A lot of amazing structures are around even today. Stonehenge, the Easter island monoliths–and the Pyramids, just to name a few. The Pyramids are so amazing, they even have a place on the US great seal, as a symbol of human achievement.
But could we build them today?
Could we chisel the blocks, move them and position them just so, like they are in these amazing structures?
And actually I have a second question. And this admittedly is a little bit more abstract. Could we do it if we put our minds to it, like they did back then?
:):)
EDIT: Actually now that I think about it, this might be better suited for GD. But we’ll see how it works out:).
Of course, the answer to both questions is “yes.” Given enough money, it would hardly be a technical challenge. Much easier if we’re able to use modern technology, but doable either way.
But now I’m curious. Why would anyone think that they COULDN’T be replicated? Contrary to some people’s belief, there’s hardly anything mysterious about their actual, physical construction. As to the exact techniques that were used, there is some conjecture.
Hell, the Liebherr Mobile Crane could easily lift those blocks and its boom could almost reach 3/4 of the way to the top. Build a ramp, or a slightly bigger crane, and it’s a breeze.
Or more correctly, what we *think *the ancient methods were.
But that is a problem even on much shorter time scales, as an example NASA had to reverse engineer the F-1 engine used on Saturn V and Apollo just a few years ago, because a lot of critical knowledge was lost in just a few decades.
There is a sense in which it’s true that we don’t know how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramid. But that’s just because we know of multiple ways they could have done it, and we don’t know which one they went with. It’s not like there’s no known way they could have.
If we wanted to today, we could also spend tens of thousands of man-years on building them using the ancient methods. But of course, we could do it a lot more easily using modern methods. Or we could build structures far more impressive and far more practical than the pyramids, which the ancients couldn’t have done at all.
It occurs to me that they probably did use several different methods - probably in the course of building any one pyramid, certainly over the history of pyramid building.
I recall seeing (somewhere…I forget where) a TV show where a group of people sought to build a mini pyramid. Basically they wanted to see if they could do it with only tech that existed back in ancient Egypt. The pyramid was pretty small compared to the real thing but they showed it was possible to do (after overcoming some problems). Therefore going bigger was merely a matter of the will and resources to do it.
okay, folks, let’s be honest here.
Now, please, all of you fellow Dopers---- raise your hand if you knew the word trilithon .
And tell me when you last used it.
(yeah, I love this place. …But sometimes it makes me feel kinda stoopid. )
Just want to point out that even if we recognise that the pyramid of Giza was man made, it still doesn’t count as the first man made structure to exceed the masonry mass of the pyramid of Giza.
