A retired construction worker in Flint, MI demonstrated how people in ancient times could’ve used simple machines to move blocks up to 20 tons, contrasting fringe theories that humans had otherworldly help constructing ancient monuments

[u/ThatMasterpiece2174]

[u/Shameonyourhouse]

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world"

[u/Earlier-Today → u/Shameonyourhouse]

Archimedes was definitely an interesting dude.

[u/shitokletsstartfresh → u/Earlier-Today]

Had an unconventional death as well.

[u/GooginTheBirdsFan → u/shitokletsstartfresh]

More people died at the hands of the Romans than you think for that time period if that’s unconventional

[u/Brutalur → u/shitokletsstartfresh]

Archimedes: "Do not disturb my circles!"

Roman: "Earth is flat, fool!"

Stab!

[u/CastorVT → u/Brutalur]

bro the romans knew the diameter of the earth to within a couple miles at that point.

[u/Xaendro → u/Brutalur]

Romans used a sphere to represent the world

[u/ODB_Dirt_Dog_ItsFTC → u/[deleted]]

“Leave me to my circles Roman”

[u/iHadou → u/Earlier-Today]

Was that like a sexual innuendo?

[u/sexual__velociraptor → u/iHadou]

Bend over and ill show you

[u/Adventurous-Sky9359 → u/sexual__velociraptor]

They gonna put something in ya butt!

[u/sexual__velociraptor → u/Adventurous-Sky9359]

sexual raptor noises

[u/iHadou → u/sexual__velociraptor]

Oh my god. Why is your fulcrum out?

[u/KarverMcClain → u/sexual__velociraptor]

You for a lot of nerve talking to us like that, Griswold

[u/Obajan → u/Shameonyourhouse]

No one ever asked if the lever is indestructible.

[u/WhoIsTheDrizzl → u/Obajan]

The lever must not be harmed

[u/FirstFagOnTheLeft → u/WhoIsTheDrizzl]

You might even say it's imperitave in nature that it remain unharmed

[u/Kitchen_Region8456 → u/FirstFagOnTheLeft]

Citing the ancient texts always deserves an upvote

[u/Disastrous_Set_6544 → u/Shameonyourhouse]

Sounds like somthing that would be said in an omninous voice when you invent the Catapult in Civilization VI.

[u/capeasypants → u/Shameonyourhouse]

I wonder if anyone's done the math on that. how long would the lever need to be to move the earth?

[u/tea2please → u/capeasypants]

At least 3

[u/capeasypants → u/tea2please]

You reckon more than 7 maybe?

[u/tommos → u/capeasypants]

Woooow slow down there fella.

[u/HarveysBackupAccount → u/capeasypants]

If you dive into the physics, the math gets wonky because... well, how much does the earth weigh? We know its mass (kilograms) but if we're particular about definitions then that's not the same as its weight, which is mass times gravity.

Say you have a 3 kg block. If you put it on scales they will say "3 kg" but it doesn't measure the mass. It measures the force of gravity on the mass. Well gravity is an acceleration and we know that F = ma so F = 3 kg * 9.81 m/s^2 = 29.43 N (Newtons is the SI unit for force).

But we can invent the units "kg-force." If there are 9.81 N per 1 kg-force, then force the scale measures is 3 kg-force and it prints a nice round number that looks normal. (In a very small number of places you will see "kgf" - or "lbf" for those of us stateside - but mostly we leave the "f" as implied.)

Now back to levers: When you use a lever, it's to push against some force. It could be a friction force e.g. to use the claw on a hammer to pull a nail out of wood ...or it could be to fight gravity. Gravity is two masses pulling together so if we move the earth with a lever, are we levering it against... some other planet's gravity? Is the planet the same size? Something else entirely?

If there's no gravity - it's floating in space - then we could still move it with a lever, but that's a question of inertia. Any non-zero force will start it moving (F = ma which also means a = F/m), but if the earth's mass is 5.97*10²⁴ kg and I can apply, say, 1000 N of force (which is A LOT, for me) then the acceleration is only 1.68*10^-22 m/s^2. It would take 190 TRILLION years to accelerate it to only 1 m/s - over 14,000 times the age of the universe. To move it only 1 mm, it would take almost 380 Billion years. (I might be off by a factor of 2 in there somewhere, but order of magnitude should be about right)

All that said, when people claim to calculate it, you pretend that "moving the earth" means "creating a force of what the earth's mass would weigh in an earth-strength gravity field" i.e. 5.97*10²⁴ kg-force.

What we really calculate is the ratio of my distance from the fulcrum compared to the earth's distance from the fulcrum. Let's keep pretending I can apply 1,000 N (it's a stretch). That means I need to be 5.97*10²¹ times farther from the fulcrum than the earth is. If the earth is somehow 1 mm from the fulcrum, then I have to be 5.97*10¹⁵ km away, which is about 630 light years. That's roughly half the thickness of the Milky Way, in the flat part of the galaxy's disk shape.

TL;DR yes we can calculate something - if we define all the terms of the calculation - and the answer is: real long

[u/WeeTooLo → u/capeasypants]

Yes, many high school teachers have done the math, ours included, with different variables.

[u/No-Marionberry-772]

how ironic would it be if stone henge was just some guy who was like "seriously guys, we can just move big rocks around, check it out"

[u/TheBeckofKevin → u/No-Marionberry-772]

A bunch of people standing around "i thought he was crazy at first".

Another person scratching down some pictures of the event on a stone tablet.

[u/fractal_magnets → u/TheBeckofKevin]

Another guy wondering where this flat concrete surface and garden hose came from

[u/obviousdiction → u/fractal_magnets]

Aliens

[u/Yekouri → u/fractal_magnets]

I mean, hardening a flat surface with some buckets of water. And throwing buckets of water.

Not really revolutionary

[u/Earlier-Today → u/No-Marionberry-772]

A proof of concept for a building company.

"Course we can build that castle for ya. Look over there at what Larry built all by himself!"

[u/Self_Reddicate → u/Earlier-Today]

It turns out, managers and bosses in the ancient world really were no different than today.

Worker: "Check it out, Chief! I can move a really big block all by myself! Pretty cool, huh?"

Chief: "Okay, neat. 1 worker x 2 blocks = 2 block-hrs so 20 workers x 100 blocks = 2000 block-hrs....

Worker: "Hmmm... that's not the point I was trying to make. I don't think it will scale quite so easi..."

Chief: "Quiet, peasant. I want a pyramid and I want it by October. Get on it, stat!!!"

[u/John_B_Clarke → u/No-Marionberry-772]

Some guy moving rocks around and then some other guy says "hey, it's cool that we can only see the sunrise through the slit between those two twice a year", and then some other guy says, "Hey, let's move 'em around so that happens where the sun was on that year we had the really good harvest".

[u/sidepart → u/No-Marionberry-772]

I mean, when you know nothing of pulleys, wheels, and those kinds of concepts, or when they're simply not available to you, perhaps you've at least figured out how to move your heavy shit around by waddling it back and forth.

[u/bonwerk → u/No-Marionberry-772]

Just like trying to assign supernatural elements to sculptures because, for example, they depict a man with a snake's head, so the "ancestors must have wanted to warn against demons/aliens/lizardmen" etc., and the reason was simpler: the sculptor thought that a man with a snake's head looks fucking cool.

[u/Rhiis → u/No-Marionberry-772]

This is actually a hilarious comment. I woke up with "Stonehenge" by Ylvis stuck in my head. A lyric of which is "just a couple stone-age dudes who said 'Hey! Let's build a henge or two'"

[u/Dyslexai1]

Brains like that with resources at their disposal change the world.

[u/deezdanglin → u/Dyslexai1]

One insanely massive obelisk at a time. Gods speed you mad Man!

[u/BBR0DR1GUEZ → u/deezdanglin]

No kidding. Imhotep the pyramid architect was one of the first non-royals ever to have their name recorded by history. This monumental form of autism can shape the very nature of our species.

[u/ShadowTsukino → u/BBR0DR1GUEZ]

monumental form of autism

Insert suspicious-fry.gif here

[u/Emotional_News108 → u/Dyslexai1]

That’s the thing…people today aren’t smarter than they were in prehistory. Just less knowledgeable. The ability to think critically and solve problems hasn’t fundamentally gotten better. If we can do it now, there’s a good chance they could envision doing it then and likely figure out how. And obviously they did.

[u/solojones1138 → u/Dyslexai1]

They were made of time. There weren't even books yet. People who discount ancient folks tend to forget these facts.

[u/RussMan104 → u/Dyslexai1]

When this type of tech was state of the art, every smart guy out there was always thinking in these terms. Those guys weren’t playing. Give me a lever long enough and I’ll move the world. 🚀

[u/SubstantialBug9133]

This dude is a total Chad

[u/ThatMasterpiece2174 → u/SubstantialBug9133]

Moved his friends barn a few hundred feet just because he could

[u/HoldEm__FoldEm → u/ThatMasterpiece2174]

Hey! Put it back!

[u/NegaDoug → u/HoldEm__FoldEm]

drunkenly " Hey... Where's my barn? I swear it used to be over there."

[u/RussMan104 → u/NegaDoug]

Park it in the middle of the road, so when some traffic builds up you can open the front door and tell everyone to “get the f’k outta my driveway.” 🚀

[u/Sad-Peanut2413 → u/HoldEm__FoldEm]

Put that thing back where it came from or so help me

[u/reddit-poweruser → u/ThatMasterpiece2174]

Then he moved it back. Turns out the guy who built it knew exactly what he was doing.

[u/ostracize → u/ThatMasterpiece2174]

He was so preoccupied with whether or not he could, he never stopped to think whether or not he should. 

[u/anon9339 → u/SubstantialBug9133]

Based Wally Wallington.

[u/sligowind → u/anon9339]

I vaguely remember buying a DVD from him.

In the pre-internet era, or early internet era but pre YouTube, he sold DVD’s demonstrating his methods.

Absolute Legend.

[u/Impressive-Tailor867 → u/sligowind]

Peak pre-YouTube era. Dude really had the receipts before the internet could archive everything.

[u/Greenfieldfox]

When did the Ancient Aliens teach us these techniques?

[u/ryanwheelliam → u/Greenfieldfox]

Ancient astronaut theorists say YES.

[u/HoldEm__FoldEm → u/ryanwheelliam]

Everybody else says: No!

[u/In-Jail-Out-Soon → u/ryanwheelliam]

I hate that phrase when I watch that show. How many time per episode do you have to say “ancient alien theorists….” ?

Is there a quota for how many times it must be said. I love to watch the show but can’t stand the repeated saying over and over again

[u/oneMoreTime112233 → u/In-Jail-Out-Soon]

The narrator always phrases it as a question cause he don't want people to think he's a fuckin nutbar too.

[u/Aineisa → u/ryanwheelliam]

I’m not saying it was aliens….but it was aliens.

[u/Arknovas → u/Greenfieldfox]

Ancient aliens was like "some theorists think simple machines enabled them to move massive bricks, but we can't disprove it wasn't Jesus sending alien spaceships to perform wonders so we'll spend more time on that"

[u/William_Dowling → u/Greenfieldfox]

Turns out, and I know this is controversial, that during the Stone Age people were shit hot at using stone. Who knew?

[u/HoldEm__FoldEm → u/Greenfieldfox]

Season 2, episode 13

[u/blip01]

Ok, everyone, head to the backyard, grandpa is gonna show us how the Egyptians moved big rocks again.

[u/smac79 → u/blip01]

Watch out kids, he’s knocked himself out numerous times.

[u/ForestEkko → u/blip01]

"I'm tired of this grandpa!"

[u/Icedcoffeenweed4life → u/ForestEkko]

Well that's too damn bad!

[u/Phranc68]

"There was no autism back in my day"

[u/CaptainTooStoned → u/Phranc68]

this was my first thought as well lmfao. the way he was describing that cement block made me chuckle, buddy is super passionate about big rocks lmao.

[u/DecentAd2298 → u/CaptainTooStoned]

"They're minerals!"

[u/JDangle20 → u/DecentAd2298]

Jesus Christ Marie!

[u/DukeOfGeek → u/JDangle20]

Ten minutes later "Walt! Take me to the Rock Show!"

[u/itspsyikk → u/JDangle20]

It’s a retirement community!

[u/Flaming_F → u/CaptainTooStoned]

I like big blocks and I cannot lie !

[u/SpotweldPro1300 → u/Flaming_F]

The other boulders can't deny....

[u/DavidDraimansLipRing → u/SpotweldPro1300]

When a pebble walks in with an itty bitty weight

Adding smoothness to substrate

[u/g_r_a_e → u/DavidDraimansLipRing]

Damn, Mix-A-Lot and geology

[u/PonchoNachoRodriguez → u/g_r_a_e]

The mf’s a prodigy

[u/bokmcdok → u/PonchoNachoRodriguez]

This song will rock you, probably

[u/AlarmingAffect0 → u/bokmcdok]

Certainly if it's pumice

[u/thatstwatshesays → u/DavidDraimansLipRing]

You get Tung^(sten)

(Damn the old text editing no longer working)

[u/Spacecakecookie → u/DavidDraimansLipRing]

I fulcrum.

[u/Phranc68 → u/CaptainTooStoned]

He knows those blocks. It's awesome if real.

[u/BungleBums → u/Phranc68]

It's super real. The wildest part is his name is 'Wally Wallington' and it's 100% legit. Dude even had VHS tapes for sale at his museum. There's a good bit of it on YouTube. Fascinating stuff.

[u/I_Volk_I → u/BungleBums]

‘VHS’ just made me want to hop into local blockbuster for a weekend rental. Now I feel old…

[u/DumbMassDebater → u/I_Volk_I]

If you feel the need to browse most libraries lend out dvds movies and even video games.

[u/MysticalWeasel → u/BungleBums]

He has a YouTube channel! And he has a 3-part series.

[u/devAcc123 → u/Phranc68]

That video is so so old it’s 100% real

[u/Ohitsworkingnow → u/CaptainTooStoned]

Is this how you guys feel better about having no interest, passion, or intellect? Everyone who does must be autistic?

[u/The_0ven → u/Ohitsworkingnow]

Is this how you guys feel better

That's a bingo

[u/Kultur_Cigany → u/Ohitsworkingnow]

Building stonehenge in your backyard is totally what normies spend their free time on.

[u/Glittering-Walrus228 → u/Kultur_Cigany]

looks up from train set the size of an entire garage and shed

You guys have a stone henge in your backyards? Can i see?

[u/BorisBC → u/Glittering-Walrus228]

Reading this surrounded by an office full of Warhammer, Lego and Gundam

I too would like to see the henge of stone please.

[u/mynaneisjustguy → u/Glittering-Walrus228]

Stop carving frogs in various sizes from a grape to a beachball

Did you say that guy is building backyard henges? I want to see too!

[u/LessInThought → u/Glittering-Walrus228]

OoooooOOHhh, it would be cool to have some stone henge on your train track.

[u/AnaisNinja76 → u/Kultur_Cigany]

His point is that you can say that about literally any hobby, some are just more unusual than others.

[u/ult_avatar → u/Phranc68]

There must have been something in the water in Flint..

[u/Jesus_of_Redditeth → u/Phranc68]

Have you ever noticed how professional athletes spend hours and hours every day, day in, day out, obsessively honing their craft in a single-minded pursuit of their goal...

...and absolutely no one ever says they're autistic?

This whole internet trope of "man" — and it's always a man — "who's really into his hobby = autistic" badly needs to permanently piss off. It's as stupid as it is degrading, both to the autistic and non-autistic alike. A lazy-minded trope for lazy-minded people.

Rethink this nonsense.

[u/ElundusCaw → u/Jesus_of_Redditeth]

We've gone from "any man who shows interest in anything and isn't just a cold emotionless rock, is emasculated" to "any man who shows interest in anything is autistic".

[u/bathtubsplashes → u/Jesus_of_Redditeth]

There's definitely some absolutely ripped guys in the gym I presume are autistic 

And lets not get into sports fandom/analysis 

[u/CitizenCue → u/Jesus_of_Redditeth]

Plenty of pro athletes ARE autistic. Yeah, obsessive interest in something doesn’t inherently indicate autism, but extremely niche obsessions are one of the indicators. It’s literally in the DSM.

[u/efcomovil → u/Phranc68]

"No autism, just slaps"

[u/Wolfeman0101 → u/Phranc68]

I keep trying to get people to understand the rise of autism is really just a rise in diagnosis. It's always been here.

[u/mightylordredbeard → u/Phranc68]

slaps roof of the day

“You see this bad boy? You could fit so much autism in here!”

[u/Taricheute → u/Phranc68]

Intellectual curiosity is now autism ?

This world is cooked ...

[u/YouCantKillGrool → u/Phranc68]

Honestly, autism is probably what helped build the pyramids and made agriculture and medicine possible in early tribes. People with the passion and pattern recognition to recognize problems and things others didn't realize needed fixing or noticed. Hey, don't eat that plant or it will kill you, eat this instead, put the seeds in the ground on this day, the rain patterns this season indicate drought so we need to ration, put the fulcrum of the lever here, make a hill of this height with a hold of this depth to drop the obelisk straight... Just do it or shut up and get out of the fucking way so I can do it. Etc.

[u/shart_attak]

Wally Wallington laid waste to Ancient Aliens theories

[u/Useful-Purchase-2127 → u/shart_attak]

He made “ancient aliens” look a lot less necessary when leverage and patience already do the job.

[u/shart_attak → u/Useful-Purchase-2127]

It's almost as if ancient peoples were smart and could figure things out

[u/willinaustin → u/shart_attak]

Not to mention they had forever to figure it out. Massive ancient structures like Stonehenge and the Pyramids weren't built on a strict timetable while needing to come in on time and under budget.

No TV, no kids soccer games you gotta go ref, no social media, no having to mow the backyard. Just all day sitting around trying to figure out how to make the Pharaoh happy by getting his fancy death house built. You need dudes? You got 'em. You need materials? You got 'em. You need a few extra decades to haul all those giant rocks? No problem, we ain't on a schedule!

[u/tanstaafl90 → u/willinaustin]

They were built around the farming. They only had so much labor to task full time and the majority were needed during harvest. While Egypt was quite wealthy from the volume of trade it's agriculture provided, the Pharaohs were not likely to plan for a project of this size and just tell everyone, finish whenever. They had a complex economy that relied on seasonal, communal labor, meaning they needed a budget and timetable.

[u/AbilityCharacter7634 → u/shart_attak]

I fully agree. Ancient humans weren’t just dumb idiots. I also think knowledge can be lost with time. So they did not know what we know, but we also don’t know what they knew.

[u/Earlier-Today → u/Useful-Purchase-2127]

And that's all him working by himself. A team would make all of that go faster and more smoothly because it's easier to stay safe when there's multiple eyes on the work.

[u/WeAreElectricity → u/shart_attak]

Dawg his name is Wally Wallington [r/nominativedeterminism](r/nominativedeterminism) much?

[u/GandalfSwagOff]

This video was made 3 years after Stonehenge was completed.

[u/skinnymatters → u/GandalfSwagOff]

It does weirdly seem older than it looks, right?

[u/Baldrs_Draumar → u/skinnymatters]

it was filmed in the late 90's

[u/triplec787 → u/Baldrs_Draumar]

Was it? There’s home camera footage from September 2000 - 1:50 when he moves the barn.

[u/Worth-Jicama3936 → u/triplec787]

The late 90s did not come to michigan until like 2002

[u/EasyTimes420 → u/GandalfSwagOff]

Is there a version anywhere with more pixels?

[u/NRMusicProject → u/EasyTimes420]

Remember when posts like this wouldn't make it to the top of /r/all because the quality was awful?

Pepperidge Farms remembers.

[u/Automatic-Ad-4653 → u/GandalfSwagOff]

🤣

[u/Alright_doityourway]

Ancient Aliens theory on principle is underestimated ancient human intelligent.

Human in those time are as intelligent as us, they just don't have access to thousand years of knowledge we have.

[u/Shroom-Kitty → u/Alright_doityourway]

I was travelling a decade or so ago and got stranded in a town due to weather, and ended up watching a 4 or 5 hour documentary on YouTube debunking Ancient Aliens. It was good. Now I watch Miniminuteman for the same content only with lots of swear words and drinking beer on camera.

[u/Zerothian → u/Shroom-Kitty]

Never heard of that channel before, oh man, I have content to watch while eating dinner for months!
Thanks :)

[u/Careless-Emergency85 → u/Zerothian]

His content is fantastic! He covers archaeological sites, political misinformation, googledebunking, and lots of other stuff. Always high quality.

[u/incunabula001 → u/Shroom-Kitty]

The one episode where Miniminuteman did a drinking game on an Ancient Aliens episode was hilarious.

[u/karlfranz205 → u/incunabula001]

Milos liver still has nightmares about that

[u/jerseygunz → u/Alright_doityourway]

I don’t think ancient alien theory underestimates all human intelligence

Put it this way, you ever notice how apparently aliens never built anything in Europe?

[u/iamadragan → u/jerseygunz]

Uh... Where tf do you think Stonehenge was built

[u/jerseygunz → u/iamadragan]

Flint Michigan, it’s in the video 😉

[u/This_Elk_1460 → u/iamadragan]

Didn't you hear the British left the European Union, they're not European anymore.

[u/Alright_doityourway → u/jerseygunz]

I originally was gonna included that "Racist aspect" but stop myself before I did.

But yes, Ancient Aliens theory also quite racist in principle

"There is no way these brown people could build something like this"

[u/Consistent_Horse6529 → u/Alright_doityourway]

It’s not a surprise when you realize modern ancient alien theories are rooted in Nazism. The largest publisher of ancient aliens literature was the Ahnenerbe. Sure Erich von Daniken’s “Chariot of the Gods” is the most prolific single text. But in terms of volume of texts it’s the Nazis.

[u/tomtomclubthumb → u/Alright_doityourway]

"This African style of house looks a bit like a Roman Villa and uses the same passive cooling techniques. How did the Romans get here?"

"They didn't."

"Wow, aliens!"

"Or maybe Black people had the same issues, thought about them and reached a similar conclusion?"

"That doesn't seem credible to me."

[u/Rxasaurus → u/jerseygunz]

Where do you think Stonehenge is?

[u/Emperor_Mao → u/jerseygunz]

I dunno isn't this one about the Stonehenge? A famous monument in Europe?

But there is genuinely a tendency to over-praise the Romans and the Roman empire era buildings + architecture + other empires like Egyptians and Persians.

[u/Artichokiemon]

Michigan Man > Florida Man

[u/glowdirt → u/Artichokiemon]

Peninsula FIGHT!

[u/Artichokiemon → u/glowdirt]

I'll say this: Bugs Bunny never used a saw to cut Michigan away from the US

[u/HoldEm__FoldEm → u/Artichokiemon]

But, of course.

[u/Jogaila2]

Full marks for being interesting.

[u/flamesonwater]

I think it was Archimedes who said "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."

[u/DenKHK → u/flamesonwater]

It was indeed Archimedes. He gave the first rigorous mathematical proof and scientific explanation of how the lever works, linking force and distance.

[u/robertrvd725]

Coolest video I’ve seen in a while

[u/Decent_Assistant1804]

Nods in approval

[u/zombie_spiderman]

I can't wait to be retired so I can do random insane shit like this

[u/Warburgerska → u/zombie_spiderman]

That's boomer privilege. You are going to work till you drop.

[u/Jogger_Dodger]

Aliens...

The human race didn't have anything to do for thousands of years except build civilization. Just imagine what you and your friends would accomplish over the course of 10,000 years without the distractions of cellphones or internet. The ancients did some things that were never written down and we'll never know about.
That's more interesting than space monsters.

[u/Dont-Fear-The-Raeper → u/Jogger_Dodger]

Important to differentiate that civilisation is essentially agreeing to live along side, trade and exist with others, instead of murdering everybody not in your tribe, on sight.

Doing so, made it possible for us to build things. It's not cellphones or internet that's stopping us.

[u/yournames]

The conspiracy people are just not thinking enough lol.

[u/BalancedDisaster → u/yournames]

They literally can’t wrap their heads around the idea that someone may have some specialized knowledge that they don’t. It’s the same lack of logic that Kent Hovind bases his creationist bullshit on.

[u/DickyReadIt → u/yournames]

ALIENS!!!!

[u/flubluflu2]

I remember when the ancient peoples removed all the concrete roads after erecting Stonehenge to cover their tracks.

[u/BlueMowch]

and yet I have to take a daily fiber supplement to get any movement

[u/bryman19]

Science. 70% of the time, it works everytime

[u/Useful_Tiger2432]

Someone share this with joe rogan please, so he can shut the f up.

[u/Th3Stryd3r]

The process to build them is pretty well understood. The precision and alignment with the equinox and stars in the sky is where it gets interesting

[u/Shadowcleric]

These alien theories are always so crazy to me, Romans build a huge colloseum that houses thousands of people and survived hundreds of years, but some little foreign tribe builds a pyramid and they must have had alien help. Honestly, some conspiracies are straight up racist lol

[u/aNiceTribe → u/Shadowcleric]

You see, the Romans were white.

[u/Anxious_Ad936 → u/Shadowcleric]

To be fair, most of the Colosseum structure is concrete. You've got valid points though

[u/opx22 → u/Anxious_Ad936]

You say that like it’s any less impressive

[u/Wong0nePhotography]

Hey, can we move your barn?

Yeah, ok.

[u/Live_Background_6239 → u/Wong0nePhotography]

I cannot stress to you how boring certain times of the year can be for rural folk. Just mind-numbingly dull. Somebody wants to slide your barn around?

Okay.

[u/WhiteRabbit_412_]

If Jim Wallington is Wallys son....does that mean his name is Wally Wallington? That's awesome

[u/michaltee → u/WhiteRabbit_412_]

Pretty legit name considering his profession.

[u/WhiteRabbit_412_ → u/michaltee]

Oh my god he builds walls

Wally "The Waller" Wallington

[u/10EBBE01]

This guy would be the best neighbor to have.

[u/Old_Shake3789]

People saying the pyramids were built by aliens piss me off. Imagine building something that monumental by master stone masons and engineers of the time putting in all that work for it to be dismissed by some tinfoil hat dude thousands of years later.

[u/hermeticbear]

"Contrasting fringe theories"
Only people who don't understand high school physics think otherwordly beings helped build ancient monuments.
Nobody in actual archaeology believes fringe theories. Just conspiracy theorist nutjobs.

[u/RadBadTad → u/hermeticbear]

High school physics

Man, more than half of American adults read below a 6th grade level. "Only people who don't understand high school physics" is a huge portion of people unfortunately.

Hell, in my school, physics was an advanced elective.

[u/dragons_breath]

i watched a youtube video about a guy that designed a weird shaped rocking cart that was inspired by biblical stories and some other stuff cuz he was thinking maybe the story was describing how they moved stuff like this. idk how factual it is or remember the youtuber but i thought it was a cool idea and his design did work!

[u/Mental_Thing_7899]

According to what I have learned in years of history Channel... this man is too smart. So... he's an alien.

[u/gunsandsilver]

“Honey, you need to get more exercise”, start obscure hobby trying to move 20 ton blocks

[u/TwinTTowers]

People had a lot of time to think about things.

[u/fuckyouijustwanttits]

I dunno, aliens still seems like the more obvious option....

[u/HauntingGreen]

These aren’t megalithic stones.

[u/FestivalRampage]

That is genuinely one of the most interesting things I’ve seen online. What a clever guy.

[u/brown_bird_ross]

I love this just for all the ancient aliens conspiracy theorists claiming it was impossible for our ancestors to build these things. I'm sorry you think so little of humanity. Now go use your cell phones with atomic clocks in them that use electromagnetic waves to send your dumb tweets telling us humans can't solve problems...

[u/MTNCollections]

Conspiracy theorist dumbfucks will believe in anything but climate change.

[u/This_Elk_1460]

God damn so many alien conspiracy theorists are convinced that humans are entirely incapable of doing literally fucking anything without the intervention of extraterrestrial life. Pyramid? Aliens! Stonehenge? Aliens? Easter Island statues? You guessed it, aliens! Stupid worthless humans couldn't actually build those things in the past!

[u/thiscantbit]

This is why they are putting shit into the water there. You guys are getting too powerful

[u/QuandariousDingle54]

"Give me a lever long enough, and a fulcrum to place it on, and I shall move the world" -Archimedes

[u/Program-Emotional]

This is a mythical post to pull when Im this high holy shit I am flabbergasted.

[u/drdildamesh]

Smarty pants in Flint? They must be putting something in the water.

[u/-Clean-Sky-]

That's not it.

[u/brute-forced]

Nobody asking how he got the little rock under it to begin with?

[u/niftynards]

He did it

[u/Natgeo1201]

Not enough people realize that ancient people were exactly like us. They were just as intelligent and creative as people are today, they just had less advanced technology.

Combine that with the fact a lot of people can't wrap their head around the trades and you get people who don't understand how these ancient structures were built leaving the door open for conspiracy theorist grifters to swoop in and peddle their bullshit to unfortunate, ignorant people.

[u/Kilgore47]

theres a place in florida called coral castle where a guy built big stone monoliths all by himself, kind of like this guy, people cant hardly believe it was all built by one guy

[u/JessieColt → u/Kilgore47]

There was an issue with the door that could spin in place by simply pushing on it with one finger.

When work was done to fix the door they found out how it was done.

Turns out, the same process was used as this video shows for the stones spinning in place.

The center of the top and bottom of the door were carved to have pivot points.

[u/Soft_Cranberry6313]

It makes sense moving it with concrete as the substrate. But it doesn’t seem like this would work on soil.

[u/Accidental_Ballyhoo → u/Soft_Cranberry6313]

I believe this was before soil was invented. I could be wrong.

[u/BlacksmithNZ → u/Soft_Cranberry6313]

If you have ever had to do roadway paving like I have, it is pretty simple and modern methods are largely unchanged for hundreds of years other than machinary to speed things up.

The ground get compacted; normally by just hitting it repeatedly with a chunk of weight (even just people jumping up and down/logs/dropping stones).

You then rake a fine sand mix to make a smooth surface before laying pavers; which are effectively just flattish stones, and fill gaps with fine sand. Luckily people living near deserts have lots of stone and sand.

Road I helped pave (in a fancy plaza in a town centre) is still carrying cars and trucks years later and no concrete substrate was used other than the kerbs.

Once you have a paved road/surface, you can build platforms using logs and stone, before starting to move larger blocks.

Roman roads built using pavers are still in use in some places, so they stand upto a lot of weight and traffic

Or check out Diolkos in Greece - about 600BC and kilometers of good quality paving allowing entire ships to be moved overland

[u/Vanedi291 → u/Soft_Cranberry6313]

Then built the pyramids on soil and sand, I’m sure they could figure that out. Besides they had far more people available to help.

This is one guy demonstrating what can be done solo in ideal conditions with limited tools and physics.

[u/ThePensiveE → u/Soft_Cranberry6313]

We have evidence that the Egyptians were paving roads around the times of the Pyramids.