Decoding the giant stones of Angkor
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Monday, November 5, 2012

Decoding the giant stones of Angkor

Posted by Unknown at 2:29 AM Labels: ,
Measuring method which the ancients used to transport huge sandstone blocks from a foot to build Angkor Wat is a mystery for several hundred years and is decoded.

Angcor wat Cambodia


In the 12th century, King Suryavarman II of the Khmer Empire ordered the construction of a massive temple on a land area of 500 hectares in the capital city of Angkor. King Suryavarman originally wanted to build the temple to worship the Hindu god Vishnu, but the king in the 14th century decided to turn it into a Buddhist temple.

Many archaeologists surprised to see about 5 to 10 million giant sandstone blocks with masses up to 1.5 tons each member in the temple. They said they came from the sandstone quarry at the foot of the mountain near the temple, but did not know the old transport them in any way. Previously some people guess the old stone transport water via a channel to bring them across the lake by boat, then they rowed upstream a river to bring them to the location of the temple. But if they are shipped according to the schedule, the rocks would have to pass about 85 miles to go to school.

Angkor Wat is made ​​up of many members of massive sandstone, with a volume of up to 1.5 tons.
Angkor Wat is made ​​up of many members of massive sandstone, with a volume of up to 1.5 tons.

To learn the secrets of the ancients, Estuo Uchida, a researcher at Waseda University in Japan, and his colleagues surveyed the area around the temple and found about 50 channels carry water from the mountains along a dyke. They also analyze the satellite images of the area and discovered hundreds path from the channel to the temple. The total length of the canal and the road to the temple about 35 km, much shorter than the distance of more than 85 km if the old stone carriage through the lakes and rivers, LiveScience reported.

"The system shows channel ancient building experts have created shortcuts to reduce the effort and time in the transport of sandstone from the foot of the mountain to the temple. Which is why they built the temple for a few decades, a relatively short period of time compared to the massive scale of the temple, "Uchida said.

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