It is clear that various ancient peoples also moved large rock objects wholesale. Egyptians and Ethiopians cut, lifted out, and transported 500-ton obelisks. If you can move the obelisks, 70-ton granite blocks for the king's chamber, or the 100-ton empty boxes in Saqqara, are smaller projects.
Whoever placed the 1000-ton trilithon blocks (before the Romans built temples on top) cut and moved them whole. The Baalbek temple entablature are, to my knowledge, the only example in the whole Roman Empire of handling rocks of more than 300 tons. Even when Rome looted Egyptian obelisks, they had to bust off the bottom third and leave it behind. So, I guess they had local help for Baalbek.
The pre-dynastic Egyptians were cutting rock as hard as corundum (ruby/sapphire aggregate) like butter to make dishware, tens of thousands of which ended up in graves. The method was apparently lost before the pharaohs. It's not hard to understand technology being lost; but how it came to be invented first is a mystery. And, what exactly it was they invented, because we don't know. Archaeologists seem to lack any interest in finding out.
Whoever placed the 1000-ton trilithon blocks (before the Romans built temples on top) cut and moved them whole. The Baalbek temple entablature are, to my knowledge, the only example in the whole Roman Empire of handling rocks of more than 300 tons. Even when Rome looted Egyptian obelisks, they had to bust off the bottom third and leave it behind. So, I guess they had local help for Baalbek.
The pre-dynastic Egyptians were cutting rock as hard as corundum (ruby/sapphire aggregate) like butter to make dishware, tens of thousands of which ended up in graves. The method was apparently lost before the pharaohs. It's not hard to understand technology being lost; but how it came to be invented first is a mystery. And, what exactly it was they invented, because we don't know. Archaeologists seem to lack any interest in finding out.