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Our Construction Project
Much like our Year 4000 project, this page is under construction:
We're providing as much information as we can at this time, but our story is still unfolding.
Come back to this page again; we'll be adding photos and news updates.
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The Quarry
There are many quarry sites around the world for granite.
The quarry we chose provides our large granite blocks to us all nice and polished.
The photograph (upper right) shows some granite blocks after they have been
quarried and before they are cut and polished.
[We need to get a picture of the quarry in here.]
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Etching the Stone
Once our huge stone is all polished, it's ready to be marked.
We take all the messages gathered from this website, arrange them
so they fit neatly on the stone, and send the image to our etcher.
If you have left your mark - a message - on the stone, it is during this
stage that you receive an e-mail from us, telling you your permanent message id (UMI - Universal Message Index).
[We need to get a picture of the stone being etched here.]
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Transportation
It's not easy to move an 18 ton stone around!
We put wood framing around the stone as cushions so we avoid extra marks.
It gets its own 18-wheeler tractor trailer truck to haul it over our highways
to our construction site.
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Site Selection
Selecting a site where our stones will rest undisturbed until year 4000 and beyond
must be done wisely!
Egypt's pyramids are in the Sahara Dessert and that has worked well.
England's Stonehenge is in a colder climate, which works for roughcut rocks.
Mexico's pyramids are in the tropics, which become overwhelmed with vegetative growth
within 20 years if not maintained.
We are carefully choosing the site so our stones
won't crack from water freezing inside them,
won't fall over due to earthquakes,
won't be grown over with vegetation,
and won't be next to a population inclined toward vandalism.
The site's location will not be publicly announced.
We will only reveal the location to those who leave their mark on the stones.
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Site Construction
It seems kinda simple to plop a stone in a hole, but not when that stone weighs 18 tons!
We have a construction crew prepare the hole.
We have a crane to lift the stone, place it in its hole, and align it according to design.
Once in place, dirt is filled in to hide any marks/messages on the lower third of the stone.
[We need to get a picture of the crane positioning a stone in place
rather than this stock photo of a backhoe.]
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Stone Layout
We decided to make our stones in the shape of a simple block.
Five of the six sides may be etched with messages - top, front, back, left, and right.
To keep the stone stable over time, we bury part of it.
Each stone stands two meters high above the ground (6'6"),
one and a half meters wide (4'11"), and one meter deep (3'3").
Although we expect most people to leave marks above ground so they are clearly
visible, we do allow people to leave marks below ground, where they are not
readily visible.
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Block Arrangement
As stones fill up with messages, we erect them at our site.
We don't just line them up like dominoes; we are arranging them in clusters of
thoughtful design.
Our first cluster places our very first stone in the center of two concentric
circles.
Our primary stone will face east, which has meaning in multiple cultural and religious contexts.
The first concentric circle consists of 8 stones, each facing the primary stone.
The second concentric circle consists of 16 stones, each facing the primary stone.
Additional clusters of stones will be arranged to artistic and cultural effect.
[We need a picture of our primary stone in situ here.]
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Yearbook
We are very excited about our project and about all the contributed marks
people are making!
This is history in the making.
This is big stuff.
We plan to publish a yearbook at the end of each year of this project.
We'll print all the messages (granite and virtual) and background stories in
there (except for those messages marked as Locked or Lost).
And we'll have ongoing photos taken from the stone site and construction
snapshots along the way.
Watch for news of the first issue, which should be available in February 2010.
(Marks must be made by midnight of December 31st EST to be included.)
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Project Facts
Some people love facts and trivia. Here you go!
- Each stone is 3 meters (9' 10") tall with 2 meters above ground.
- Each stone is 1.5 meters (4'11") across its front and back faces.
- Each stone is 1 meter (3'3.3") across its side faces.
- Each stone weighs 16,000 kg (35,000 pounds).
- We have selected black granite stone, one of the hardest rocks around.
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