The Secret Technology of Ancient Architecture
Thousands of years ago,
Mesoamerican civilizations discovered the secret of softening hard rock. The explorer
Percy Fawcett (1867 - during or after 1925) recorded the story of the discovery in his journal of a trip to
Peru. In an ancient burial site, he discovered a clay bottle filled with a black viscous liquid with a pungent odor.
One of the members of the group decided to get the Native American guide drunk, but he resisted. In the struggle, the bottle was broken and the contents poured out onto a block of basalt. Soon the surface of the stone dissolved to a soft clay that could be molded as desired. Wasn't this the secret of the perfectly fitted blocks of the Inca and Maya pyramids, the subtlety of stone bas-reliefs and marble sculptures?
The composition of the solvent fluid remained a mystery. Major Fawcett went missing in the Amazon jungle.
