Building the Great Pyramid

Probable Construction Methods Employed at Giza

Bibliographic Data

ID4027498
AuthorsJames Frederick Edwards (corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume44
Issue2
Pages340-354
Publication date2003-04-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTechnology and Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0040-165X • E-ISSN: 1097-3729
PublisherProject MUSE (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1353/tech.2003.0063
OpenAlexW2051575870
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited2

The article challenges the current principle theories proposed by Egyptologists and historians, namely, that the building blocks used in the construction of the Great Pyramid were elevated into position using ramps or levers. Using contemporary and ancient evidence, certain scientific parameters relating to the hauling of stone blocks are deduced, from which a more logical and practical alternative methodology emerged: utilizing the angled faces of the structure itself as a means of transporting the blocks used to construct the pyramid. Estimates relating to construction time were derived together with a much reduced workforce compared with that previously postulated. Previously, it had been proposed that as many as twenty-five thousand workers were involved at the building site during the most intensive period of construction. However, a significant proportion of this workforce would have been involved with building and maintaining massive construction ramps, which, using the methodology put forward in the article, would not have been required

Aesthetics · Architectural engineering · Building construction · Business · Civil engineering · Construct (python library) · Construction engineering · Geometry · Period (music) · Political science · Position (finance) · Pyramid (geometry) · Structural engineering · Workforce · Ancient Egypt and Archaeology · Ancient Near East History · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Computer Science · Engineering · Finance · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy

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