Egyptian pyramids! What is your opinion?

Question

I read somewhere that a person called Rampa, who is accomplished in spirituality, revealled that the egyptians who built the pyramids were more accomplished in science and technology than the people of the present age. They had been successful in making such inventions that they could, sort of... eliminate the gravity of the stones and the stones became pillow-light, so it was easy to build the pyramids.

How were the pyramids built?

Answer 1

To answer your supplementary question first, they were built from stone that was quarried with hand tools then shipped by boat and hauled up and put in place using (most likely) rollers, levers and a lot of human muscle power. Our reliance on modern technology has somewhat blinded us to what 'simple' technology and human effort can achieve. As someone else has pointed out here, we accept that the great Gothic cathedrals were built by the hands of man; but if you ever stood in one you'd wonder how they did it. To stand inside one of them is as awe inspiring as it is to regard the pyramids from outside.

On a philosophical (and historical) level however there is something in Rampa's (Lobsang Rampa perhaps...) observation that the ancients knew more than we do (about some things). It's a modern vanity that we believe we always know more than the folk that went before us. Try this one example (and there are plenty of others...)

New Scientist 10 June 2006 reports that an engineer at MIT (John Ochsendorf) has only just devised a computer program that allows him to design and assess vaulted arches, having observed that modern building techniques were incapable of recreating the width to thickness ratio of the roof of King's College chapel (15 metres wide yet only 10 centimetres thick - the equivalent of an eggshell). So for the first time in nearly 500 years we have the ability to build that wide and yet that thin. The new computer analysis points out that where we have attempted similar spans in the last fifty years we have made the roof unecessarilly thick, or put in more columns than were actually needed (if we had put them in the right places). But at the same time the computer program shows that the medieval bulders had it 'just right'. How did they know what was 'just right', and how did they pass this knowledge on to eachother? We don't know. But then until recently we didn't know that they knew more than we do about building thin vaults.

This is not an isolated example. We have only just learnt that the Antikythera mechanism from 100BC exceeded the technology of any clock made up until the 1500's. All of this is not to suggest that the ancients had 'magical' powers. They had simply applied their minds to technical problems and come up with technical solutions that were subsequently 'lost'. That we did eventually rediscover the technology of clocks, or thin vaulted arches, only reaffirms that these were technical problems with technical (not magical) solutions.

Answer 2

This theory is laughable, however I will give you some info on what I know of the pyramids.

The first pyramid was called the step-pyramid and it was constructed by Imhotep for King Djoser in the Old Kingdom. Imhotep basically just improved upon mastabas (which were chambers built underground to serve as tombs for the pharaohs) by adding layers of stone on top, decreasing in size until it reached it's point (somewhat like a giant tombstone).

As for how the Egyptians constructed these massive pyramids; that is still debated heavily. Of course, there is the alien theory, but I'll give you a more feasable account of how they may have built the pyramids.

Some accounts talk of giant wooden ramps that were built to drag the two tonne stone slabs up the structure. The problem with this theory is that the ramps would have had to stretch for over a kilometre by the time the pyramid neared its finish, due to the overwhelming height and width of the pyramids, particularily the Pyramids of Giza.

Other accounts say that the Egyptians must have had winding ramps going around the pyramids (almost in a slinky-like fashion) to drag the stones. The problem with this theory is that the wooden ramps would have been weakened considerably by being built on a curve and would have collapsed under the massive weight of the stones.

One other theory is that the Egyptians had scaffolds to build the pyramids. There are two problems with this theory; one is that it is not certain whether the Egyptians had scaffolds in the Old Kingdom. The other is that the scaffolds would have required pulleys to hoist the slabs of stone up high enough to construct the pyramid and the Egyptians did not have pulleys during that time period.

The final answer to this question is that how the Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids remains somewhat of a mystery. We can speculate and draw up theories, but without sufficiant archeological evidence, we cannot be certain of any of these speculations.

Answer 3

I don't really believe it. The exact method for building the pyramids is not yet clear but there are many proposals much more believable (they usually involve sand ramps or building the pyramid like a ramp and then filling it.) The city where the workers lived has been found and it is obvious that a great number of workers were involved, much more than it would have been necessary if they had such inventions.
Anyway if they had such technologies they would had made much more than a few pyramids.

Answer 4

It's is my considered opinion that the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids of Egypt, a process that lasted over a thousand years, from the Step Pyramid of King Zoser at Sakkara to the Eighteenth Dynasty pyramid of King Ahmose built at Abydos.

While excavations on the Giza plateau under the supervision of Dr. Zawi Hawass and Dr. Mark Lehner show an amazing progress of technology used by the Egyptians in building the Great Pyramids at the height of the Pyramid Age, their findings also show that it was the free native population that constructed these Wonders of the Ancient World. Archeology is still discovering the means by which these great feats were done, from sand ramps to various types of cranes used.

In over 35 years of studying ancient Egypt, I have never heard of this Rampa that you mention. He is probably one of many hoaxes perpetuated over the years about constructing the Great Pyramid of Giza. Hopefully, we should find the real truth of the matter as the workers' village continues to be excavated.

Answer 5

Errr.... No, thats like saying the Atlanteans built the pyramids. The pyramids were built by the Egyptians using the labour of the people (paid labour), it took YEARS to build them, many Pharaohs started building their pyramids as soon as the ascended the throne.

People have been fascinated by the pyramids for centuries, but lets be realistic here. It is what it is and its not supernatural.

Answer 6

Imagine the frustration shared by those of a regional deliverance who repeatedly tried to farm the fertile banks of the Nile, but the not-so-rare tidal surges would periodically threaten the collective efforts of early human civility by salting out the crops and forcing members to forage in the wildernesses once again---or just starve to death together. It must have been a great community project to intelligently channel the silt-surges into the rifts and valleys, and upon the reformation over time, also to intelligently explore the potential of temperature differentials coupled with pressure/vaccuum forces at work under the coated hollows of the mud plain settled so. One can reason that the rotting of bodies creates enough ammonia to be ample to refrigerate foods for these unfortunate crop failures, that is after the surges had filled the lowlands. Locations of chambers,valves, and cavities of supplying fresh water and ammonia confirm these early trials. Perhaps the only thing strange about the pyramids is that they as symbols of prestige overshadowed the practical merits of their development, and that the tale of true human cooperation and experimentation can only be one of imaginative conjecture. As surges subsided, the hollows as hallows to entomb the sacredit of king (and not thinking) stands still in popular explanation today. May the truth come forward.

Answer 7

I'd take a lot of salt with that Rampa theory. Blood, sweat and suffering built the pyramids at a staggering human cost. The wedge, pulley, lever plus muscle power can accomplish very large construction projects (pick almost any cathedral).

Answer 8

I thought the Eguyptians just found a giant stack of stone blocks and removed the ones around the edges in order to leave the pyramids behind.

Answer 9

im a history major in my senior year and i have never heard such nonsense. we all know that aliens did the pyramids. Hello.

Answer 10

Clearly when some people have nothing to do they make up stories. I suggest that you will find it of greater personal benefit to spend your time researching history that can actually be proved.