Nate Rodriguez

History
10 October 2015
Ancient Egyptian Pyramids
Ancient Egypt is often thought of as a mythical culture that practiced dark magic and
other types of sorceries, but in fact, Egypt was a highly scientific and intellectual culture. They
were also a very religious culture that had a variety of practices including the construction of the
sacred pyramids. People today do not give the Egyptians the credit that they deserve because it
seems highly unlikely that ancient people were able to construct a massive building with the
limited technology and resources that were available. The Egyptians, however, were more than
capable of constructing the pyramids because they had the necessary skills, man-power, and
tools, which are less primitive than what we tend to think.
The Egyptians have a long history of building sacred structures. In other words, they
didnt start out building one of the greatest wonders in the world. The whole concept of the tomb
was in fact a result of several centuries of development beginning in 3200 B.C.1. The first burial
tombs that the Egyptians constructed are called mastabas, and each mastaba are somewhat
similar in that they are a huge rectangle constructed out of mud brick2. In 2780 B.C., an architect
named Imhotep built the first pyramid called Zosers (Djosers) Step Pyramid, which means that
the pyramids structure is just one mastaba superimposed on another with each tier smaller than
the previous. This was also one of the first tombs to be built out of stone3. One hundred years
1 Fakhry, Ahmed. The Pyramids. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961, 3
2 Fakhry, Ahmed. The Pyramids. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961, 3
3 Fakhry, Ahmed. The Pyramids. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961, 5.

later, other kings tried to build pyramids similar to the shape of Zosers Step Pyramid. However,
this led to the Bent Pyramid and several other small pyramids that were often finished in a
hurry4. Finally, in 2613 B.C. the first true pyramid was erected, and was shortly followed by the
Great Pyramid of Giza5 (261). The big picture of the construction of these burial tombs is that
the Egyptians had several centuries to perfect their building strategies, and each pyramid built
had a similar design to its predecessor. This allowed the architects and builders to master the
skills that they needed in order to build massive pyramids.
The sheer size of the pyramids, generally the pyramids of Giza, are often what amaze people and
lead them to the question how? For example, the Great Pyramid of Khufu contains roughly
2.3 million stones that are on average 2.5 tons. Then of course there are stones that weigh
upwards of 80 tons6. The common misconception amongst most people is that these stones that
were cut were transported from a quarry miles away, however, the majority of these stones were
cut from a quarry that was just 750 feet away7. The rest of the stones were brought in by the use
of ships. The ship was probably guided into a narrow canal were the load would be slipped off
by a process of using beams to hold the weight as the barge would be weighted with ballast
enabling the ship to slip underneath8. While the Egyptians may not have had to move the stones
as far as one would have thought, the required man power to move the stones is a question that
many people ask.
4 Fakhry, Ahmed. The Pyramids. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961, 6.
5 Fakhry, Ahmed. The Pyramids. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961, 261.
6 Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, 108-109.
7 Fonte, Gerard C. A. 2007. Building the Great Pyramid in a Year : An Engineer's Report. New
York: Algora Publishing, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed October
11, 2015), 20.
8 Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, 202.

The concept that many people often do not think about is that the Egyptians did not move the
blocks by brute force such as pushing, but they had several tricks in moving these blocks, which
allowed the required manpower to be less than what many believe. The main theory that many
people have is that they moved it by pulling it on sleds on top of lubricated sand. The NOVA
pyramid building experiment used this method, and 20 men were able to easily pull a 2-ton
block. There are also several scenes in pyramids of Egyptians pulling blocks in a similar
strategy. The most famous is a scene from a tomb from the 12th dynasty, which shows a 58-ton
statue being pulled by 172 men9. Another theory on how Egyptians moved the massive stones is
by the use of fulcrums. With fulcrums, no energy is wasted because the center of mass stays the
same height. This allows the block to stay in constant motion as if it where a circular stone2.
These fulcrum devices have been found around several pyramid sites and are made of wood
that is not native to Egypt, which leads to the conclusion that they were very important and more
than likely were used for the process described above10. While scholars debate on how the stones
were moved, they are sure that the Egyptians had to use ramps in order to move the blocks to the
top of the pyramid. These ramps were both linear and zig-zag in form which allowed an easier
type of transportation than just lifting the stones11. Another big problem that the Egyptians faced
was the quarrying of the limestone and granite. With the use of only stone and copper tools to
chip away at the limestone and granite, the process was very tedious. In fact, they would
probably only be able to produce 0.02 m3/man-hour of limestone and for granite it was probably
9 Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, 203.
10 Fonte, Gerard C. A. 2007. Building the Great Pyramid in a Year : An Engineer's Report. New
York: Algora Publishing, 2007. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed October
11, 2015), 50.
11
Haan, H. J. 2014. "More Insight from Physics into the Construction of the Egyptian
Pyramids." Archaeometry 56, no. 1: 145-174. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost
(accessed September 19, 2015), 154.

0.00026 m3/man-hour. However, the daily amount of limestone to meet the needs and finish the
project in the respected time was only 322 m3, which would have only required 1212 men12.
Therefore, any more men would have sped up the construction of the pyramid.
While the Egyptian tools are technically considered to be primitive, the way that they were used
is definitely very intelligent. For example, to obtain right angles and vertices, the Egyptians used
simple wooden instruments and plumb lines. The surface was level as long as the plumb line
was straight up and down. In order to cut hard stone, the Egyptians used copper blades, but the
blades only acted like guides. What allowed the stones to be cut was the conjunction of the
blades with abrasive slurry of water, gypsum, and quartz sand. The Egyptians would use soft
copper to chisel the stone and would use hard dolerite to channel out block from the granite
quarries13. While the last two methods seem primitive, it is really more complex than many tend
to believe because the Egyptians realized that the dolerite has to be stronger than the granite or
else the dolerite would just crumble. Furthermore, when the dolerite was to small in size to use,
it would be recycled as rollers or ball bearings14. The Egyptians also had a firm knowledge on
astronomy, which allowed them to use a circular level wall to find true north and align the
pyramids to the stars with amazing accuracy15. There are also a couple of tools that are
somewhat of a mystery to scholars. The first is a simple round object that is similar to a pulley,

12

Haan, de, H.J. 2009. Building the Great Pyramid by Levering. A Mathematical Model.
PalArchs Journal of Egyptology 6(2) (2009), 3.

13 Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, 211.
14 Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, 211.
15 Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, 212.

which scholars are not exactly sure how it was used16. The other being a tool that was described
by Herodotus in is book of histories 17.
Possibly one of the main reasons why people of today have a difficulty grasping the idea that the
Egyptians built the pyramids is the misconception that the Egyptians were primitive people. The
Egyptians were a very intelligent culture with a firm knowledge in geometry, mathematics, and
astronomy, which allowed them to construct one of the greatest wonders of the world. They
were able to master these skills through centuries of building tombs and build what many would
have thought to be impossible.

16 Lehner, Mark. The Complete Pyramids. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008, 211.
17 Herodotus. The Histories. London: Penguin Books, 2003.