archKIDecture

STONE

The Pyramids of Ancient Egypt are made of stone. The Chicago Water Tower is made of stone. The great monoliths of STONEhenge are made of ...you guessed it...STONE (hence the name.)

Stone is all over the world. The world, come to think of it, is stone. What a great materials to use in construction. But how HEAVY it is. Lug around a few stones used in pyramid construction and you will wish you were back building with straw bales!

This type of arch is made of stepped stone diagonals that join with one stone at the top called a capstone. Thick walls are needed to support these stone structures, so the rooms were not very tall and the rooms fairly small.

Mayan cities had many stone structures built for the rulers and priests without the use of wheeled carts or animals to help them. They were clever people and apparently very strong as they built their pyramids and temples using ropes, wooden rollers and their own human strength.

Mayans built ziggurat, or stepped pyramids and they made stone corbelled archs.