[Sca-cooks] Circles

[Stefan li Rous]

> Yes, bigger.  Brodgar: Date to Ca. 2,700 BC; circle 370
> ft, across; rock cut ditch 30 ft wide, 10 ft deep, 80,000
> man hours to remove 12,000 tons of rock; ring of
> (originally) 60 standing stones (now only 29), most stones
> average 7 ft high, at 2 cardinal points: south 12.5 ft
> high nd west 15.25 ft high, area is over 90,000 sq ft.
Hmmm.

I'd like to see how they are coming up with these figures. I think 
these are seriously underestimated.

As Vincenzo mentions, these numbers are man hours, not calender hours. 
However, this breaks down to only slightly less than seven man hours 
for each ton of stone moved. Just moving this amount of stone without 
wheel barrows (a medieval invention) or other transport is going to 
take some time. If the rock has to be cut out of other rock then more 
time for that. Whether stone or metal tools, they still need to be 
maintained and sharpened.

I think these numbers are short even using modern hand tools but I am 
not a civil engineer.

If you have years or generations to do this you can use techniques that 
decrease the actual manpower needed, such as cracking the stone and 
letting water freeze in the crack to split it further apart. Such 
patience is something that modern society can not tolerate. However, I 
still think the man hour estimate given here is way under what is 
needed especially if that was really rock they were cutting away.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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