00:00Most people know that the pyramids were built to serve as tombs to the pharaohs in order to provide them with a journey without trouble to the afterlife.
00:09The Great Pyramid of Gizesh, for example, was built for the pharaoh Cheops.
00:14But what most people do not know is that this tradition of building pyramids began right here, with the Pyramid of Degres of Djezer, about 4,700 years ago.
00:25This massive structure was built for the pharaoh Djezer, a ruler of the 3rd Egyptian dynasty.
00:31It rises on six levels above the ground and measures about 60 meters high.
00:36Today we consider it a phenomenal architectural project.
00:40But for the ancient Egyptians, the Pyramid of Degres of Djezer was rather a vast experience.
00:46A test, so to speak, intended to perfect their building skills before moving on to even more ambitious pyramids.
00:55Reaching new heights is very exciting, but the real mystery lies in what happens underground.
01:01In the underground labyrinth of this pyramid, a network of tunnels extends for about 5.5 km.
01:08Some researchers think that these tunnels could have been part of a very sophisticated water supply system, and this could completely change our vision of the construction of pyramids.
01:18Let's talk about this massive complex located in Saqqara.
01:21Around the pyramid, there is what is called a Douve Seche, a continuous trench that is about 50 meters wide and nearly 3 km long.
01:31It forms a kind of rectangle around the pyramid.
01:34This trench has an average depth of about 20 meters.
01:38If we add all the earth and the rock dug to create this douve, it represents about ten times the volume of the pyramid itself.
01:47For a long time, people thought that this trench was nothing more than a huge quarry.
01:52A place where they had extracted stone and clay to build the Pyramid of Degres.
01:57It makes sense, doesn't it?
01:58But looking closer, we realized that it was nothing.
02:02The trench is too narrow and too deep to have been exploited.
02:06And its layout does not correspond to anything we know about the methods of extraction of ancient Egypt.
02:11In addition, some sections of the trench are covered with a rocky ceiling, which would have made its use as a quarry practically impossible.
02:21A theory suggests that the Douve Seche had a spiritual meaning.
02:25It may have been a sacred place where the souls of the nobles met to serve the late king in the afterlife.
02:31Niches in the walls evoke this spiritual function.
02:34But most researchers think that it was only developed much later, long after the construction of the complex.
02:42So, what was the Douve really for?
02:44In 2020, a researcher came up with a rather intriguing idea.
02:48It is possible that this trench was designed to collect and channel water.
02:53Especially after heavy rain.
02:55It seems logical if we consider its location.
02:58The Douve is located in an area that could easily have been flooded by streaming waters from neighboring plains.
03:05This could also explain why the trench was not used for new tombs until much later,
03:11when the climate has become drier and the site less subject to floods.
03:16But the story becomes even more fascinating.
03:19Because this trench seems to be part of a wider and more elaborate hydraulic system inside the Geyser complex.
03:26It is as if it contained several compartments, carefully carved in the rock and connected by tunnels.
03:33These compartments were probably part of a water treatment system.
03:37The water flowed from one compartment to another, purifying itself as it progressed.
03:44This is where things start to relate to the pyramid itself.
03:48The Geyser complex contains a series of underground wells.
03:53And some researchers think that the water from the Douve could have been used to power a hydraulic lift system.
03:59This giant hydraulic lift would then have been used to lift the heavy stones necessary for the construction of the pyramid.
04:06It worked like a volcano.
04:08But instead of lava, it was water that lifted the blocks of stone.
04:13Imagine a large deep hole in the ground in the center of the site of the pyramid.
04:18Inside this hole, there was a huge wooden platform.
04:22A bit like a giant raft that could go up and down.
04:25When the workers wanted to lift a heavy stone, they filled the hole with water.
04:30When the water level rose, the wooden platform began to float.
04:34Carrying the stone with it, a bit like a giant elevator.
04:38When the stone reached the right height, the workers slid it from the platform to the pyramid.
04:45The idea is that the water from the trench, after being cleaned and filtered, would have flowed into these wells.
04:52A huge float, maybe made of wood, then rose as the water filled the well,
04:58lifting the stones to the place where they were needed for the construction.
05:02Once the stone was in place, the water was evacuated and the platform descended, ready to lift the next stone.
05:09This sophisticated hydraulic lifting system could have changed things,
05:13making the whole construction process much faster and more efficient,
05:17and saving labor.
05:19It's as if the ancient Egyptians had already adopted the notion
05:23that working smarter is better than working harder.
05:27But of course, not everyone agrees with this theory.
05:30Some experts say that the area where the pyramid was built at Geyser level
05:35would not have been able to supply enough water.
05:37The rains were quite rare to maintain such an elaborate hydraulic system.
05:41The main theory suggests that there may have been a lake nearby,
05:45which would have been filled after each period of rain,
05:48and which would have supplied the water the complex needed for its hydraulic system.
05:54However, no writing in ancient Egypt mentions such a lake.
05:58It is therefore more of a hypothesis than a reality.
06:03And then there is the question of the work itself.
06:07Do you remember that I said that this method could have allowed the ancient builders
06:11to lift stones with much less effort?
06:14This may not be entirely true.
06:16According to some experts, the construction of this device
06:20would have required much more work than the simple movement of the stone blocks
06:24necessary for the construction of the monument.
06:27And let's not forget that the pyramid at Geyser level
06:30is relatively small compared to those that followed.
06:33The stones used weighed on average 300 kg each,
06:37which is nothing compared to the blocks of more than 2.5 tons
06:40later used for the Pyramid of Khefren.
06:44If we have to completely rule out this theory of the hydraulic lift,
06:48it remains for us to explain how this pyramid was built.
06:52To answer this question,
06:54we must go back a little and talk about the original plans.
06:58Before the Geyser tomb became a pyramid,
07:01the idea was to build a simple mastaba.
07:04This type of tomb was quite common in earlier periods.
07:08A rectangular structure with a flat roof with inclined sides.
07:12But once the original mastaba was finished,
07:15they decided to enlarge it a bit by adding a few additional layers.
07:19They then added more layers,
07:21until the construction reached six distinct levels,
07:24each smaller than the previous one.
07:27And they probably would have done all this
07:29by lifting these heavy stones using a bridge,
07:32and not a hydraulic lift.
07:34We still don't know a lot about the pyramid at Geyser level.
07:38Additional research is certainly necessary
07:41to understand how this system worked,
07:44or if it even existed.
07:46But the idea of using water to build a pyramid
07:49brings a new dimension to our understanding of ancient Egypt's engineering.
07:53This strongly reminds us of how smart and ingenious these builders were,
07:57taking advantage of the natural resources they had
08:00to create one of the most emblematic monuments in history.
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