Construction of Ancient Egyptian Pyramids - The Great Mystery

First of all there were different techniques and materials used for their construction. But here's one myth we can bust right now: they were not made by slaves. It has been proven that ancient Egyptian workers were hired to do this job, and it was not all-year round.

Most of the workers were farmers that couldn't farm during the 3 months of flooding that happened yearly. They were paid and given quarters and food. No doubt it was grueling manual labor, but it still was not the slave-labor that we were told about.

So if you wanted a pyramid of your own, how would you go about it without the use of pulleys, wheels, or any modern equipment.

Well here’s a little how-to manual for building your own gigantic tomb:

Then you'd need a large work-force. Depending on the size of the pyramid, thousands of workers are required. For example, the Great Pyramid of Khufu is believed to have used around 30,000 workers; but you don't have to be that ambitious ;-)

This work force would first level the base area. Then the real hard work would begin...

You now need material, or building-blocks literally speaking. Pyramids were built with rock and stone. They had to extract massive quantities of quarried rocks. Limestone seems to be the popular choice and was found in Tura near Giza. The process of cutting slabs that could be transported to the building site also varies. Some believe they were cut using tools, saws and drills.

The really difficult work of mining and digging in the quarries was done by prisoners of war and criminals.

Another method they believe was used on the Great ancient Egyptian Pyramids of Giza for example is quite inventive! They would drill holes where they want to make the cuts then insert wooden pegs inside. They would then soak the pegs with water, which would make them expand. When this is done with the pegs all over where you want the outer edges of the block to be it would crack the stone and you'd have a square block!

Now that you have your building blocks, you'll need to transport them to the construction site. You could carry them on boats that travel up the Nile to the nearest point then tow them on wooden sledges that slide on wooden tracks the rest of the way.

This is where it starts to get tricky. Since no one is really sure how they moved the blocks to stack them up, your guess is as good as mine. There are some popular theories with some evidence to back them up that you could build up on.

Ramps! Although evidence was found that ramps were used to construct pyramids, it also shows that these ramps were not sufficient to build the entire structure. There was some other method used, and this is what no one can really figure out. The most widely accepted method is the use of levers.

So, there are quite a few ways a ramp could aid. Take a look at the figure below to see the different types. The blocks were then carried to each level by a ramp, then some other device to complete the monument.