CHAPTER 17

THE MEGALITHIC REVIVAL

The Raising of Sophia

Around the world, researchers mount projects in their quest to understand the methods by which ancient cultures raised large stone blocks. One such project, which took place in upstate New York, is the Sophia Project.

The Sophia Project sought to understand how humans, going back thousands of years, moved and raised very large stones. How cultures of the past undertook these complex and sophisticated projects without modern heavy equipment has remained an enduring mystery of humanity.

How did they do it? With the help of a stone called Sophia, the researchers hoped to show the world how. All over the world, we find vast megalithic sites built before bulldozers and modern cranes. From Stonehenge to the Incan sites, for thousands of years, ancient people have managed to move rocks of fifty tons or more with only the primitive technology available to them at the time.

Sophia is 32.5 feet long and weighs more than fifty tons, about the same size as the largest standing stone at Stonehenge. For this “replication event,” the researchers used only tools fashioned from materials available to Neolithic man, such as wood and rope. They planned to transport Sophia more than eighty feet using two distinct comparative methods and to stand it up in a socket hole.

Project director Rob Roy is the author of the Stone Circles: A Modern Builder’s Guide to the Megalithic Revival and is one of the world’s foremost experts on megalithic technology. About the Sophia Project, Roy said in 1999, “After twenty years of research and painstaking trial-and-error experimentation, we’re confident we can replicate the raising of this very large and beautiful megalith” (Roy 1999). Roy has taught cordwood masonry and other traditional building methods and techniques since 1981 at his off-grid campus in West Chazy, New York, in the Adirondacks. Sophia was found and is currently located on Stone Mountain Farm at the Center for Symbolic Studies in Tillson, New York.

Fig. 17.1. Sophia at the Center for Symbolic Studies, Stone Mountain Farm, Tillson, New York

This event was tentatively scheduled to occur from October 9 to 11, 2015, but has been delayed and postponed due to logistical and financial reasons; however, fundraising is now planned to help purchase the proper traditional materials and supplies for creating compound leverage and for sheltering and feeding the community that will come together for this event.

Sophia will be the largest stone raised by ancient methods in centuries, which will contribute mightily to our knowledge of how such work might have been accomplished in Stone Age times. Contributions to the Indiegogo crowd-funding site that has been set up can be made by searching “the Sophia Project” on Indiegogo.com, or you can show up for the event and help physically raise Sophia. Even more than money, we need community to make this happen. Stay involved and informed with project updates and help spread the word on social media and among your friends, family, and network. A new fund-raising page will be launched shortly to help support this project.

How did they do it? With the help of “Sophia,” they showed the world how.

Fig. 17.2. Using compound leverage to move Sophia

Fig. 17.3. Wood blocks and wedges used in lifting

Fig. 17.4. Multiple levers used for successful lifting effort