How Were The Egyptian Pyramids Built?

[Knight-Dragon]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080328104302.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2008) — The Aztecs, Mayans and ancient Egyptians were three very different civilizations with one very large similarity: pyramids. However, of these three ancient cultures, the Egyptians set the standard for what most people recognize as classic pyramid design: massive monuments with a square base and four smooth-sided triangular sides, rising to a point. The Aztecs and Mayans built their pyramids with tiered steps and a flat top.

The ancient Egyptians probably chose that distinctive form for their pharaohs' tombs because of their solar religion, explained Donald Redford, professor of Classics and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State. The Egyptian sun god Ra, considered the father of all pharaohs, was said to have created himself from a pyramid-shaped mound of earth before creating all other gods. The pyramid's shape is thought to have symbolized the sun's rays.

According to Redford, "The Egyptians began using the pyramid form shortly after 2700 B.C., and the great heyday of constructing them for royalty extended for about a thousand years, until about 1700 B.C." The first pyramid was built by King Djoser during Egypt's Third Dynasty. His architect, Imohtep, created a step pyramid by stacking six mastabas, rectangular buildings of the sort in which earlier kings had been buried. The largest and most well-known pyramids in Egypt are the Pyramids at Giza, including the Great Pyramid of Giza designed for Pharaoh Khufu.

For centuries, people have theorized how the great pyramids were built. Some have suggested that they must have been constructed by extraterrestrials, while others believe the Egyptians possessed a technology that has been lost through the ages.

But the process of building pyramids, while complicated, was not as colossal an undertaking as many of us believe, Redford says. Estimates suggest that between 20,000 and 30,000 laborers were needed to build the Great Pyramid at Giza in less than 23 years. By comparison, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris took almost 200 years to complete.

According to Redford, pharaohs traditionally began building their pyramids as soon as they took the throne. The pharaoh would first establish a committee composed of an overseer of construction, a chief engineer and an architect. The pyramids were usually placed on the western side of the Nile because the pharaoh's soul was meant to join with the sun disc during its descent before continuing with the sun in its eternal round. Added Redford, the two deciding factors when choosing a building site were its orientation to the western horizon where the sun set and the proximity to Memphis, the central city of ancient Egypt.

The cores of the pyramids were often composed of local limestone, said Redford. Finer quality limestone composed the outer layer of the pyramids, giving them a white sheen that could be seen from miles away. The capstone was usually made of granite, basalt, or another very hard stone and could be plated with gold, silver or electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, and would also be highly reflective in the bright sun.

Said Redford, the image most people have of slaves being forced to build the pyramids against their will is incorrect. "The concept of slavery is a very complicated problem in ancient Egypt," he noted, "because the legal aspects of indentured servitude and slavery were very complicated." The peasants who worked on the pyramids were given tax breaks and were taken to 'pyramid cities' where they were given shelter, food and clothing, he noted.

According to Redford, ancient Egyptian quarrying methods -- the processes for cutting and removing stone -- are still being studied. Scholars have found evidence that copper chisels were using for quarrying sandstone and limestone, for example, but harder stones such as granite and diorite would have required stronger materials, said Redford. Dolerite, a hard, black igneous rock, was used in the quarries of Aswan to remove granite.

During excavation, massive dolerite "pounders" were used to pulverize the stone around the edge of the granite block that needed to be extracted. According to Redford, 60 to 70 men would pound out the stone. At the bottom, they rammed wooden pegs into slots they had cut, and filled the slots with water. The pegs would expand, splitting the stone, and the block was then slid down onto a waiting boat.

Teams of oxen or manpower were used to drag the stones on a prepared slipway that was lubricated with oil. Said Redford, a scene from a 19th century B.C. tomb in Middle Egypt depicts "an alabaster statue 20 feet high pulled by 173 men on four ropes with a man lubricating the slipway as the pulling went on."

Once the stones were at the construction site, ramps were built to get them into place on the pyramid, said Redford. These ramps were made of mud brick and coated with chips of plaster to harden the surface. "If they consistently raised the ramp course by course as the teams dragged their blocks up, they could have gotten them into place fairly easily," he noted. At least one such ramp still exists, he said.

When answering to skepticism about how such heavy stones could have been moved without machinery, Redford says, "I usually show the skeptic a picture of 20 of my workers at an archaeological dig site pulling up a two-and-a-half ton granite block." He added, "I know it's possible because I was on the ropes too."

Adapted from materials provided by Penn State University.

Pyramids at Giza. (Credit: iStockphoto/Karim Hesham)

 

[Tee Kay]

Teams of oxen or manpower were used to drag the stones on a prepared slipway that was lubricated with oil.

Interesting. They would need A LOT of oil to build one pyramid.

 

[aronnax]

It is said, for them to finish such a project in 23 years, each block must be raised once every 2 mins

 

[scy12]

I think last year an architect did a computer model that supported that the pyramids where created by an inside ramp . His theory was universally accepted as the best theory the world has on the moment on how they where build.

 

[MilesGregarius]

I think last year an architect did a computer model that supported that the pyramids where created by an inside ramp . His theory was universally accepted as the best theory the world has on the moment on how they where build.

That's interesting. I thought the scientific consensus was for an external ramp that wrapped around the pyramid as it rose. Not that I follow developments in Egyptology too closely. Do you have a link or the name of the architect?

 

[scy12]

That's interesting. I thought the scientific consensus was for an external ramp that wrapped around the pyramid as it rose. Not that I follow developments in Egyptology too closely. Do you have a link or the name of the architect?

Actually i believe it was mentioned in some articles surrounding the famous inner ramp theory that until then the external ramp that wrapped around the pyramid was until then the best idea to describe it.

You can Just google it (imagine that the words "Build french architect" have the results of showing lings having to do with the pyramids), first or buy BBC focus magazine that also holded that information although i found it from a different source.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...=result&cd=1&q=build+french+architect&spell=1
(French- build-architect search)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070402-great-pyramid.html
http://www.archaeology.org/0705/etc/pyramid.html


This is not something new but i guess it wasn't loud enough then although i believe even newstations may have shown synopses of the new theory.

Personally i believe it to be the most valid hypothesis.

 

[Sharwood]

Why is everyone still taling about this? We all know that the Pyramids are landing platforms for Goa'uld motherships.

 

[Zardnaar]

Why is everyone still taling about this? We all know that the Pyramids are landing platforms for Goa'uld motherships.

Exactly they just haven't found the stargate (not that since december I've watched 10 seasons of Stargate SG1 and are onto season 3 of Atlantis).

 

[Sharwood]

Maybe we're in that alternate universe where Ra takes the Stargate with him, and SG-1 hasn't gone back in time to fix it yet.

They're actually in the middle of Season 4 of Atlantis in the States. Makes you annoyed to live in the Antipodes, doesn't it? I've just gotten the last five episodes of Season 10 of SG-1 delivered in the mail, so bery soon I will actually be receiving Atlantis DVDs before they air on television. God I hate commercial tv, with their "Science Fiction doesn't rate well" garbage. That's why Babylon 5 and Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica win so many awards and last so long, right, because they're incredibly unsuccessful? Morons.

 

[Zardnaar]

Maybe we're in that alternate universe where Ra takes the Stargate with him, and SG-1 hasn't gone back in time to fix it yet.

They're actually in the middle of Season 4 of Atlantis in the States. Makes you annoyed to live in the Antipodes, doesn't it? I've just gotten the last five episodes of Season 10 of SG-1 delivered in the mail, so bery soon I will actually be receiving Atlantis DVDs before they air on television. God I hate commercial tv, with their "Science Fiction doesn't rate well" garbage. That's why Babylon 5 and Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica win so many awards and last so long, right, because they're incredibly unsuccessful? Morons.

We tend to download alot of our stuff here the day after it screens in the US. Alot of that stuff doesn't even screen here.

 

[Jerrymander]

Outsourced to Mexicans.

 

[rilnator]

I always thought that Mexicans were lazy.

 

[Swedishguy]

There is some doubt that the egyptians did it. It's obviously aliens!

 

[Traitorfish]

I always thought that Mexicans were lazy.

No, they're just tired after building the pyramids.

 

[Steph]

There was an interesting show on the French TV some times ago about the ramp that must have been used to put the stones on top of each other.

They tried to imagine how the ramp was.

First solution was to make a straight ramp. but to reach the top it would need either a steep ramp, or a very long one.

Second solution, a ramp that was "circling" around the pyramid base. Also a lot of earth.

And then, one of the Egyptian workers asked.
"- What is this ramp for?"
"- It's used to raise this block of stone on top of this one. We need a ramp going from the bottom, to the top, and push the stone along the ramp"
[When explaining one, he pointed to two large blocks that were next to each other, on the ground]
"-No you don't need that"
"-Uh?"

And the worker called some other guys (they were perhaps 10 people), and using levers (wooden beam!) and ropes they manage to raise one of the block at the level of the top of the other block, and pushed it in place. All that in perhaps 10 minutes (the show displayed it real time). No ramp.

Conclusion: with all our modern machines, we may have forgotten how to work with our muscles and brain...

 

[AluminumKnight]

Jeez, haven't you seen 10000 BC? Woolly mammoths did it, duh

 

[sourboy]

There is also the "sail" system, where a sail could be used to help guide a stone over an oiled surface, while the workers used wooden levers to help shift it into place, thus requiring less people per stone.

 

[Jerrymander]

Conclusion: with all our modern machines, we may have forgotten how to work with our muscles and brain...

Or French TV attempts to brainwash people.

 

[renohol]

haven't you heard the last few years ago or have u all lived under rocks?

The Jews built the Pyramids according to the Jews. Jewish slave labor.

 

[Maimonides]

haven't you heard the last few years ago or have u all lived under rocks?

The Jews built the Pyramids according to the Jews. Jewish slave labor.

No we didn't & no we don't.

The pyramids were very old even in the time of Exodus. Go read the Bible. The biblical account specifically mentions the pharoah, Ramses, although we don't know which Ramses. The pyramids were built long before any Ramses was pharoah.

The ancient Egyptians get credit for the pyramids, not us Jews.

Ack! I think I just fed a troll...