I always like seeing discoveries about the pyramids, but I don't get the feeling this tells us as much as the article wants the reader to believe.
the job of hauling into place the huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments may have been completed more quickly than previously thought
There is no current timeline for how the great pyramid was built. The only frame of reference that we have is the assumption that the pyramid was built in Kufu's lifetime and all other estimates are derived from that.
We really have no idea how long it took the original builders to move those stones.
Each stone weighs an average of 2.5T (up to 10T) .. and the stones were quarried from hundreds of kilometers away..
With a total of 2.5 million giant stones coming from such extreme distances, I don't get the feeling we're much closer to coming up with an actual timeline for how long this took.
I'm 90% sure I remember watching a documentary from 10+ years ago about a French egyptologist postulating the same mechanism and finding evidence for these ramps on site. I remember specifically how it solved a major puzzle pertaining to the transportation of such heavy blocks within the upper levels of the pyramid as it was being constructed.
'Egyptologists stumble across ramp'
given the incredible amount of research, mapping and unanswered questions about the 'mystery' this seems pretty flimsy stuff to me.
Interesting that they discuss pulling via human labor but not with bullocks, which the pharaonic Egyptians did have. Could it be there are no such pictures of animals pulling stones?
Nothing beats a human for long distance travel ability on land. Birds go farther, but they fly. Many animals can sprint faster, but on the timescale of a few days all land animals would drop dead trying to keep up with a human walking. Sure the pace is slow, and the amount a single human can do is less than other animals. However for long distances humans do better than any other animal.
The bullock might have been useful for hauling a short hard distance (out of the quarry for example). However if the quarry is a long ways away (this might or might not be true) humans are the best labor choice.
If I'm reading this correctly, they found post holes and a steeper ramp than expected, which leads them to believe that they both pushed the blocks up the slope and pulled them, through a "pulley system".
I'm not so sure. I remember from high school that the pulley was one of the five simple machines noted by Hero of Alexandria, but he lived over 2000 years after the Great Pyramid was built. I have no idea if the pulley was possessed by the ancient Egyptians - absent additional evidence, I would assume that they likely just wrapped ropes around the vertical posts. That wouldn't qualify as a pulley (which is by definition a wheel and axle) but would explain the holes and the steeper slope, but wouldn't require a drastic change in how we understand that the pyramids were built.
People have proposed a pulley that the Egyptians could have had. Not sure if there is any evidence that they did have it beyond what's mentioned in the article.
But why do we insist to think that the the pyramids were built with such primitive tools?
It's not only the weight of the stone blocks and the distance but also the mathematical precision, the perfectly round holes drilled in some stones, the puzzle shaped carved stones to stand earthquakes and the perfectly chiseled pharaoh stone statues and all the amazing things there that it makes me wonder why do we insist they used chisels and ropes and all that things that we associate with primitives?
Why is so hard to admit that they had some kind of advanced technology that for some reason has been lost?
Is this so scary to admit for a culture that wants to think is the pinnacle of human history? The same thinking that we are the center of the universe type of mentality.
How precise exactly? What are you talking about exactly? You can do incredibly precise things without "advanced" tools.
> perfectly round holes
A perfectly round anything isn't even possible. What exactly do you mean? Round is one of the easier things to accomplish. A very precise square hole or ellipse would be more interesting!
It couldn't have been that advanced. Anything too advanced would have proved so immensely useful beyond merely building pyramids that it wouldn't have been lost.
The most advanced technology I could believe they had is: a) primitive pulleys (as described in TFA), b) rollers (but not wheels; those came later), c) some sort of limestone cement they could use to pour blocks in situ (in molds) rather than pull/push them up ramps. Anything much more advanced than that is way too hard to believe.
The fact that wheels once invented were not lost is highly suggestive that any generally-useful advanced technology would not have been lost. Some construction techniques that were not needed for anything other than pyramid building could have been lost, yes, and that might include primitive pulleys, but not advanced pulleys as those would be useful in loading and unloading boats, and building all sorts of things besides pyramids.
Anything like alien tech is out because if it happened, they didn't leave enough evidence to believe it, so we might as well not.
> advanced technology that for some reason has been lost?
Generally we need evidence for these kind of things, not throwing guesses into an evidence-free void. And given how heavily Egypt has been studied, it seems surprising that we've not found any evidence of such tools?
[+] [-] rando444|7 years ago|reply
the job of hauling into place the huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments may have been completed more quickly than previously thought
There is no current timeline for how the great pyramid was built. The only frame of reference that we have is the assumption that the pyramid was built in Kufu's lifetime and all other estimates are derived from that.
We really have no idea how long it took the original builders to move those stones.
Each stone weighs an average of 2.5T (up to 10T) .. and the stones were quarried from hundreds of kilometers away..
With a total of 2.5 million giant stones coming from such extreme distances, I don't get the feeling we're much closer to coming up with an actual timeline for how long this took.
[+] [-] nine_k|7 years ago|reply
This would make the transportation problem much easier to solve.
[+] [-] acqq|7 years ago|reply
Afaik most of the stones were quaried very near the pyramids. Most of the stones aren’t the “quality stones” and didn’t have to travel distances:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza
“The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks which most believe to have been transported from nearby quarries.”
[+] [-] blancheneige|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] e40|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matt-attack|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rando444|7 years ago|reply
https://news.sky.com/story/great-pyramids-discovery-sheds-li...
[+] [-] olivermarks|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] empath75|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gumby|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bluGill|7 years ago|reply
The bullock might have been useful for hauling a short hard distance (out of the quarry for example). However if the quarry is a long ways away (this might or might not be true) humans are the best labor choice.
[+] [-] LyndsySimon|7 years ago|reply
I'm not so sure. I remember from high school that the pulley was one of the five simple machines noted by Hero of Alexandria, but he lived over 2000 years after the Great Pyramid was built. I have no idea if the pulley was possessed by the ancient Egyptians - absent additional evidence, I would assume that they likely just wrapped ropes around the vertical posts. That wouldn't qualify as a pulley (which is by definition a wheel and axle) but would explain the holes and the steeper slope, but wouldn't require a drastic change in how we understand that the pyramids were built.
[+] [-] RandallBrown|7 years ago|reply
https://egyptianpulley.com
[+] [-] onetimemanytime|7 years ago|reply
[+] [-] givan|7 years ago|reply
It's not only the weight of the stone blocks and the distance but also the mathematical precision, the perfectly round holes drilled in some stones, the puzzle shaped carved stones to stand earthquakes and the perfectly chiseled pharaoh stone statues and all the amazing things there that it makes me wonder why do we insist they used chisels and ropes and all that things that we associate with primitives?
Why is so hard to admit that they had some kind of advanced technology that for some reason has been lost?
Is this so scary to admit for a culture that wants to think is the pinnacle of human history? The same thinking that we are the center of the universe type of mentality.
[+] [-] gameswithgo|7 years ago|reply
How precise exactly? What are you talking about exactly? You can do incredibly precise things without "advanced" tools.
> perfectly round holes
A perfectly round anything isn't even possible. What exactly do you mean? Round is one of the easier things to accomplish. A very precise square hole or ellipse would be more interesting!
[+] [-] cryptonector|7 years ago|reply
The most advanced technology I could believe they had is: a) primitive pulleys (as described in TFA), b) rollers (but not wheels; those came later), c) some sort of limestone cement they could use to pour blocks in situ (in molds) rather than pull/push them up ramps. Anything much more advanced than that is way too hard to believe.
The fact that wheels once invented were not lost is highly suggestive that any generally-useful advanced technology would not have been lost. Some construction techniques that were not needed for anything other than pyramid building could have been lost, yes, and that might include primitive pulleys, but not advanced pulleys as those would be useful in loading and unloading boats, and building all sorts of things besides pyramids.
Anything like alien tech is out because if it happened, they didn't leave enough evidence to believe it, so we might as well not.
Really, Occam's Razor applies here.
[+] [-] pjc50|7 years ago|reply
Generally we need evidence for these kind of things, not throwing guesses into an evidence-free void. And given how heavily Egypt has been studied, it seems surprising that we've not found any evidence of such tools?
[+] [-] PyroLagus|7 years ago|reply
Well, how advanced exactly are we talking about?
[+] [-] zamadatix|7 years ago|reply