Of course we all know it was ramps but I’m curious why no one is concerned that even the word “ramp” isn’t attested from the great pyramid building era.
I won’t even bore you with my own theory but why does the vacuum of evidence for ramps leading to anywhere but the base of pyramids demand that it must have been ramps that were used to raise stones on the structure itself?
I’ll log back out just so I’m not too tempted to argue any point.
I’m hesitant to answer this, knowing someone else on this site knows exactly how they where built. But I don’ think it was aliens as was once thought. I remember see in a BBC special where a scientist said they used slaves that rolled the giant blocks over logs to move them and demonstrated how they may have cut the stones using harder rock tools. But I like the idea that aliens using hovering space ships to lift the rocks did it better.
Wilkinson has a series of books on Egyptian history. “The complete…” series.
General consensus is non-existent. The best theory is that the ramp spiralled around the pyramids as they were built up; then taken down as the outside was finished. The pyramids were originally finished in nice smooth white limestone over top of the rectangular blocks you see today. Most of that cover has gone with the wind, recycled by lazy builders in the area.
So the blocks were hauled up the ramps, put in place until the top. The rough finishing stones were put in place, then finished in place to a smooth gloss, starting from the top and working down as the ramp was removed. You can see the remains of this smooth finish near the top of the central pyramid of the big 3 in Giza.
The spiral ramp is most efficient. A traditional straight-up ramp (as seen in old books and movies) does not really account for how the finishing was done. Did they put the rough slanted slabs on the other three sides on the way up? How did they do the smooth side finishing then? Plus, there’s no remains of what would have been a MASSIVE earth moving project to raise and remove a straight ramp, plus approach from a long way away. Just building mud brick ramps against the pyramid would require a lot less time, labour, and material.
In Luxor in the massive Karnak temple there, you can see the remains of a mud brick ramp (plus an unfinished pillar). In the first courtyard there is the mud brick remains of the ramp used to haul blocks to the top of the first pylon wall. When the invaders came, this work was abandoned in mid-construction. There is also a row of columns, all but the last smooth cylindrical columns with shaped tops. The last column is lust square blocks, the final step - carve to shape once in place - never got done either.
Of course, this was about 1200BC, 1300 years after the pyramids so no guarantee it’s an indicator of how pyramids were made. The reason there is a big debate is because there are no murals, paintings, or papyrus showing the actual technique of pyramid building.
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Colibri
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