How Lebanon Ended Up With The Largest Manmade Block On Earth

In 2014, archaeologists excavating a famous site in Baalbek uncovered the largest known stone block to have been carved by humans ever.

While excavating around “The Stone of the Pregnant Woman,” a nearly 1,000-ton megalith that sits on 3 others of similar size at a 2,000-year-old limestone quarry in Baalbek, a team of German archaeologists were fascinated to find an even larger megalith.

The giant block was estimated to weigh around 1,650 tons, making it the largest megalith discovered in history, according to the researchers. It is estimated to be 19.5 meters long, nearly 6 meters wide, and approximately 5.4 meters high.

It is believed that this megalith, alongside the other giant blocks discovered at the same site, was intended for temple construction.

However, the plan is thought to have been scratched when it was found that the carved stones were too large to move around.

The German Archaeological Institute’s Margarete Van Esse said in 2014 that excavation at the site was suspended due to the trench becoming dangerously deep.

“Hopefully in a following campaign we can dig down to the bottom of the block,” she said.

The way these megaliths were finely cut and – in the case of the ones that did make it to the construction sites – transported, has baffled researchers.

The German team hoped to find clues that would reveal how ancient people managed to transport the massive blocks discovered in Baalbek.