Why did ancient builders leave these strange knobs protruding from enormous stone blocks? You can find them at ancient sites across Egypt, Peru and beyond, sometimes on stones weighing many tonnes. The usual explanation is that they were lifting points, or simply unfinished remnants left during quarrying. But why... do they appear in different civilizations, separated by thousands of miles, and why are they sometimes positioned where they seem useless for lifting? What do you think these knobs were actually used for?show more

The biggest question is more of why the construction style was the same on all continents without internet and without mail

DRAINAGE POINTS for the GEOPOLYMERS!, it has been proven many times Anyone who says those are lifting points doesn't know anything about rigging and load forces

Evaporation holes from when the stones were poured like concrete.

they used ‘waterglass’ analogous to concrete except the mixes were sometimes too runny so they allowed expansion points, the protruding bits for the extra to run out leaving the better solution to form the bulk of the poured stone

I saw a video on youtube where somebody theorized that the knobs might form a meaningful pattern on the walls like the signature of the builders or some other messages, similar to braille writing.

@BrianRoemmele To clean off your shoes before you went in the house. 😏

Best answer is that they keep the face off the ground. Notice they are only over on the face side. Allows you to get a lever under it without damaging it too. Sometimes they dress them when finished, sometimes not. But then this thing isnt going anywhere is it?

✨toeholds ... 😐✨

they were used as points to support wooden structures off

Why ask teh question when we all know it's geopolymer, Natron Theory talks about the #nuboftheday

Different continents. Different eras. Same problem: How do you move, position and finish impossible amounts of stone? The knobs may have been lifting points. Quarrying remnants. Temporary handling features. But when the same forms appear again and again, the interesting question is not only what they were used for. It is whether ancient builders were repeatedly discovering the same engineering language. Stone imposes constraints. Intelligence answers in patterns. 🜂

And always at the bottom part of the block 🤔

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The logic of drainage point stands but does not explain the variety in shapes and position of these knobs. Some of them are on the bed rock and some are almost the size of the rock holding them. For me if their goals was a smooth finished face why did they keep them after 🤔

Scaffold supports

I think they had something to do with resonance of the stone.

They left them on so we would wonder what they were for

I agree with Marcel Foti, they were used as "drainage points for water to escape from the mixture for some mixes; not every artificial stone mix needs a nub, for example simple wood ash + waterglass doesn’t." ---->

Cast

@EDICIONESREGION Follow the grain does it interact or change around nubs, if so then there is no doubt the stone was in a fluid state when the nubs were formed This debate can be cleared up pretty easily

They are obviously scratch nubs. The passersby could rub up against them to alleviate those tough to reach itches.

Drainage vent from geopolymer molding.

Which ones look useless for lifting?

They were for plaster depth and support. All of these buildings were known to be plastered. It is one reason the Mayan civilization failed.

What if they left them for the giants to stub their toes lol. The slaves way of saying F you 🤣

I have seen these also in Greece

Transport? Absolutely worth investigating. Teleportation? I am listening, but somebody is going to need to show me the user manual. The interesting mistake here is assuming that similar-looking knobs across different civilizations necessarily had one identical purpose. They might have been used for quarrying, hauling, levering, positioning, scaffolding, finishing, or different things at different sites. And yes, the ones appearing in mechanically strange locations are genuinely interesting. But similar engineering problems can independently produce similar engineering solutions. Every civilization had access to the same stubborn technology: Gravity. So before we invent a lost global megalithic transportation network, let’s investigate each site individually. Although if archaeologists discover one knob labeled: PRESS FOR PERU I am immediately changing sides.

Calendrial purposes

All these posters that "know the Reason" You cant all be right, how about presenting it as an idea, not a fact.

Early prototypes.

You can find them on completed buildings even .

Risers from the rock casting process.

Feet, so they could slide something under

How sure are we they were different civilizations when clearly they have alot in common