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Mystery of the construction of the pyramids
Essays on how egyptian pyramids were built
Essays on how egyptian pyramids were built
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One of many mysteries in our world are the Pyramids at Giza in how the pyramids were constructed without the use of modern machinery. Most experts do agree that the pyramids were created as burial monuments for the pharaohs. There are many theories from scientists, historians, and other people, which could explain how the pyramids were created. One theory may be more plausible over the others theories due to how far-fetched they can be. There are many theories to how the pyramids were built, some has suggested may have been built by extraterrestrials while others think that the Egyptians used technology that has been lost over time. According to an article by Penn State University (2008), the pyramids core were made of local limestone, outside …show more content…
They are theories because they have not been proven as fact if the stones were carved out of a quarry and transferred or cement like mix created locally, it could be a mixture of both theories, and maybe the Egyptians used both methods. There is a lot about that time period that we do not know, and both theories can be plausible. Thinking about how heavy the blocks are, it seems that making the cement locally would be more plausible than moving blocks that weight several tons. A boat may not be able to hold too many of the blocks and cause the boat to sink, it would depend on the construction of the boat, it might be possible. Then there is the moving of the block and raising them. Even with the use of ramps, only so many people can fit on the ramp to be able to hoist the block into place on the pyramids. One theory does suggest a sled, pulled by animals were used to move the stones which is possible, however they have to make sure there was enough room to have people lift the block up to put it in place without use of a crane. Another reason for thinking the blocks were made instead of chiseling them, thinking along the lines that chiseling a block may weaken it around the edges. The hitting the block with a chisel may cause crack in the stone and could cause parts of the stone to crumble making it unless. Its mention that the blocks were just about perfectly squared and hitting with a chisel, make cause the blocks to not be as squared. According to Geopolymer Institute (2014), the joints in-between millions of blocks stacked horizontally and vertically were not more than 2 mm wide, (Geopolymer Institute, 2014). Some people may say that the blocks were not cut out by made due to how well they fit next to each other and stacked up. Overall, people take guesses of how the pyramids were built and how the stones were moved, it could have been lost technology that we do
Monuments created during the Neolithic period were often made out of large blocks of stone. Many of these large stones weighed up to several tons and could measure fifteen or more feet in height, which probably made it extremely difficult for prehistoric people to move these stones to the site of the monument and then erect and arrange many of these stones in intentional ways.
The first permanent stone fortifications was built in Jericho. They constructed the building using roughly shaped stones laid without mortar (Kleiner, 24). Once Jericho’s inhabitants left their site, a different group of people came to settle there. They used different techniques, “…established a farming community of rectangular mud-brick houses on stone foundations with plastered and painted floors and walls” (Kleiner, 25). The megalithic tomb in Ireland was built in the form of a passage grave. “At Newgrandge, the huge megaliths forming the vaulted passage and the dome are held in place by their own weight without mortar, each stone countering the thrust o neighboring stones. Decorating some of the megaliths are incised spirals and other motifs” (Kleiner, 27). The main chamber used early examples of corralled vaulting and in addition the Newgrandge tomb illuminates sunlight through the passage and the burial chamber during the winter solstice. Nearing the end of the fourth millennium BCE, Neolithic civilization had spread in every diffraction even to small remote areas. “…Hagar Quim is one of many constructed on Malta between 3200 and 2500 BCE” (Kleiner, 27).The builders of Malta constructed the temple by pilling cut stone blocks very carefully in stacked horizontal rows. “To construct the doorways at Hagar Qim, the builders employed the post-and-lintel system in which two upright stones
Has it ever crossed your mind that the oldest and only surviving of the Seven Wonders of the World was built in times that predated any modern technology? Doesn't it seem almost impossible? There are three Pyramids of Giza, the first one was commissioned in Ancient Egypt by the Pharaoh Khufu, around the year 2540 BCE. They are located in Giza, Egypt, and take on this name. Standing 488 ft tall, they were once the tallest buildings in the world, for many hundreds of years. The site is one of the most famous worldwide, receiving millions of tourists each year. The Pyramid of Giza is extremely significant because of its enormous scale and the many people needed to construct it, along with the methods used to do so.
A pyramid is an Egyptian structure and are as old as 40,000 years old. A pyramids base can either be triangular or square this affects how many sides the pyramid has. These structures were usually made out of huge limestone blocks. The Egyptian pyramids were built using ramps which spiraled around the pyramid. The average limestone block weighed around 2.5 tons.( The great pyramids and more, 2013)
In fact this required a lot of education, especially in math for the engineering. It could be practice, palace, and temple. How the ancient Egyptians achieved to place the heavy stones high on top of the Pyramids is still a mystery. Huge blocks of rock were cut from places many miles away and taken by boat to Giza and delivered to certain locations where well-constructed pyramids were being built. The slaves used a series of log rolling on the ground to move the giant stones. The first pyramids were called "Step Pyramids" because they looked like giant
In the third dynasty the egyptians gained more power and wealth. They wanted a way to show off their great power and wealth, so they built pyramids, pyramids were huge pointed stone structures. Pyramids contained rooms full of treasure and secret passageways. The first pyramid was the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, built for King Zoser around 2750 B.C. “The step pyramid was the only one of its kind, it was an amazing improvement from the mastaba.” ( pg 49)
They believed the worldly life is temporary and the tomb is everlasting. Therefore, living houses were built using temporary materials while the pyramids were built with much more consideration. A lot of the materials they used were granite, limestone, and sandstone as well as both sun-dried and kiln-dried bricks. This was a time when Egyptians were really mastering stonework and obelisks began to appear. Then this skill transitioned to stepped pyramids like the Step Pyramid of King Djoser to wonders like the Great Pyramids in Giza.
These methods may have been effective in moving the blocks close to the building site, but do not explain how the massive bricks, weighing as much as a Ford F250 truck, were lifted on top of each other. When the Great Pyramids at Giza were built, the Egyptians had not invented the wheel yet, but the limestone blocks that they grudgingly transported, in an effort to build pyramids, weighed about 2 tons each. If all of the stone from the pyramids was cut into one foot, square blocks, it would extend two thirds of the way around the earth. No human life forms could have possibly erected these structures using that much limestone, because they did not have the technology to work at such scale. Only aliens, with more advanced mechanical and mental abilities, could have designed and delivered such an amazing feat.
A few pyramids still stand today, and are great attractions for tourists. The pyramids were built by taking blocks of granite to the workshop, measuring the blocks down to size, shaping the blocks, and placing the blocks into the body of the pyramid. The core of the structure is now completed. Then, you place the limestone blocks on the top of the structure (they started putting the blocks on top and then worked their way down). They left two empty rooms to place the pharaoh and his belongings in. They sealed the pyramids so well, it took four hundred years for two robbers to figure out how to get in. Free citizens, drafted for public work, not by slaves of any sort, built the pyramids. Four thousand expert stone sculptors built the pyramids all year round. An extra work group of about ninety-five thousand men worked on the pyramids during the four-month period of the inundation (the time of enforced idleness for farmers, since the field were covered with the Nile water flood). The pyramids were built between the year 1600 B.C. and the year 2700.
Clifford Wilson has the most acceptable theory compared to the other two individual’s arguments. In Clifford Wilson’s theory, he suggests that the pyramids were built with the “heave-ho” method. With the use of sleds made from wood that is easily imported from Phoenicia and rope, it is an acceptable theory on how the Great Pyramid was built. Wilson has also seen workers, using a single rope and pulley, move stones as the supervisor chants out instructions. One question that arises is how the builders were able to lift the stones into place. Wilson explains that during the construction of the pyramid, a ramp made of earth could be increased as the height of the pyramid increased. Once outer limestone blocks are fitted into place the earth could simply be removed. Clifford Wilson clearly verifies his theory with specific details, which displays that his theory is the most logical and suitable explanation of the construction of the Great Pyramid.
The construction of the Great Pyramid is still a mystery and marvel to this day, there are seven major feats that archeologists still don’t understand.
Joseph Davidovits, a French chemist, has proposed that the pyramids were formed using a special concrete mixture, and then poured into wooden moulds where it hardened (Alt. theory #3).While Davidovits claims to have explained aspects of pyramid construction which the heave-ho theory could not, the mould theory has many faults, rendering it weak and improbable. Firstly, the stones used in building the pyramids were of diverse shapes (Article 5). The shape of the stones would be uniform if they were created in moulds of exact dimensions. If each stone was created in a uniquely fashioned mould, it would account for the diversity in shape. However, building thousands, or even hundreds, of moulds would have been e...
- [2] Redford, Donald B, Ph.D.; McCauley, M, "How were the Egyptian pyramids built?", Research The Pennsylvania State University, Retrieved 11 December 2012.
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures with a square. base and four sloping triangular faces located in Egypt [1]. were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. As of 2008, 138 pyramids have been built. discovered in Egypt.
Although the precise age of the pyramids has long been debated, and there is little evidence to prove when the pyramids were built, some assume that they were built from about 2700 to 2500 BC. Another issue that has been long debated is who exactly built the pyramids. Some researchers find it hard to believe that the pyramids could have been built in one pharaoh’s lifetime. Herodotus is the earliest known historian of the Egyptian Pyramid Age. By his accounts, and estimated guess, more than 100,000 people worked on the pyramid; other researchers believe that it was more like 20,000 people who worked on the pyramid. Now they have to try and figure out where these 20,000 people lived. They would like to know where they lived because the researchers think that it will help them find out more about these people, where they are from, and their daily lives. Inscriptions were found on the outside of the pyramids that give an idea of what people worked on them, but the inscriptions were in no absolute detail. Skeletons that were found on the inside of the pyramid are believed to be the skeletons of workers who labored on the pyramids all year long.