00:00How were the Egyptian pyramids built?
00:05Building the pyramids was, understandably, a colossal undertaking.
00:09Aside from feeding...
00:10...a labor force of 10,000 people and constructing temples, cemeteries, and...
00:15...boat pits near the pyramid, how exactly did the Egyptians build these titanic structures?
00:20The process began when workers cut stone blocks from a quarry near modern-day...
00:25...Cairo, and used boats to ship the blocks along the Nile River to Giza.
00:30These blocks were enormously heavy, so workers in Giza piled them onto large...
00:35...like vehicles called sledges that laborers could either push or pull to the construction...
00:40...site.
00:41These sledges were heavy, but a clever trick likely helped laborers move...
00:45...to move them.
00:46Illustrations from ancient Egypt show that workers poured water in front of the sled...
00:50...to dampen the sand, making the sledges easier to move.
00:55These experiments show that this method greatly reduces friction...
00:58...and halves the number of workers needed to...
01:00...to move a load.
01:01Once the stones arrived at the pyramids, workers used a system of ramps...
01:05...to haul up the stones.
01:07Little evidence of these ramps survived, but...
01:10...the scientists are now scanning and reconstructing the pyramids with the hopes of figuring out this mystery.
01:15Projects such as these may also reveal previously undiscovered chambers within the pyramids...
01:20...stay tuned, because if they do, Live Science will cover it.
01:24Egypt's pyramids?
01:25Just another one of life's little mysteries.
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