•The Pyramid of Khufu (sometimes called Cheops), the largest Egyptian
pyramid, is made of 2.3 million stone blocks, each weighing anywhere
from 2.5 to 16 tons. Some of the blocks, particularly the ones used in
the inner chambers, came as far as Aswan, 500 miles from Giza where
the pyramid stands. But how did ancient Egyptians build such massive
pyramids without using simple machines such as the wheel, which,
while used by Egyptians for pottery making, was not used for carts or
chariots until 1500 BCE, likely because wheels weren’t much use in the
thick sand that covered the country? It’s an age-old mystery and one
that continues to be an enigma for ancient monumental complexes
across the world. While there are numerous theories, there is a lack of
hard, archaeological evidence to fully support any one of them.
•One theory about how the blocks were moved involves sleds and wet
sand. A painting in the tomb of Djehutihotep shows men dragging a
colossal statue on a sled. In front of them, a person pours water onto
the sand. While initially thought to be a ceremonial gesture, physicist
Daniel Bonn recently discovered that the right amount of water, about
two to five percent of the volume of sand, increased the stiffness of the
sand and reduced the friction between the object being dragged and
the ground, making the object much easier to move. The same
technique may have been used to drag stone blocks to pyramid
construction sites.
•Once the blocks were at the pyramid’s construction site, however,
how were they lifted into place without the use of mechanical
advantage? A ramp found in a quarry dating to the construction of the
Pyramid of Khufu indicates that ancient Egyptians were able to pull
stone blocks out of the quarry on a steep upward slope. It’s possible
that similar ramps were used to haul stones up the pyramid’s sides to
be placed. However, the exact system is unknown. The ramps could
have been on the outside of the pyramid, spiraling up like a mountain
road, or straight and long, or built within the pyramid. How a 16-ton
block could have been moved up a ramp is also unknown, with theories
ranging from sleds to wooden rollers to wooden posts tied to each side
of a block, changing the shape from square to polygon and allowing
them to be rolled like a keg of beer.
How were the pyramids of Egypt built?