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Fabrication Methods of the Polygonal Masonry of Large Stone Blocks with Fitted Curved Surfaces in Megalithic Structures of Peru

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Submitted:

02 August 2021

Posted:

03 August 2021

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Abstract
The article suggests methods that allow creating the most complicated type of polygonal masonry found in Peru. This masonry consists of large stone blocks weighing from several hundred kilograms to several tons fitted close to each other almost without a gap between complicated curved surfaces of large area. The work provides a brief description of techniques, which apparently were used by builders who arrived from Europe. The techniques under discussion are based on the use of a reduced clay model, 3D-pantograph and replicas. The use of a reduced clay model and a pantograph provides not only the unique appearance and high quality of masonry with large blocks, but also allows to significantly increase the productivity of the builders. As the pantograph designed to work with three-dimensional objects has been known since the 18th century, the constructions under consideration should be dated by that and later time. The remaining simpler types of polygonal masonry with smaller stones or fitted surfaces are almost flat, or stones contact with each other by a small area, or there are significant gaps between stones, are quite consistent with the well-known methods of stone processing of those and earlier years, and, therefore, they do not require any additional explanations.
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Subject: Engineering  -   Mechanical Engineering
Copyright: This open access article is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, which permit the free download, distribution, and reuse, provided that the author and preprint are cited in any reuse.
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