[MUSIC PLAYING] Historians have long puzzled
over how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. Even just figuring out
how they lifted and moved the immense granite
blocks, some of which weighed dozens of tons, has
proven extremely difficult. The tale emerging
is one of a culture with great skill,
ingenuity, and determination to leave a mark on the world. Today we're going to take a look
at how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. Before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History Channel. And let us know what
ancient mystery you would like to hear more about. All right, here's
one to build on. The pyramids of Giza
were constructed over 4,000 years ago. So it's natural to assume
the passage of time is why the methods
behind the construction remain so mysterious. While that's partially
true, scholars now believe that it's also
likely the ancient Egyptians deliberately tried to
conceal those methods. Egyptologist Kara Cooney points
out that, as much as anything else, the pyramids were
works of propaganda. Part of their
purpose was to prove the other-worldly and godlike
nature of their kings. The sense that these
structures were impossible for mere mortals
or other rulers to build was a key part of that illusion. So concealing the secrets
behind their construction would have been paramount. For many people,
the first question that pops to mind
when contemplating the construction of the
pyramids is, how did they move those giant stones? The answer begins
right in the quarries where the granite
was taken from. The quarries were filled with
natural obelisks of rock. Workers would identify
one of these obelisks and then remove the
ground around it. The process began
by chipping away at the weathered upper
layers of the rock. Then they would
dig deep trenches around the obelisk to free it
from the rest of the ground. Next, the workers would
clear a path to one side so that the cut stone could
be pushed out horizontally, as opposed to being
lifted out vertically. We know this is how they really
did it because archaeologists have uncovered a single
unfinished obelisk which, for unknown reasons,
was abandoned midway through the process
of extraction. Even in modern times,
quarry and granite and cutting it
into a usable shape for construction is
extremely difficult. This has led many to wonder
how the ancient Egyptians were able to accomplish the
task with such precision. While there is still
much to be learned, one theory has some compelling
physical evidence backing it up. Egyptologists
believe the ancients used a very clever method
which involves punching holes in the rock with an iron
chisel and then stuffing those holes with wooden wedges. The wedges would be
drenched with water, which would cause them
to expand until they split the rock itself. Then the workers would
chisel those fissures until the stone was in
the shape of a block. As previously mentioned,
the ancient Egyptians made every effort to keep
the methods behind pyramid construction a secret. However, some evidence
and documentation has survived, including
the papyrus diary of a worker named Merer. Merer's diary, along
with other sources, hint at a culture with a deep
and meaningful understanding of physics. This knowledge
allowed the Egyptians to create planes, wedges,
pulleys, and levers-- different kinds of
simple machines. Construction of the pyramids
was enabled by the ability to employ these simple
machines on a massive scale with incredible
creativity and ingenuity. Once the massive obelisks
were cut from the ground, the workers faced an
even bigger challenge, getting the blocks
out of the quarry. Scholars have long wondered
how the ancients were able to lift these blocks, which
could weigh dozens of tons, without the use of
advanced machinery. Recent archaeological
discoveries at an alabaster quarry
in eastern Egypt suggest that the workers used
a simple, but ingenious ramp and rope system to
move the blocks. It worked like this. An upwards ramp was built
with an adjacent staircase on both sides. Posts would be set at the
holes dug into the staircase at regular intervals. The block would then be
placed on a flat sled. Finally, the workers would
attach ropes to the block and pull them over the
poles using them as axles. The net effect was to cause
the block to slide up the ramp. While it is important to
note that this evidence comes from a quarry that was not
used in the construction of the pyramids,
it's still likely that the same methods and
technologies were used. Quarrying the blocks
was extremely difficult and lifting them out of
the quarries, even more so. But those challenges
were nothing compared to what came next,
transporting the quarry blocks across miles of desert to
the construction site at Giza. The task was daunting,
but they figured out a way to make it easy
by using toboggans. Yes, evidence shows that
the ancient Egyptians used rudimentary sledges
to move the massive stones across the sands. These sledges were simple, flat
surfaces with upturned edges that could glide
right over the dunes. Well, almost. The extreme weight
of the block's complicated the process by
causing the sledges to dig into the sand. But once again, the ancients
had a simple, but effective solution to the problem, water. Living in the
desert, the Egyptians had long known that wet sand
was firmer and therefore, able to carry a heavier
load than dry sand. That being the case,
the workers likely used water right out
of the Nile River to wet the path ahead of them. This theory is based on a wall
painting found in a tomb that shows the process in action. Previous scholars
interpreted the water pouring as ceremonial,
but later researchers suspected it might have had
a more practical purpose. The method, which was
eventually tested by researchers from the University
of Amsterdam, was found to be very effective. The ability to drag granite
blocks through the desert sands was necessary, but
labor intensive. In order to help ease certain
stretches of the journey, the Egyptians probably installed
fixed tracks in some areas. Archaeologists have found
evidence of these tracks in several locations. Like everything else the
builders did, the method was simple, but effective. Round logs were laid down and
used as rails for the granite blocks to slide along. Areas that required
moving uphill were likely traversed with
help from the same rope and pulley systems
used in the quarries. These sites have also yielded
traces of oils and animal fats, which scholars suspect
were used as lubricants. While heavier stones needed
to be moved over land, lighter blocks that
were 15 tons or less were often floated
to their destination. The papyrus diary of an
Egyptian official involved in the process
refers to a series of canals connected to
the Nile that were used for precisely this purpose. The diary records that
wooden boats latched together with ropes would
be used to ferry the blocks from their quarry
in Tura to the plateau at Giza. While the designs of the canals
were sophisticated enough to include artificial ports
for loading and unloading, they only functioned
during the summer when the Nile was flooded. Despite all of this
information, there's still so much we don't
know about the construction of the pyramids. One of those things
is the design of the ramps that were
used to pull granite blocks from quarries and elevate
the blocks into place once they reached their final destination. Scientists have suggested
numerous possibilities for the design of these ramps
from the incredibly simple to the surprisingly complex. Each of those suggestions
have pros and cons, but in the absence of
additional evidence turning up, there is no current basis
on which to determine once and for all, which
might be right. Some of the best evidence
we have about the ramp construction comes to us very
recently via modern technology. A high tech scanning
process known as muography was used on the Great
Pyramid of Giza. The scan detected a mysterious
deep gap in the pyramid that some theorize is the
remnant of a construction ramp that was used to build the
pyramid from the inside out. Because the area is
virtually inaccessible, archaeologists have not
yet been able to examine it more closely. Questions still remain about
how some of these lighter stones might have been moved when
the Nile wasn't flooded or for the construction
of pyramids not located near water. Joseph West of Indiana State
University has a guess. West theorizes that if the
Egyptians attached three rods to each side of the
blocks, 12 in total, it would transform the block
into a dodecagon that could easily be rolled up the ramps. He tested his theory
with an experiment, which showed that the method not
only worked, but significantly reduced the effort needed to
move the large blocks around. How significantly? Enough so that a single
person could push the block a considerable distance. However, while the
concepts involved were known to the Egyptians
and their knowledge of physics made it plausible they
could have figured it out, there is no direct evidence
they used this method. Going back to the days of
the Bible in Herodotus, it is believed that
the pyramids were built on the backs of hundreds
of thousands of slave laborers. Modern archaeologists,
however, aren't so sure. Evidence gathered from
the tomb to the workers suggest a fairly
different scenario. First, there were
far fewer workers than were previously believed. Rather than number in the
hundreds of thousands, scholars now believe the number
was closer to 10,000 or so. Moreover, those
workers were clearly of a higher social status than
that associated with slaves. Combined with the evidence of
the technology and ingenuity used in the transportation of
the materials and construction itself, Egyptologists
now believe the workers who built the
pyramids were highly skilled creative artisans. Are you impressed by the
construction of the pyramids? Let us guess, you
still think aliens? Oh, boy. Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
