How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?
Scientists have had to piece together clues as to how pyramids were constructed.
Transcript
00:00 How were the Egyptian pyramids built?
00:04 Building the pyramids was, understandably, a colossal undertaking.
00:08 Aside from feeding a labor force of 10,000 people and constructing temples, cemeteries,
00:14 and boat pits near the pyramid, how exactly did the Egyptians build these titanic structures?
00:20 The process began when workers cut stone blocks from a quarry near modern-day Cairo and used
00:26 boats to ship the blocks along the Nile River to Giza.
00:29 These blocks were enormously heavy, so workers in Giza piled them onto large, sled-like vehicles
00:35 called sledges that laborers could either push or pull to the construction site.
00:41 These sledges were heavy, but a clever trick likely helped laborers move them.
00:45 Illustrations from ancient Egypt show that workers poured water in front of the sledges
00:50 to dampen the sand, making the sledges easier to move.
00:54 Modern experiments show that this method greatly reduces friction and halves the number of
00:58 workers needed to move a load.
01:01 Once the stones arrived at the pyramids, workers used a system of ramps to haul up the stones.
01:06 Little evidence of these ramps survived, but scientists are now scanning and reconstructing
01:11 the pyramids with the hopes of figuring out this mystery.
01:15 Projects 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.
01:24 Egypt's pyramids?
01:25 Just another one of life's little mysteries.
01:26 [MUSIC PLAYING]