The largest man-made stone block ever discovered was just discovered by a group of German and Lebanese archaeologists.
According to Gizmodo, the block, which was discovered in a limestone quarry in Baalbek, Lebanon, has dimensions of 64 feet by 19.6 feet by 18 feet and weighs approximately 1,650 tons. Before, other enormous man-made blocks were discovered close by, including one dubbed “The Stone of the Pregnant Woman” that weighed up to 1,240 tons.
The blocks most likely originate from around 27 BC, at least 2,000 years ago. According to Discovery, Baalbek was a prominent Roman imperial colony during the time and was known as Heliopolis, or “the city of the sun.”
According to the German Archeological Insтιтute, the block was presumably meant to be used in a nearby Jupiter temple. But according to the Insтιтute, these and other stones were never able to leave the quarry since they proved to be far too large to transport. In fact, the corner of the Stone of the Pregnant Woman already had a crack in it.
The block’s designers were probably very disappointed, but they unintentionally broke world records. According to the Insтιтute, the recently found block is “the biggest boulder known from antiquity.”