The construction of the Egyptian pyramids has puzzled historians, scientists, and enthusiasts for centuries.
Even you dear reader!
How were the pyramids built and Who built them? The question that make you stay up all night wandering.
How did ancient Egyptians move millions of heavy stones without modern technology? By muscle force?
With theories ranging from advanced ancient techniques to extraterrestrial involvement, the mystery of the pyramids has only deepened over time.
In this article, we’ll explore four of the most captivating theories about how the pyramids were built and who was behind these massive feats of engineering and most importanly why a dog climbed the largest pyramid?
Table of Contents
What Do the Pyramids and Stonehenge Have in Common? The Mystery of the Heavy Stones
Yes. They have really old and heavy rocks. But really old like, there’s no data of civilization old (5000 years old) And heavy like…at leat two cars of weight.
For the pyramids, granite blocks used in the Great Pyramid of Khufu were sourced from Aswan, over 800 kilometers (almost 500 miles) from Giza, the granite block were about 20 tons, and they were only located inside in the chamber, still 20 tons is like 20 cars. Thou the exterior is built with limestone wich was lighter, 2,5 tons each and they were around 2,3 millions blocks.
The true mystery isn’t just the weight of these stones but how the ancient builders moved and assembled them without advanced tools. Cause the pyramid of giza is 45 store building tall and is it already difficult to move the fridge over the stairs, image moving a blog of 2,5 ton. You would need to call all your cousins.
Think about it: the wheel didn’t exist yet, nor did durable metal tools, only bronze was available and is a softer metal than steel, for caving it takes a lot of sharpening, again and again.
Still, the pyramids – especially the Great Pyramid of Khufu – were supposedly constructed in about 30 years. That means they would have had to place one massive limestone block every three minutes to complete the project in that time frame.
The math just doesn’t add up!
One block every three munutes is crazy fast, not even assembling that amount of bricks takes three minutes.
20,000 workers took on this monumental task.
But here’s the question: how did they organize so many people to achieve such a precise feat? Even today, coordinating large events without mishaps is tough.
So how did the ancient Egyptians keep thousands of workers on schedule without chaos? Humans aren’t exactly known for perfect coordination in large groups – crowds often mean disorder.
For perspective, let’s look at the Empire State Building. Built in 1930, it required about 3,400 total workers and 600 active workers at a time, yet still took over a year to finish, even with cranes and modern construction tools. Imagine doing all that by hand, with no machines, no concrete!
Evolution or Regression?
Another strange fact: we’d expect construction techniques to improve over time, but in ancient Egypt, it went the other way. They didn’t find a way of making pyramid contruction eficient.
Usually in a civilization of many centuries, you start with something basic, and they keep improving from that. That happened to the Greeks and after the Romans, construction was getting better every century, and with the Egyptian seem to be a void were they stopped and focussed on other type of religios contructions, like temples.
The pyramids were built during the “Old Kingdom,” and after that era, no more pyramids were built.
Even Tutankhamun, who lived over a thousand years later, wasn’t buried in a pyramid, but in a small tomb. This means that the pyramid-building phase was a one-time phenomenon, adding even more mystery to the story.
Theories on How the Pyramids Were Built (!!?)
The official theory is that around 20,000 workers, not slaves, but not masons, mostly…everyone was involved.
They used sand ramps, sleds, and ropes to move and lift the stones. The wheel was not invented…nothing really was invented.
In other words, a huge, organized workforce moved millions of heavy stones at a time when neither bronze tools nor complex societies existed. But is that even possible?
In 3000 B.C., the Greeks weren’t around, and the Roman Empire was still millennia away. How did the Egyptians manage such advanced engineering?
Here are some alternative theories, and they get pretty interesting:
- The power of HARD WORK: Ancient Egyptians used nothing but physical labor and teamwork, building ramps and sliding the stones across sand.
- Alien Technology: Some say extraterrestrials arrived on Earth, showing the Egyptians advanced methods to cut, transport, and place the stones. And make a good tea.
- On-site Stone Molding: Perhaps the stones weren’t transported but molded in place, similar to how concrete is poured today.
- Magnetic Levitation: This one suggests they used some unknown force, like magnetic fields, to levitate the stones into place.
TL;DR: Egyptian Pyramids Mystery
- Built with over 2 million massive stones, 2,5 tons each limestone and 20 tones ganite stone in the chamber.
- Construction was completed in ~30 years, needing one stone placed every 3 minutes.
- Some of them have to be lifted 139m
- Built using ramps, sleds, ropes, and 20,000+ workers
- No Wheel, very few trees in egypt to help moving ramps.
- Metal availble: bronze, and they used diodorite chisels too
The mystery is served.
On-Site Molding in the next post
