I remember one of the "ancient aliens" TV shows back in the 70s which claimed that the precision with which Inca masons fitted stones together was impossible without alien technology.
Then an archaeologist showed how fit two stones together with the same precision in about a half hour, using no tools at all. Just rubbing and banging them together.
I asked my mom once how the Egyptians could have possibly made the pyramids straight. She replied pull a long string tight, that's the reference. Figuring I had her this time, I asked how they could have leveled the pyramid foundation. She said dig a trench and fill it with water. The water level forms the reference.
I remember an interview with an archeologist that studied the Nazca Lines. She said one year she had a grad student who was a farm boy. He showed her how to draw a long straight line by setting up a stick a 1000 feet away and then just walking towards it while dragging a another stick behind him. It was perfectly straight.
It's basically the same as the old draftsman's trick for drawing a straight line.
It’s quite accurate, somewhat hard to believe until you try it a few times. Good enough for many layout tasks if you’re drawing a reference line to cut to, for example.
Also works for cutting straight lines with an exacto knife.
I remember a theory (and I’ve no idea if it’s archaeologically verified) that the level for the pyramids was formed by building a wall around the general area. You then flood this with water and wait for it to evaporate / leak out. As the water recedes, every time a piece of land emerges get a squad of slaves to dig it down and level it out. Eventually you end up with a flat plain.
People also made TV shows proving that the Egyptians had discovered pi because pi was in the ratio between the base and the height, or more likely space aliens built it because pi was improbable for the Egyptians.
Then some wit torpedoed it by pointing out that if you used a measuring wheel of 1 cubit in diameter, and measured out the base using so many rotations of the wheel, and measured out the height in cubits, pi is in the ratio without needing to discover it.
A cubit is the distance from a (standardized) man's elbow to his middle fingertip, from Latin "cubitum" = "elbow". Perhaps a more convenient reference than the foot when measuring things that aren't on the ground.
Then an archaeologist showed how fit two stones together with the same precision in about a half hour, using no tools at all. Just rubbing and banging them together.
I asked my mom once how the Egyptians could have possibly made the pyramids straight. She replied pull a long string tight, that's the reference. Figuring I had her this time, I asked how they could have leveled the pyramid foundation. She said dig a trench and fill it with water. The water level forms the reference.
Mom: 2 Me: 0