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Imagine the world's greatest wonders in a new vision. We wonder how long it will take? How much will it cost? How many employees will we need? Would we even be able to do this if we were building today? We imagine how to build Machu Picchu for the 21st century. This will be a training base for super athletes and future Olympians We'll build it here in the Colorado Rockies at 8,500 feet-the perfect place for high-altitude training. So, here's what we'll do. We will recreate the layout of Machu Picchu at the top of the Rocky Mountains.
We plan to install state-of-the-art sports equipment to transform our mountain site into the world's best high-altitude training center. A new Machu Picchu, filled with the kings and queens of sports competing for Olympic gold. Now we need to find building materials that will blend harmoniously into our landscape. Six centuries ago, the Incas didn't have to look far. In the center of Machu Picchu there is a large quarry full of scattered giant stones We know that they built most of the facility from materials found right under their feet.
Granite, earth, and stone that they mined right on the site of Machu Picchu. The stone was cut and installed in place using dry masonry techniques. The name speaks for itself. Stacking stones on top of each other to create a structure. This method has been used around the world for at least 7,000 years. The idea could n't be simpler. But all skill lies in the execution. The Incas were undoubtedly skilled stonemasons. Inca stonework is one of the greatest architectural achievements in the history of the world. Inca stonemasons were particularly skilled at hewing stones so that they fit so tightly that even
without mortar, a knife could not be inserted between them, and they have withstood earthquakes for centuries. There, in South America, in Peru, earthquakes happen. So these buildings have survived hundreds of years of earthquakes and still stand firm. That's right. This simple dry-stone masonry technique allowed Machu Picchu to survive grand disasters. Earthquakes cause a shock wave that travels from the ground up through the structure. The stiffer the structure, the more likely it is to collapse. So a pile of stones held together with mortar reacts like this. But in dry masonry structures, individual stones can shift but have enough flexibility to maintain the
overall shape until seismic conditions stabilize. Only stones are not enough here. Here on Pikes Peak, they build with steel, glass, and concrete. We actually use a lot of prefabricated and precast structures. This means that a significant part of the main work takes place at the precast concrete plant. Here, liquid concrete is poured into molds so that it hardens into the desired size and shape for the object. A controlled environment and constant monitoring ensure a stronger and more stable final product.
Additionally, concrete slabs may hold the solution to our most icy obstacle. Here at 14,000 feet, we experience a lot of severe weather: whether it's thunderstorms passing through in the afternoon or, as fall approaches, the possibility of snow or heavy snowfalls forcing us to leave the site unexpectedly. During the winter months, temperatures at the summit of Pikes Peak can drop below -38°C. So how do we survive a harsh Colorado winter? In the construction world, all materials, from wood to brick to glass, are rated by their R-value, or ability to resist heat loss. Drywall has an R-value of one, but by adding insulation, you can increase the R- value to a level appropriate for the climate in which you are building.
For our mountaintop construction, we can increase the R-value with concrete sandwich panels. Two concrete slabs surrounding a thick layer of insulation. Once completed, the concrete will be faced with stone veneer made from small pieces of stone selected from the local natural environment. But Stewart believes we should dream bigger. If we were building this today, paying homage to my Machu Picchu, we would probably try to use much larger pieces of stone rather than the small stones that we used in our precast concrete structure here.
Fortunately for us, the same rocks that make up the majestic geological wonders of the Colorado Rockies can be quarried and worked for our modern-day Machu Picchu. So, we're going to build this out of precast concrete with stone cladding. But how are we going to transport all this? They faced the same problem here Simply delivering materials to an altitude of 14,000 feet proved to be a very big challenge. The highway from the gate to here is 19 miles long. It goes through several very sharp turns. To deliver our materials and equipment to the site, we need to build a road. Just like the Incas.
By building new roads and bridges, the Inca Empire was able to reach remote areas of the Andes and connect them with a centralized state. So, we will need to build a long and winding road to the top of our mountain But how many people will we need? And how long will it take? The construction of this Inca icon required a lot of physical strength. Machu Picchu was built by thousands and thousands of workers. They were not slaves. These were people from all over the empire who were involved in the construction of this beautiful palace residence.
The key to Inca construction was a form of organized labor, paid as a tax to the Inca state. Local residents were required to work a certain number of hours or complete several projects each year as a way to pay taxes. And with an empire of 10 million people, they managed to do a lot. Still, looking at the precision of this stonework, it's not hard to imagine why some believe that the workforce at Machu Picchu was aliens. Returning to Pikes Peak, modern technology makes the job more manageable. These are not alien technologies, but they significantly reduce the amount of labor required.
Peak Construction employs only 100 people here. We will also take the figure of 100 workers as a basis So, how long will it take? Hopefully, not as long as the first time. Decades would have been spent shaping the landscape, building terraces, moving earth, carving stones, transporting materials, just to clear the jungle on this mountain saddle. Machu Picchu was still under construction when it was abandoned. So, perhaps the object was never completed. They are also still working on the Pikes Peak complex, but at least the end is in sight. If they stick to the schedule, they
will complete the work in just 3 years. At sea level they could build it even faster. Here, at altitude, the construction season lasts about 6 months. Besides, the days are shorter here. But if they can build this in 3 years on top of a mountain, we can build our Machu Picchu in 3 years too. We are ready to begin the greatest building mission in the last 6 centuries. But how difficult would this final construction be if we were building it today? The plan for building the first Machu Picchu was quite chaotic. It is unlikely that Machu Picchu began with a single vision of what the architecture would become.
It was probably built slowly over time and expanded over decades. It was constantly evolving and expanding until its sudden abandonment. But the first thing the Incas did was change the landscape. One of the greatest achievements of Inca architecture is terracing. Terracing is the first step in transforming the inhospitable construction site of Machu Picchu into a city. In landscape design, terracing refers to a series of level areas created on a slope. Almost like giant steps. Dry stone masonry is used to form the landscape during terracing. This creates flat surfaces for people to live on, for residential architecture, for houses, for agriculture, for crops.
Each of the terraces of Machu Picchu is about 3 meters deep and consists of three separate layers. First, large pieces of rock that provide underground drainage. Secondly, a layer of gravel. Finally, rich fertile soil suitable for growing crops. If you have a mountain and there is water on it, it flows down and drags everything with it. If there are terraces, water is retained on each of them, seeps in and becomes nutrition for plants. Terracing transforms the landscape from natural to anthropogenic. The Incas built in harmony with the landscape Well, six centuries later, we are eager to begin our construction project on a grand scale.
We could use drilling and blasting to reach the foundation level of modern Machu Picchu. Actually, that's exactly what we did with this building. We drilled wells, planted dynamite, and blew up to get to the solid granite base of the mountain. Drilling and blasting is our way of creating a modern terrace, a flat surface on which we can build. Once we blast our way to a level surface, our precast concrete blocks can be transported up the mountain. When they arrive, we will set up a crane and begin assembling the structures. To some extent, building a modern Machu Picchu would be easy because we have all the heavy equipment and everything we need. Build the foundation, build the frame, sheathe the building with finishing materials, and then
complete the interior decoration. Our buildings will be clad in Colorado stone on the outside, and equipped with the latest training technologies on the inside. There will also be a research laboratory to study the effects of high altitude on the body Machu Picchu-style sports and training center for the world's best athletes, built in the Colorado Rockies. Our precast concrete structures will be finished with Colorado stone. And our roads and trails are already waiting for the arrival of Olympic marathon runners. It took 100 people 3 years of work. But how much did it cost? Our Machu Picchu experts are preparing for the worst.
Well, it must cost at least over a billion dollars. I assume it will cost billions of dollars, go over budget, and be delayed by 3 years due to the sheer volume of work. The budget for the Pikes Peak Summit complex is a whopping $60 million. But we imagine something like a training center that you would find at a major university. And even when built at sea level, it could cost over $100 million Add in the cost of a marathon-length track system and housing for our super athletes-and we get a price tag of $200 million. So, you want to build a modern Parthenon. What is needed for this?
We imagine a flawless reconstruction of the most beautiful building in history. We will use over 20,000 tons of Tennessee marble for the construction. And it will take up to 300 workers and 15 years to bring it to life. So let's get started. If we built the Parthenon today, I'm thinking, um, where would we put it? Well, we have the perfect location in Washington, DC This old sports stadium is due to be demolished any moment now. And imagine, it's within walking distance of the National Mall. You can even see the Washington Monument from here So, once this space is freed up, we can follow the same blueprints as the ancient Greeks.
The Parthenon was built according to the plan of a Doric temple. It has a stylobate-this is the base, on which the columns stand, and on top-a triangular part called a pediment. They built it just like any other building. We need to build from the very foundation. So, first there is a fairly thorough preparation of the base. So, after leveling the ground, we'll lay down three layers of stone blocks to complete our stylobate. And then the columns are installed. Greek columns are not a single piece of stone, but a series of carved stone drums. But at a height of over 10 meters, installing these parts required an ancient analogue of heavy equipment.
This is a 1:10 scale model of a crane that, according to scientists, was used to lift marble blocks on the Parthenon. Using a winch and a system of blocks, this primitive crane lifted 20-ton stone blocks to a height of more than four stories using human power. Today, we could use telescopic cranes like this to lift and install rough stone. One of the ingenious things was that they did the rough work on the stones, giving them the right shape for lifting, and left the finishing work for later, when the column or side was ready. If they had done all the work of cutting the grooves and finishing the stone before installation, the likelihood of irreparable damage would have been extremely high. So they didn't do it. They waited
until the column or wall was ready before doing the final stonework Once the columns are installed, we can complete the exterior stone walls. Now it's time to complete the construction work. Then you install the roof with a gable, and at the very end you add all the decorative elements. But when it comes to decoration, it's all in the details. The pediment is usually the place where the finest sculptural elements of a temple are located. This is the largest area for sculptures, but at the same time it is very difficult to work with.
We plan to decorate our pediment with statues of all 46 American presidents. But our sculpture team has several modern advantages over the ancient ones. Yeah, I don't know if you could build the Parthenon today, but you'd definitely want to use diamond blades. Well, you know, power tools make work more efficient. You really can't cut marble without a diamond blade. The rules for cutting stone are simple. Harder rocks cut softer rocks. And diamonds are the hardest stones on Earth. And I'm not a fan of diamond engagement rings, but I am a fan of diamond tools.
Once we finish the final carving and stonework, it's time to install our masterpiece-a massive replica of the Statue of Liberty that will dominate the interior of our Parthenon. We did it. A modern temple of democracy, freedom and beauty. We used the proportions and ratios of the ancient Greeks to recreate their finest architectural work. We built it with 22,000 tons of Tennessee marble. It took 300 people and 15 years to build it and complete the intricate sculptural decorations. But how much did it all cost?
Historians estimate that the cost of the original was approximately half of the annual budget surplus of the city- state of Athens. This is a huge task, so it is a massive investment of money, time, and human resources. So, this is a huge investment on the part of the Athenian state. Well, last year Washington, D.C. had a surplus of 322 million. We say we can build the Parthenon for half that amount. So, the final price?
161 million. By rebuilding the Parthenon according to the golden ratio, we revived a lost construction technique. The path to beauty that the world missed so much. There is something eternal about it, and that is their sense of beauty. I think most people who see the building understand this instantly. We don't use beauty as a benchmark, but if we did, I think it would have a beneficial effect on everyone. Beauty makes your life so much better on so many levels. It creates a sense of other times and other worlds, but the grand question arises: how did this happen?
How did we do it? How did people create this? But the question remains for us: will our modern architecture stand the test of time? All around us, we see elements of classical Greek architecture reinterpreted as inspiration for later civilizations. But each culture must invent its own architecture. It cannot just copy the past. And what role will the science of beauty play in the future? Guiding our decisions. By directing our actions to fill the world with buildings with as much character, inspiration, and beauty as if we were building them today.
We explore the logistical mysteries behind the most significant monument of the prehistoric era. We want to know what it would take to organize the workforce and support the logistics of construction today. The most famous stone circle on the planet. We want to find out what it takes to recreate the original. A timeless place for celebration that is also a celebration of feminine power. But several big questions remain. How would we move 3,000 tons of concrete? 5,000 years ago, someone moved all these stones. To this day, we don't know how.
Anita Kirkbride is a social media consultant. Well, I think you would be hard-pressed to find the hundreds or thousands of people needed to move a 20-ton stone every day How many people will have the stamina and strength to actually do it? Historians previously thought that the builders of Stonehenge developed some kind of log rolling system. Therefore, archaeologists have been diligently investigating this idea, testing whether these rollers really work as intended. But when you look at the evidence, you see that this idea doesn't hold up to criticism. From a technical point of view, it's difficult, because when you have a lot of rollers, and you look at the ground around you, you see that it's uneven.
There are hills, there are unevenness. This will make these rollers move in different directions. They will crash into each other, shift relative to each other. Any hill is difficult to overcome. So, in fact, I think the idea of the videos should be sent to the dustbin of history So, if not wooden rollers, then what? It should be a system that the average worker could use. Something durable, but something that can be replaced. Because the construction of Stonehenge took a thousand years. A much more viable method, which we certainly also see in ethnographic sources, is the idea that stones were placed on sleds and then, where
necessary, a special path was prepared for them Pieces of wood, brushwood, anything to keep the sled from digging into the ground, and they were just pulled that way. Harris is so confident in the sled system for Stonehenge that he built his own. I organized an experiment in London to draw attention to alternative ways of moving large stones without using rollers. Harris' students from University College London volunteered to help.
Unlike the real Stonehenge, this project took a sunny afternoon, not 500 years. We investigated two things. The first is the specific shape of the sled that we see in ethnographic descriptions. And the second thing we wanted to investigate was the type of track needed to move the sled. We were interested in the idea of a wooden slide. We started with 30 or 40 students pulling a sled with a rock tied to it, and things went well. And towards the end, they were able to set up the process so that about eight students were pulling this sled with the stone. The sled simply slides across its surface.
This is a much more stable design than wooden rollers, but it still helps reduce friction. The location, materials, and equipment are determined We are making progress in our plan to recreate the construction of Stonehenge. But the biggest challenge may be ahead What kind of logistics team will be needed on site? Research in the area around Stonehenge has provided some clues. So, in addition to the actual construction work, moving, installing, and processing the stones, all the people involved had to be fed. It was necessary to build housing. How many workers will we need? And where can we find them? The engineering part of the project is the easiest.
No plumbing, heating, electricity or inspectors. With 157 stones, say 25 workers per stone, we get a total of 3925 pairs of hands. Round up to 4000. Multiply by five for complex tasks, like our modern Stonehenge. A total of 20,000 people. Not impossible, but how do you keep them going long enough to finish the job? The main challenge is motivating so many people to stay on task for so long. And, as today, the offer must be compelling. Recruiting is a science in itself, and part of it is selling the adventure itself. Because if we just said, " Yes, your job is to dig holes 8 hours a day." "Come, we're hiring." Then,
you know, no one would come to us. Social media expert Anita Kirkbride believes finding people would be easy. Organizing Stonehenge 2.0 would be the internet event of the century. Well, with the click of a button on almost any social network, you can potentially connect with billions of people. To make people want to be part of such a big project, you need to show them how they can become part of the community. The days of gathering labor through unions, churches, and clubs are over. Anita believes that now is the best time to build a workforce through social media.
Such a project would attract a certain type of people, those who want to see how everything was done. People who are curious about how these 20-ton blocks were actually moved 100 km And some people won't believe that people were actually capable of this until they take part in the process. I can imagine building something like Stonehenge, moving the stones annually, with people getting together to move another block, perhaps combining it with a grand party. That is, imagine Glastonbury, where all the festival participants spend one day working on some aspect of construction. When the work goes viral, influencers will line up.
You could do live broadcasts on Facebook to share what's happening You could show live how people move these 20-ton blocks. Almost all social networks now have a live broadcast feature. You could get a great group of people to help promote this on TikTok, simply because they're science geeks and that's what they talk about on their channel, where they have 2 million subscribers. So, with top-notch logistics and an army of influencers, how long will this project take? You can cover maybe 3 miles a day.
180 miles would take one summer season. Reduce the 1,000 years it took to build Stonehenge? No problem. This will be done in less than 10 years. This is my assumption. 10 years is not much worse than any other modern mega-construction project. So let's form a team and leave the builders of Stonehenge far behind. But there is one pressing question. Who will pay the bill? If we were building this today. We are disbanding our team. But where in the modern world can we find an example of such a project? Here. Construction volunteering is more popular than ever. Thanks to organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
Over the past half century, more than 13 million people have volunteered their time to help those in need. Modern logistics, technology, and materials have enabled the creation of over a million homes by this nonprofit workforce. It will be more than just starting today and seeing it through to the end, because people will be with you every step of the way. People will find out about it hundreds of kilometers away. And they will come to join. So, it will turn into a kind of moving spectacle. And the reward is very similar to the one received by the builders of Stonehenge.
Do something useful, learn new skills, become part of a team, and maybe have a great time. No matter how you look at it, you'll have to work a lot lifting loads. But instead of transporting 200 tons of bluestone 300 km, we will entrust this work to concrete mixers. 150 of them, to be exact. The concrete will be poured into huge molds off-site and left to dry 56 small, if we consider small to be weighing from 2 to 5 tons, and 80 large. Replacing missing and broken parts. When the concrete hardens, we'll do it the old-fashioned way-pull the stones on a sled.
Workforce of 20,000 people. So, I think there's a group of people who will say, "Oh, well, I don't believe this can be done without modern technology. So I want to see how it's done." And they want to participate for the sake of such knowledge. I think there are other people who just want to be a part of something fun. Personally, for me, trying to lift a 20- ton block doesn't sound like much fun, but every project has its enthusiast, right? To set our concrete forms vertically, we dig massive pits with slopes, lining them at an angle with wooden stakes. Pegs and A-frames will provide the leverage needed for good old-fashioned pulling. As for installing the upper stones on
vertical supports-there is a theory that seems more logical than aliens, but it won't be easy. This is done not with the help of a wooden structure, but by building an earthen embankment-a ramp. And then you raise the jumper with this ramp, and you simply dig up the soil around it so that it gradually falls into place. In my opinion, this is the easiest way to do it. So, we're going to need a lot of land and effort to build these earthen mounds. perfect stone circle with a diameter of about 300 meters, harmoniously aligned with the summer and winter solstices. Built in the Canadian badlands at the same latitude as the original for full effect. A year-round venue for celebrating female power with great acoustics for legendary parties.
But how much will all this cost? A workforce recruited through social media will help keep labor costs low. If I were trying to recruit a thousand volunteers to go somewhere to rebuild Stonehenge, I would look for people from science, those who are interested in learning how it worked, amateur archaeologists, and enthusiastic scientists. Today I would like to focus on TikTok, because it is a social media star where people can go viral almost overnight. We estimate it at a hundred million dollars, about the same as building a small stadium. Stonehenge is much simpler, but building it the old-fashioned way will significantly increase the bill. But it would be worth every penny spent.
When people work together, we are unstoppable. Stonehenge is an eternal monument to this fact, an ancient testament to how much better we can be. There's no denying the incredible power of the original, but Stonehenge 2.0 could be exactly the project we all need right now. A place where you can gather with friends and have fun with strangers. To honor the past and look to a bright future with hope. If we built it today.
