How have the ancient Egyptians managed to built the Pyramids?

Question

How could Egyptians build something in the ancient age that we can't reproduce with 21st century technology?


Any ideas?

Answer 1

it has often been suggested that they were built by an alien race. yes, i know it's corny, but the ancient egyptians lost their power almost overnight (aided by a roman attack!) like the incas and the mayans. noone knows why. were they alien forces too? don't give me too many thumbs down please.

Answer 2

The Science Channel recently showed a program called "What the Ancients Knew," about ancient Egypt. It showed the instruments the pyramid builders used to make sure the stone blocks were square. It also showed how they used sand as grit to cut through granite blocks. FYI -- granite is as hard to cut as stainless steel. And the tools the ancient Egyptians had were copper, which dulls quickly. This program showed these new discoveries for ancient Egypt.

The Director of Egyptian Antiquities, Dr. Zahi Hawass, said the most intelligent I have ever heard him say on an English-speaking program (and I have seen him on TV on ancient Egyptian themed programs for many, MANY years).

He said,"Egypt built the Pyramids, but the Pyramids also built Egypt."

Meaning that the high level of organization it took to plan and build the Pyramids:

Keeping at least tens of thousands of paid workers on site of the Pyramids all year long (and more during the Inundation, when work on farms ceased until the flood water receded) --

Housing, feeding, clothing the workers, providing excellent medical care, temples to pray in, pay for their work, and tombs for the Afterlife --

More at the quarries at Aswan, hundreds of miles away with the same needs filled...

The organization needed to gather the taxes needed to construct such a huge monument, and hire the workers from the rural population...

These are just a few of the issues the Pharaohs and his viziers had to cope with when a pyramid was built. Any pyramid, for pyramids were built from the Third Dynasty in the Old Kingdom with King Djoser until the Eighteenth Dynasty in the New Kingdom a thousand years later with King Ahmose I.

I think one factor that has not been explored is that the ancient Egyptians used what I call "Desert Power," or used the sand that surrounded them on both sides of the Nile valley.

One example of using Desert Power is how the ancients used sand as a way to erect an obelisk. Sand was put into a shaft and slowly dug out the bottom so the stone monolith would sink into position on its foundation. Then the surrounding shaft was dismantled, the obelisk was carved and painted, and often topped with a gold cap on its pyramidion top.

Science is still discovering how the ancient Egyptians created their remarkable monuments.

Answer 3

From what i know, the egyptians had a preeety good understanding of mechanics, and were also helped by lots and lots of slaves. If you put those two together, you have man-power + the way to use it.
Now if we exclude the alien-factor and all that sack of theories, and focus only on the big blocks of stone, that can actually be pulled off pretty easily.
Modern cranes use the same physics principle that a simple lever would use. The difference consists only in the way you get the power. We use electricity, while they used good ol' fashion "making lots of people work to their deaths" principle. Otherwise, there aren't so many differences. Their greatness consists in the amount of labour and the inventivity of the builders put to work when making the things, it's not alien technology or sth. Plus, mayans built pyramids long before them, using the same methods, but on a smaller scale. Now the architecture of the pyramids is very straightforward and mature. They are simple and elegant, the closest thing to absolute minimalism we'll probably ever get. Death is simple, and absolute, so are the containers for it. The structure of the pyramids is very basic, you have big chunks of rock stacked on top of each other, and narrow corridors pssing through to one or more mortuary chambers. We don't have any trouble here. And, about the way they were made, i don't think that's the mystery. Better look at the symbolism of it all, makes for a much more interesting subject, if you ask me. ;)
Oh, and we CAN reproduce them, but what would be the point of it? They stand for what they stand for, and have but their authenticity to testify the times they come from.

Answer 4

In all actuality no one can really answer this question for you with a completely definitive answer, only theories. I would like to offer a theory for you to think about. The ancient Egyptians had an endless supply of manual labor that they did not have to pay for. Tens of thousands of slaves gave their lives over years and years of back breaking labor to create those pyramids. Why then could they not also use the resources that they actually had at that time. Lets, go back to basics, they have a river, right? The Nile river runs through Egypt. They had boats? The Egyptians were leaders in the trade business, so we know that they could sail.Isn't the valley of the kings where the pyramids are? Valley, the key word here. Why is it so hard for people to think that the people of ancient Egypt couldn't have flooded that valley and hauled the stones on barges to the valley of the kings? Loggers in America use rivers to travel the logs in which they have cut all the time and if the river is not swelled enough they damn the river to pass the logs. Why couldn't the Egyptians have done the same to travel the stones that they were placing. Carbon dating on the Great Spinx of Egypt has shown water damage on the already existing artifact. Water from where? 2+2=4 anywhere on the planet. Peace, love, and joy to you.

Answer 5

I don't get the problem. If someone wanted to spend the money I have no doubt that they could make the the pyramids using the same methods that the Egyptians used. Granted there would be a learning curve but once the bugs were all worked out ;the pyramids are basic simple structures.
There is nothing particulary complicated or sohisticated about the materials used or the math needed to build them.
Now if someone left a modern suspension bridge in the desert for 4500 years , that would cause me to wonder how they did it and if aliens assisted them.

Answer 6

A very good question. Does the structure seems advance for the time? There are other awesome structures built in periods B.C. The Greek Parthenon, Temple of Amun ,Egypt,etc, etc.I believe, however that the work in most of these structures were done by people of the Earth. Man have always been very ambitious , seeking knowledge, building, discovering. The brains of the day , very innovating built the pyramids by human muscles, using a large labour force.

Answer 7

They have reached to proper knowledge characterized with a very advanced science & intelligent civilization.

Do you know that the height of the biggest Pyramids (Bottom to Top) equals the distance from Earth to Sun...!! Of course changing Meters into Thousands of Kilometers...

If you bring an apple, an orange and a seed of green beans and leave it in the out door, it will rutten with the passage of time; i.e., a couple of weeks or so, but it will remain as it is for more than six months if taken inside certain rooms inside the Pyramids...

I read that once in an article, and have seen a T.V. Programe talking about the same issue.

Lastly, one theory says that they have reached to the knowledge of how to control GRAVITY, and thus were capable of taking 2.5 Tons of a Stone Weight up dead easily, but this remains a theory.

Answer 8

Actually we could realy, if we wanted to and make the effort, do likewise. But the ancient Egyptians had their ways:
What they did first was to mark out the land with their instruments. Then they dug the first foundations around the square to put in the first stones. They put in the first stones and then began to build ramps up the pyramid. Most of their stone came from Giza itself, from a quarry, about a couple of miles from the site itself. They had about 1500 masons in the quarry who used copper chissels. Supporting them they had a great number of copper sharperners who would continue sharpening the copper chissels. Once they had put the first chips into the rock they would put wooden triangles into it and by means of hammers, split it. Then the masons would cut the stones.
After this many thousands of men would drag the stones weighing an average of two and a half tons on wooden instruments and rollers. It would take 200 men for just one stone , at least.
Then they would haul them up the ramp, many more men would be needed, and have them trimmed by more masons(the pharoah's elite) Then by means of cranes they would put them into positon-all according to a pre schedualed plan and blue prints. They first built the pyramid up the ramps in a step fashion. Then when they reached the very top they put in the cap stone and fashioned it. They then polished the cap stone and then put other stones in place, so that they had the right angles all the way down, dismantling the ramp after they polished the stones, until the whole thing reached the ground. When pharoah was buried they then sealed the entrance stone.
You see the great pyramid was made from 2,300,000 stones each weighing on an average of two and a half tons or more. It is around approximately 7 million tons weight. Now if you remember that about 100,000 men were employed for 20 years and they worked for nine days out of ten. And remember that it was a most were employed on the off harvest, or permantly from all the villiges, then you have a computation in man hours. Say average of 200 days a year and ten hours a day. You would have
100,000 x 10 for the hours= 1 million per day, then multiply it by 200 for the year = 200 million, the multiply it for the time it took to build = 4 billion man hours. Given the weight of the pyramid it is almost 600 man hours per ton. It is c 1,800 man hours per stone. When you consider this the building of the pyramid becomes logical.

Also the reasons why the people built it was that it was a religous duty and by doing so, they secured their place in the afterlife. Something of supreme importance to the ancient Egyptian. Also it was a civil duty and it served a purpose of employment for a lot of Egyptians during off harvest time. They were also all supplied handsomly with plenty of bread, beer, vegetalbes, clothes and something rare in the ancient world-meat every day. There were no slaves on the pyramids. They were all free and worked with enthusiasm. It was a sort of civil project to provide employment and stimulate the economy.
Also, there was a legend that the cap stone was six feet high and made of SOLID GOLD. The great pyramids, especially the one of CHEOPS(CORFU) is considered one of the many wonders of the world. It is the only wonder, except the great wall of china , that is mostly intact after so many thousands of years. It will probably take tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of years to erode away. It is truelly a wonder. And aliens didn't build them, gods didn't built them, magic didn't built them, fairies didn't built them. I'll tell you who did- human beings just like you and me. A fact we should be proud of . It shows what human beings are capable of and what we can accomplish in the future. When a people have enough faith in themselves to do something like this, THEN THERE IS HOPE AND PROMISE FOR US ALL.
Hope this helps.

Answer 9

The Jews built the pyramids. The Egyptians recieved credit because Jews were slaves at the time.

Answer 10

There has been a lot of ink spent trying to explain how the pyramids were built. But, since none of us living in the 20th & 21st centure were around, I doubt we have ever come close to the real deal. Try the link below, if not the real answer, at least it is interesting.