How was the Great Pyramid Built?

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Made of Honor

The question of who built the pyramids, and how, has long been debated by Egyptologists and historians and there is really no completely satisfactory answer. According to the earliest known historian of the Egyptian Pyramid Age, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (5th cent. BC), the Great Pyramid took 20 years to construct and demanded the labor of 100,000 men, yet it is hard to believe that any of these enormous monuments could have been built in one pharaoh's lifetime. Even the ancient Herodotus was still 2200 years after the actual building of the pyramids.

sistablu...Maat

Due to archaeological evidence that links the site there is no doubt that the blocks of masonry were cut from the limestone quarries at the Muquattan Hills near Cairo then taken across the Nile on barges. From there they were hauled on their purpose built sleds by teams of free workers who came to work on "public works programs' such as the pyramids during the period of inundation when the land was unworkable due to the Niles flood pattern.
This annual occurrence also made floating the blocks across the river easier as the water level was higher and the river also ran closer to the Giza plateau in 2,700 BCE.
There would have been a causeway that ran from the tiver to the site and the sleds were pulled by teams of men who gave tehmselves names such as the" Beer Drinkers of Khufu" and "Khufu's Nose Breakers".
So it appears that there was quire a bit of comperition among the gangs of workmen as to who could haul the fastest and I dont imagine that there would have been any need for whips to urge them on as excavations and research by leading Egyptologist Mark Lehner has shown that they often competed for extra beer rations.
Mark has worked for the past 24 years excavating the pyramid workers village at the Giza site and the evidence shows that the men were well fed and housed,given the best available medical attention if required and that there were many whose families joined them and lived at the site while the men worked.
The Giza village was most likely the first "company town" in history
There were many associated trades involved in the construction, such as black smiths,tool makers and survayers who would make sure the alingment of the blocks was true, other importent jobs would have been the water haulers to make sure the men had water to drink and and men whose task it was to keep the causeway just damp enough that the sleds would slide easy and to sharpen the tools as the masons finished the rough cut blocks.
We know this is the method used for hauling huge blocks of masonry and statues from the depictions left by the ancient Egyptians at other sites that required the movement of huge and heavy masonry.Such as the many colossal statues of Rameses II that have been found thoughout Egypt, some weigh far more than any masonry blocks found in the pyramids.
We also know that there were very few slaves actually involved in the construction of the pyramids.
The ancient Egyptians valued their slaves highly and only prisioners of war and criminals were sent to work at the quarries to mine the limestone and they would have been kept apart from the general workforce of tradesmen and free labourers.
There is a very good documentary seried on youtube on the construction of the Great Pyramid and the pyramid buliders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJWrlYIf-Bw&feature=related
I also recommend these sites for reseach one is written by one of my former lecturers and Im sure you have heard of our Dr Hawass before.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/pyramid_builders_07.shtml
http://www.touregypt.net/construction/construc.htm
http://www.guardians.net/hawass/buildtomb.htm
This site has many other articles on pyramid building and you will even find you can test your knowledge by overseeing the constuction of a pyramid.
If you need any futher links or have queries about any part of pyramid building, just email me through YAs.
Good luck with your assignment

Top Cat

they built passage ways & ramps inside the pyramid so that they could drag the blocks to the top. It would be impossible to lift them as each one weighs about 2 tonnes! I saw a really good programme about it the other week

2ndimpression

There is evidence of large earth ramps being built which the stone blocks were dragged up although there are other alternatives which have been suggested and may have merit as the earth ramps would have been a monumental undertaking in themselves.
The archaeological evidence suggests it was unlikely that slaves were used as the workers were highly valued and extremely well fed compared to the rest of the population.

Janoobee

now if finding out the great mystery is as simple as that, you should be so lucky

Ashlyn

They don't really know. I have done much and much research on Ancient Egypt. And they dont really know. Here is what they do know Many many and many laborers were used and they believed that they would be rewarded for helping build a pyramid in the afterlife. Archeologists still are not sure how these amazing pyramids were built.

Todd James

slaves and thousands of people. they would ship it down the nile to the closest place and then drag it to the site. then they would drag it up with slave labour and use pulleys and ramps. but they built it going around the pyramid. im sorry i studyed this i cant remember the rest. but i hope this helps

caroline

no one knows until now it's a mystery not u or anybody else will know it ( for now course)

Adam

they moved the stones using round wooden trunks

!!!oohay

you think right but mostly bruit slave labor and ramps

Sami G

I did an assignment on the Great Pyramid not long ago. This website helped a lot on how the Great Pyramid was built. I know it says how pyramids were built but it says later on it uses the Great Pyramid as an example. You just have to scroll down a bit. Hope it helps xD

Sunken Dream

One block at a time.

Lot of slaves too.

The power of Rah the God too.

khalfan01

Mybe my opinion is totally different, but this is what i think its right.
Those Pyramids, and other huge buildings were not built by normal people like me and you. The wieght of the used stones are in tones and tones. I have asked if the slaves, or the pharo used tools like wood, ropes etc.... where are they? where are those tools..no evidance.
So, they didnt build them, they found them ready!!!
The people who built those pyramids were BIG people. Science approved and found a huge skeleton of a human in different part of the world. Those who really built the Pyramids.
They didnt need tools bcz they were BIG enough to carry those very heavy stones.By the way the stones were brought from different place and not the surrounding area of the pyramids.
From the other hand, the pharo were good in art...and they have done a great job too.

Joey

Using slaves.

adsrmz

here's the answer http://www.bible-history.com/resource/ff_giza.htm

Kayla

its a mystery even with our technology today we are having trouble figuring out th e mystery that is ancient egypt, write your essay on what you believed happened, because there is no defienet answer

Justin

Slavery

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