the same amount as the obelisk that Caligula moved from Alexandria and erected in Rome. This achievement was admired for 1600 years, when it was moved to the center of St. Peter’s square at the request of the Pope. This has been described as the greatest engineering feat of its time. It required 907 men, 75 horses, 40 cranes, and miles of rope to accomplish. > > [Here is a drawing](http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Exterior/Obelisk/Obelisk-erect-engrav-fsp.jpg) There’s a wonderful book about this feat, along with the 19th century tasks of moving the so-called “Cleopatra’s Needles” to London and New York, i n the book _Moving the Obelisks_ by Bern Dibner: [http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=4949](http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=4949) ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/18 "2012-03-06T13:17:16Z")
I’m sort of amused, for all the publicity around moving this rock, it could theoretically be carried by one [dump truck.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_797) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/19 "2012-03-06T13:57:53Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Tell us about the other giant rocks that have been moved! Now I’m curious Well, for one thing, we have been doing it for a very long time. [Gobekli Tepe](http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text), in Turkey, is the site of perhaps the worlds first religious temple, with monoliths weighing up to 16 tons. Not big by Thunder Stone standards, but when you consider Gobekli Tepe was built almost _12,000 years ago_ by neolithic hunter-gatherers with no metal tools, it is an astonishing feat. There is more time elapsed between Gobekli Tepe and the Great Pyramid than from the the Great Pyramid to today. I am amazed that the engineering necessary to cut, move and erect such monoliths existed shortly after the end of the last ice age. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ancients-were-good-at-moving-rocks/614755/20 "2012-03-06T18:26:43Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I’m sort of amused, for all the publicity around moving this rock, it could theoretically be carried by one [dump truck.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_797) Even by itself, a 797 is too heavy to be driven on a public road. It would destroy the road bed, and that’s before the rock was loaded on. From your link: > [@](#): > > If a 797 must be moved from one job site to another for any reason, it can not be driven on public roads due to its exceptional size and weight. Moving a 797 requires dis-assembly, loading on to semi-trailer trucks, transport and re-assembly at the new location. The rig being used is built to spread the weight of the rock across the road bed to prevent damage.