Europe’s Megalithic Masons 2
Europe’s Megalithic Masons Local Stone, Waterborne Networks, and the First Stone Engineers TOC Prologue — The Stone Survives; the System Disappears Why the monument is the wrong starting object Quarry, mason, transport, labor, route, and monument as separate carriers What survives: stone quarry scars sockets tool marks What largely disappears: boats rope sledges timber food provisioning seasonal labor spoken instruction apprenticeship route knowledge Europe’s megalithic record as a preservation-filtered residue of a much larger technical system The core question: not “Who were the megalithic people?” but “How were large-stone technologies locally generated, transmitted, and reproduced?” Part I — What Is a Megalithic Mason? 1. Monolith Builder, Quarryman, or Mason? Why “mason” cannot be used loosely Selecting a naturally detached boulder Quarrying a block Dressing a block Moving a block Erecting a monolith Building a wall Corbelling a chamber Cutting a doorway Constructing a...