Inca masonry work

[Tomas Lipps <tmlipps@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The technique of moving one stone against another in
order to grind away obstructions on the surfaces to be
joined is not really feasible when the blocks in
question weigh 30, 60, 100 tons. One of the early
archaeologists fantasized about a plant, the extract of
which would "eat" the stones.  I think this might be
feasible (and I wish I had some), as wetting a stone
makes it easier to work (I'm a mason, do you carvers
find that's true also?) so maybe some acidic herbal
poultice might soak into the surface of the stone and
soften it ... but's that's just guessing.

I've heard of a gentleman who had a theory on this
subject and which, unlike many theorists, he actually
put into into practice. He is a French architect at U.C.
Berkeley who thought the tools the Inka used were
hammerstones, diorite(?), andesite(?) boulders taken
 from stream beds (the stone found in stream beds is
often harder for some reason) and small enough to be
held between the hands and hammered against the worked
stone with an "incurving" motion, a little "scullop" at
the end of the stroke is the way I understood it ... and
he actually worked a plane onto a stone in this way ...
relatively expediently ... and on television! ... you
could look it up ... or ask one of the experts on Inka
masonry who will be attending the Stone Work Symposium
in Santa Fe NM November 4th-7th.  for information about
this unprecedented event visit
http://www.stonefoundation.org/

Tomas