The Pyramids

[Rafiq]

How do you think the pyramids were built?

Obviously, the current analysis is faulty, being that hundred ton blocks could not be pulled by ropes or people.

So what do you think?

Do you think the Egyptians were more advanced then we were today?

Or do you believe the more strange Idea that Extra Terrestrials built them.

Personally, I think Humans built them.

I think it's jumping to conclusions that Aliens did.

[The Fighting_Crusnik]

I think that they did do it with ropes, but that they used thicker ropes than what we expect. Also, I think they used larger animals to pull them rather than just people alone and they may even have layed logs under the blocks so that they could roll to their destination. Overall, I don't think the pyramids were built any differently than the Babylonian Ziggurat imo.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

The Egyptians had whips. Massive whips.

[Rafiq]

Come on. I'm talking 100 ton block stone the size of semi trucks.

[Comrade Wolfie's Very Nearly Banned Adventures]

Come on. I'm talking 100 ton block stone the size of semi trucks.

I hate this utterly stupid claim that, 'oh those stupid primitive idiots couldn't build such things, must have been aliens'.

If you did some acctual research into the engineering of the Pyramids you'd see how the Egyptians built them, here's a hint, It wasn't aliens.

[Manic Impressive]

It should also be remembered the thousands of people worked to death to build these structures whether it's the pyramids or the great wall of China or the Aztec pyramids or any of the ancient wonders. It's really a wonder of the strength of human labour.

[ComradeOm]

If you did some acctual research into the engineering of the Pyramids you'd see how the Egyptians built them, here's a hint, It wasn't aliens.In this case Wikipedia would suffice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramid_construction_techniques)


Obviously, the current analysis is faulty, being that hundred ton blocks could not be pulled by ropes or people.Actually, most of the blocks involved in the Great Pyramid would have weighted less than three tons with only a handful coming close to 100 tons

[ʇsıɥɔɹɐuɐ ıɯɐbıɹo]

The Pyramids are miracles, as foretold by the great prophets in ICP. :lol:

[Rafiq]

I hate this utterly stupid claim that, 'oh those stupid primitive idiots couldn't build such things, must have been aliens'.

If you did some acctual research into the engineering of the Pyramids you'd see how the Egyptians built them, here's a hint, It wasn't aliens.

Okay. I don't think it was Aliens.

I think it was Advanced Humans...

[Q]

Moving around heavy blocks of stone isn't very hard.

Move these stones with the precision that went into constructing the Giza pyramids is however another matter. I've heard many claims throughout the years that we couldn't achieve a similar precision with current building methods.

I haven't bothered with this subject for years though.

[Salyut]

Farmers working off season. I recommend taking a Near Eastern history course if you have one available - you will learn all kinds of cool shit.

[Amphictyonis]

The Pyramids are miracles, as foretold by the great prophets in ICP. :lol:

That song is, well, discombobulated. I can't believe I even know what you're talking about. 5 minutes of my life gone because I chose to watch their 'miracles' video.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I've read that one of the first recorded strikes in history took place amongst some of the skilled builders during a pyramid contruction. They demanded an increase in the grain that they were getting paid or something.

[Rafiq]

It would have been much more useful if they had Karl Marx back then.

[MarxSchmarx]

The woerkers were mostly corvee labor - people paying their taxes in the form of labor to the state. So it was not "whipping of the slaves" as charleton heston movies would have it.

As far as technology goes, another thing they used were carved logs to help the blocks move. So you would be able to pull the block (with human and animal power) along an arrangement of logs, and the logs woudl roll as teh block moved forward. When you came to the end of the logs, you would have somebody pick up the logs, and bring it to the front of the line and proceed like a conveyer belt. I think people have actually tried recreating it this way and they were able to get along pretty quickly.

[Broletariat]

Moving around heavy blocks of stone isn't very hard.

Move these stones with the precision that went into constructing the Giza pyramids is however another matter. I've heard many claims throughout the years that we couldn't achieve a similar precision with current building methods.

I haven't bothered with this subject for years though.
I think another good question is why did they make them so precisely lined up?

[ComradeOm]

I think it was Advanced Humans...Something that Egyptians don't qualify as?

[Milk Sheikh]

Watch Ten Commandments. It's all there.

[Meridian]

I think another good question is why did they make them so precisely lined up?
Perhaps because they (at least the 'ruling class') valued geometry as something sacred. I remember reading that Pythagoras essentially got his ideas from Egypt.

[Rafiq]

Something that Egyptians don't qualify as?

Maybe they did.... Some say the Mayans were extremely advanced thousands of years ago.

[The Author]

I always found it very hard to believe that in just a period of 20 years, 2 million stones weighing from 1 to 100 tons could be assembled at the Great Pyramid of Giza by simply moving them up mud ramps on sleds around the structure. I think it took longer, I think they used a combination of levers and ramps, and I think they used ramps on the outside and inside of the pyramid, and that different administrations of different pharaohs had control of different pyramid construction projects.

[Die Neue Zeit]

I watched something when I was younger about the ancient Egyptians using some form of levitation technology. The basic idea supporting this is that the blocks needed to build the pyramid ramps were more than the blocks needed for the pyramid itself.

[Dimentio]

It should also be remembered the thousands of people worked to death to build these structures whether it's the pyramids or the great wall of China or the Aztec pyramids or any of the ancient wonders. It's really a wonder of the strength of human labour.

The pyramid constructors were probably the best paid workers in all of Egypt. Of course, it was harsh conditions, but it was a good pay. Probably one reason was to combat unemployment due to increased productivity in the agricultural sector.

As for how they built them. They made platforms of dirt which they increased in height for each level so they could drag up the stones, then moved away the platforms.

[Dimentio]

The woerkers were mostly corvee labor - people paying their taxes in the form of labor to the state. So it was not "whipping of the slaves" as charleton heston movies would have it.

As far as technology goes, another thing they used were carved logs to help the blocks move. So you would be able to pull the block (with human and animal power) along an arrangement of logs, and the logs woudl roll as teh block moved forward. When you came to the end of the logs, you would have somebody pick up the logs, and bring it to the front of the line and proceed like a conveyer belt. I think people have actually tried recreating it this way and they were able to get along pretty quickly.

Not really. Egypt did not have a market economy until the New Kingdom. The Old Kingdom was a centrally planned economy where the state redistributed all food through government-operated granaries (which is why obesity was a crime in Egypt as well). Until the death of Cleopatra, Egypt kept the base of a planned economy.

The pyramid workers were highly skilled and highly paid labourers who received jewellery, beer and high food rations by the state.

[B0LSHEVIK]

Actually, many here have theories that have long since been debunked or otherwise proven false. The current leading idea is that they used an 'inner-ramp' within the structure of the Great Pyramid. Modern analysis of this have proven it to be true. As there seems to be an inner ramp that seems to have been backfilled with rubble (which is visible because of modern technology).

Also, most blocks were not 100 tons. And even if they were, its nothing that multiple teams of 5,000 men pulling on huge ropes couldnt have accomplished. The Egyptians didnt use animals, that is false. And, up untill the Great Pyramid, which was the pinnacle of Egyptian architecture, one can see the evolution of these Mastabas. As a matter of fact, there are quite a number of pyramids scattered through egypt of half built pyramids (abandoned due to structural/architectural failure), or of earlier imperfect pyramids such as the Bent Pyramid. Clearly, this architecture took time to develop in ancient Lower Egypt; and wasnt a perfect build the first few times. It took time. A clear sign of human origins, if you ask me.

[La Comédie Noire]

We constantly under estimate and at the same time mythologize human achievement. For instance, I have heard people in the middle ages used to think there were giants because of how tall Greek and Roman ruins were.

As for the Pyramids, Egyptians just didn't decide one day they were going to build a really tall pyramid. If you look at Egyptian architecture you can see a gradual progression of burial mounds that get taller and taller as time goes on. That's like hundreds of years of trial and error and practice with smaller pyramids.


Also, most blocks were not 100 tons. And even if they were, its nothing that multiple teams of 5,000 men pulling on huge ropes couldnt have accomplished. The Egyptians didnt use animals, that is false. And, up untill the Great Pyramid, which was the pinnacle of Egyptian architecture, one can see the evolution of these Ma'aats. As a matter of fact, there are quite a number of pyramids scattered through egypt of half built pyramids, or of imperfect pyramids such as the Bent Pyramid. Clearly, this architecture took time to develop in ancient Lower Egypt; and wasnt a perfect build the first few times. It took time. A clear sign of human origins, if you ask me.

Oh beat me to it. :)

[MellowViper]

They were very intelligent people in terms of engineering. I heard they heated rods and stuck them into holes bored in limestone and then cooled off the rods with water causing rapid contraction that made the rock crack. Since the limestone was away from the site, they say they transported them on wooden barges down the nile, and my guess is they just used a lot of man power. They might have rolled the blocks on logs or bearings of some kind and pulled them up makeshift ramps to get them to higher layers on the construction project. Its a shame it was all for the benefit of single monarch's mummified corpse to rest in. Think of if they used the same labor and energy for something that would have benefited the living within that society.