Pyramid Construction Methods

When we visited the Pyramids, one idea that our guide Ahmed tried to disabuse us of was that the Pyramids were built by slave labor. He stated that some of the brute force of moving the multi-ton stone blocks could be done by "throwing people" at the problem. But, even in that case, there would be a need for careful, knowledgeable people around to set up and supervise the hauling, lest people be crushed, maimed, and killed on a regular basis.

Ahmed told us that there was archeological evidence that large teams (thousands, if not tens of thousands) of skilled artisans were employed by the Pharaohs to quarry and cut the blocks to exacting specifications. These people were well-compensated and probably carved the stones out of a sense of pride and something akin to a combination of patriotism and religious duty in order to give their God-King as perfect monument as possible. Ahmed said the precision with which the blocks fit together on all faces really couldn't be explained by masses of slaves chiseling at hunks of granite and limestone.

Here's a general wikipedia article on Pyramid construction.

On the subject of moving the stones into place as the Pyramid was constructed, many theories have been advanced over the years from sensible applications of physics and engineering such as ramps, levers, and logs to silly pseudo-scientific blather like aliens did it. One recent intriguing theory that Michelle's brother Troy told us about this winter involves the use of a spiraling ramp built around the periphery of the pyramid as the pyramid is built up. This idea, advanced by French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin and his father, says that a large external ramp was used to lay the foundation and then was deconstructed and used to build the internal ramp system. The idea is that a solely external ramp would have to be either too long or too steep, once the pyramid reached a certain height. This theory still seems to be controversial, but there is evidence of such a spiraling ramp structure within the Great Pyramid. For more, see this 2007 article by Egyptologist Bob Brier.

Another subject that comes up when discussing the Pyramids concerns the sheer size of the stones used. According to these wikipedia articles, the average weight of the 2.3 million stones that comprise the Great Pyramid is 5000 pounds and the largest stones weigh over 100,000 pounds. Given that the Pyramids were constructed over 4500 years ago, it's a question of how the Egyptians managed to move such massive blocks. Modern engineers don't know exactly how to duplicate this feat with the technology available to the Ancient Egyptians.

In the past year, I've learned of how Wally Wallington, a retired construction worker, uses basic physics to move seemingly impossibly heavy objects by himself with little to moderate effort:



He thinks techniques like these are all that are required to build ancient massive structures such as the Pyramids or Stonehenge. Watching him whip around multi-ton blocks, I'm inclined to agree. Probably since the Ancient Egyptian civilization was centered around building massive stone structures like the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and various temples, they became quite clever and adept at moving huge stones around over the centuries. And, once the building of these monuments stopped being an integral part of the culture, these techniques were forgotten. As better machines were invented in modern times, the need to rediscover these techniques faded and now they can seem pretty amazing.

Mr. Wallington's web site is a little clunky, but has some interesting clips and explanation. I'm almost tempted to buy his DVD.

I also wonder why his site doesn't seem to have been updated since 2007. I hope he didn't get an unhappy lesson about exactly how much inertia a 10-ton concrete block has.

H/T: Skeptoid author Brian Dunning