How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?

Scientists have had to piece together clues as to how pyramids were constructed.

Transcript

00:01How were the Egyptian pyramids built?

00:04Building the pyramids was, understandably, a colossal undertaking.

00:09Aside from feeding a labor force of 10,000 people

00:12and constructing temples, cemeteries, and boat pits near the pyramid,

00:16how exactly did the Egyptians build these titanic structures?

00:20The process began when workers cut stone blocks from a quarry near modern-day Cairo

00:25and used boats to ship the blocks along the Nile River to Giza.

00:30These blocks were enormously heavy,

00:32so workers in Giza piled them onto large, sled-like vehicles called sledges

00:37that laborers could either push or pull to the construction site.

00:41These sledges were heavy, but a clever trick likely helped laborers move them.

00:45Illustrations from ancient Egypt show that workers poured water in front of the sledges

00:50to dampen the sand, making the sledges easier to move.

00:54Modern experiments show that this method greatly reduces friction

00:58and halves the number of workers needed to move a load.

01:01Once the stones arrived at the pyramids, workers used a system of ramps to haul up the stones.

01:07Little evidence of these ramps survived,

01:09but scientists are now scanning and reconstructing the pyramids

01:12with the hopes of figuring out this mystery.

01:15Projects such as these may also reveal previously undiscovered chambers within the pyramids.

01:20Stay tuned, because if they do, live science will cover it.

01:23Egypt's pyramids? Just another one of life's little mysteries.

01:26Life's little mysteries.

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