Eman Ghoneim / UNCW
Professor Eman Ghoneim in the Giza Plateau, Egypt, Home of the Great Sphinx and the Queops, Quéfren and Miquerinos Pyramids
Recent archaeological discoveries begin to draw an extraordinary portrait of the way the iconic Pyramids of Egypt may have been built.
For centuries, the construction of the Pyramids of Egypt was one of the greatest puzzles in history. These colossal structures, erected as royal tombs For over 4,000 yearscontinue to fascinate the researchers.
The largest of all, the Great Giza Pyramidoriginally reached 147 meters high and consists of about 2.3 million blocks of stone, each with a weight between 2.5 and 15 tons.
How antiquity builders got transport and raise these stones With the limited technology of the time it has remained a mystery.
“Scientists have debated for years What is the exact method that was used to raise these heavy blocks to such heights, ”says the teacher Give Ghoneimfrom the University of North Carolina, in the United States, to.
Recent archaeological discoveries are now reformulating our understanding of how such it may have been done.
The predominant theory argues that they settled in a kind of sled to pull the blocks up, but the slope of these ramps It has been the target of intense discussion.
An advance came in 2018, when Roland Enmarchresearcher at the University of Liverpool, excavated in the rock at the Hatnub quarry in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The ramp had an inclination superior a 20% – Much more steep than it was thought to be possible.
This discovery suggests that similar ramps could have been used in pyramids, reducing the huge extensions that the mild inclination ramps would have required.
This theory does not exclude the use of other instruments, such as levers, cranes and pulleys. There were even those who proposed that the Egyptians used a hydraulic elevation system, as suggested by this year led by Xavier Landreau and published in Plos One.
Landreau suggests that the water could have been used to float the blocks through conduct inside the pyramid in Djoser steps. Were identified near the site What may have been a dam and water channels, but many experts maintain skepticism.
Time limitations They also shaped the construction of the pyramids. With one average life expectancy of only 35 yearsthe projects had to be completed quickly. It is estimated that the construction of the great pyramid has taken about 20 years.
The archaeologist Frank Müller-Römerresearcher at the University of Munich, proposes that several ramps have been placed simultaneously on all four sides of the pyramid, allowing a fastest construction.
Müller-Römer considers that this approach offers the most efficient explanation, taking into account the tools and engineering knowledge of the time.
Müller-Römer argues that the evidence contradicts the known phases of construction of Djoser’s pyramid, while Enmarch doubts that a simple hydraulic system could raise stones up to 60 meters high of the structure.
A modern technology It is also offering new perspectives. The Scanpyramids project, led by the University of Cairo and the Heritage Innovation Preservation Institute in France, resorts to non -invasive world sweeping inside the Great Pyramid.
In 2017, the team discovered above the large gallery, possibly part of a weight distribution system. Future explorations may reveal more about the internal design and the process of building the pyramid.
However, in a study conducted in 2023, the Eman Ghoneim team used a Space radarwhich revealed the existence of, about 64 km long, which Call all 31 Egyptian Pyramidswhich may have functioned as old transport routes for the huge stone blocks.
Over time, this navigable road has blown and disappeared, which explains why remained hidden so far.
Another important discovery added a human perspective to the project of the pyramids. Between 2011 and 2013, Pierre the numberProfessor of Egyptology at the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and their team found fragments of papyrus of onboard diaries that detailed workers’ activities From the Great Pyramid of Giza, in Wadi Al-Jard, near the banks of the Red Sea.
For Enmarch, this is The most important discovery of your careerbecause it proves that the pyramids were the result of a vast labor force It is well organized – and not of mysterious forces or external interventions.
As the excavations continue in workers’ settlements near Giza, archaeologists expect to reveal more about social organization and Engineering strategies who were at the source of these impressive monuments.
Thus, the extraordinary portrait that begins to emerge from these discoveries is not that of a history of mystery, with extraterrestrials or technologies of advanced civilizations, but the simple Determination, Engenho and Extraordinary Scale that human fulfillment can reach.
