The H Blocks of Puma Punku

The H-Blocks at Puma Punku are examples of their stonemasons' reuse of standard patterns and shapes. Working through the site's dismantled stonework, Protzen and Nair recorded roughly fifteen numbered block types, among them H-stones, sawtooth stones, jamb stones, niche stones and seven distinct kinds of lintel.

Each was cut as a rectangular solid whose faces meet at right angles in all three dimensions, so blocks within a course were interchangeable. These were carved at a staging location rather than next to where they would be placed. No stone in the design occupies a special place, which means masons could finish a block completely before anyone decided where in the building it would sit.