# How were the pyramids in Egypt built? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 7, 2014, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559 "2014-12-07T10:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/561 "2015-04-24T19:21:08Z")
> [@cladking](#): > > Nobody had ever used a ramp to do this kind of lifting before the great pyramids. Do you have a cite for this incredible assertion? No, of course you don’t. 😛 Ramps were used before and after the building of the great pyramids. It’s incredible (bordering on ludicrous) that you would assert otherwise, regardless of whether they were used in building the Giza pyramids. > [@](#): > > This is part of the debunkment that we’d have to believe ramps were born full blown and able to lift hundreds of thousands of tons to great heights. I don’t even know what to say to this. :smack: The ironic part, to me, is that you are attempting to debunk a ramp, one of the simplest but most effective means of moving large weights from a lower elevation to a higher by claiming it would have to spring out of the ground full blown (and ignoring archeological evidence of ramp us in just about every culture INCLUDING the Egyptians) while claiming your weird water system, which has zero physical evidence came from 40,000 years of human scientific understanding. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/562 "2015-04-24T19:24:48Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > Hello world, would be _utcha taiu_. > > chick, drill, vulture, papyrus roll and the plural for land (3x land). Or maybe a form of ‘hail’ would be better. _a_ (feather) or \*hi \* (courtyard, double-feather) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/563 "2015-04-24T19:26:09Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > Or maybe a form of ‘hail’ would be better. > _a_ (feather) or \*hi \* (courtyard, double-feather) I can see the development meeting at Giza right now: “Alright guys, let’s get this all settled out before we carve it into stone.” ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/564 "2015-04-24T19:26:32Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ok, so: > > Pharoah, Left bird, right bird, left ox, owl, left bird, snake, chick, drill, vulture, papyrus roll, land, land, land, snake, right bird, cane, right ox You forgot the ‘;’ at the end now it will loop forever!! ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/565 "2015-04-24T19:34:31Z")
And I cannot find the ‘vulture, hand, chick, two walking legs’ button. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/566 "2015-04-24T19:42:18Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > And I cannot find the ‘vulture, hand, chick, two walking legs’ button. Just right click your chisel. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/567 "2015-04-24T19:45:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just right click your chisel. That will never wo… oh well, fancy that. Learn something ancient every day, doncha. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/568 "2015-04-24T19:49:11Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just right click your chisel. Right chisel, or left chisel? ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/569 "2015-04-24T19:53:22Z")
And what about the poor hipster who’s trying to chisel with a Mac? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/570 "2015-04-24T20:02:12Z")
> [@andros](#): > > And what about the poor hipster who’s trying to chisel with a Mac? You are probably screwed, since the older Mac mice look vaguely like a ramp… (But, you could always try the middle button and see what that does…I’m not sure what the ancient language has to say about the middle button) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/571 "2015-04-24T20:13:20Z")
> [@XT](#): > > You are probably screwed, since the older Mac mice look vaguely like a ramp… > > (But, you could always try the middle button and see what that does…I’m not sure what the ancient language has to say about the middle button) The middle button(or “finger”) was referred to as “The Geyser”. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/572 "2015-04-24T20:20:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > The middle button(or “finger”) was referred to as “The Geyser”. You might be onto something! Has anyone asked claptrap…er, I mean cladking…if s/he is a Mac user??? Maybe Macs are the extension of the ancient language, and it might be his or her inspiration, having delved it’s secrets…it might be showing cladking the way and the truth! ---
**Author:** ![cladking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@cladking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cladking)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/573 "2015-04-24T20:33:02Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > This is not how logic or science works. You have fallen into the fallacy of confirmation bias, where you read vague ancient texts, confabulate them into an imaginary building method, than look for features in the pyramids that support your imagination. That is not science, and it is not logic. It is fantasy. It’s not the way modern science works. It is the way ancient science worked and it is the way “generalism” works. It has also been called “nexialism” but this word has connotations I don’t intend. “Logic” has little or no meaning in modern language because everyone has their own understanding of everything. It’s impossible to make a logical statement when every individual deconstructs your words differently. This is why philosophy barely advances. Ancient language employed the same sort of natural logic that is found in math. The words couldn’t be deconstructed and everyone took the same meaning. Because it was metaphysical and based on nature it was always logical to the degree it was understood. Someday maybe I’lltry to put intowords how “generalism” is similar to this. For now I’ll be ecstatic if even one person is following this thinking. Because every word had a single meaning it was mere child’s play to solve each of the terms in the language. It’s a sort of reading comprehension; if you don’t know what a word means then it can be deduced by how it’s used in context. Once you figure out what the words mean it’s easy to see author intent. The only thing that made difficult is that you have to understand science correctly and know as much science as the writer. To complicate it further their science was primitive in some areas and sophisticated in others. They got very few concepts wrong and therse might be a misunderstanding of theory definition (names) by the author rather than a flaw in their science. The writers of the PT were of course scientists just like every other animal on earth at the time but they were probably those individuals with a proclivity for writing ritual rather than keeping abreast with metaphysics. There is no discord between what they said, painted, and built. There is no discoerd between this cultural context and the physical evidence. Does it really matter how it was discovered that they pulledstones up one step at a time to build pyramids? Since ramps are debunked (see post #152) and all the evidence says stones were pulled up then it’s time to stop the madness of trying to prove that ramps that never existed were used to the exclusion of real science. It’s like these are the dark ages and people just don’t care that they aren’t doing simple testing like infrared and ultraviolet imaging. They are satisfied with knowing it “mustta been ramps” even AFTER THEY ARE DEBUNKED. Do the science and then maybe you’ll want to revisit my interpretation of ancient language and human history. There are some very interesting concepts about ancient Egyptians’ ancient history that might be implied in the writing. It seems they knew all human history. I think they knew the greats of the past and how discovery was made. History of science should be deducible by the nature of the science. A great deal can be reconstructed. You can call it confirmation bias and you could be right but how then did I debunk ramps and show extensive (albeit shallow) evidence that they pulled stones up one step at a time? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/574 "2015-04-24T20:36:47Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Left bird, right bird They didn’t mix left and right glyphs in text. Sometimes text was written left to right, sometimes right to left, and the figures always faced the start of the line. Also, text could be written either side of a doorway, and the figures always looked at the door. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/575 "2015-04-24T20:40:17Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > C’mon, guys. These puns are like Niles on a chalkboard. Amon denile about that. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/576 "2015-04-24T20:40:30Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Ok, so: > > Pharoah, Left bird, right bird, left ox, owl, left bird, snake, chick, drill, vulture, papyrus roll, land, land, land, snake, right bird, cane, right ox How dare you say that about my mother! ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/577 "2015-04-24T20:47:09Z")
Here’s one thing I must have missed somewhere, cladking. Where do you get your ‘ancient language’ texts from? It’ s not the pyramid texts, is it? 'Cause they’re in plain egyptian and have been translated. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/578 "2015-04-24T20:50:48Z")
> [@Latro](#): > > It’ s not the pyramid texts, is it? 'Cause they’re in plain egyptian and have been translated. Precisely what’s being claimed. Also claimed is that only his own interpretation/translation is “the” correct one (ETA: with not much in the way of evidence). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/579 "2015-04-24T20:55:26Z")
So if we link to a bit of text with the accepted translation edited out, he should be able to give us the “real” translation, correct? ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559/580 "2015-04-24T20:57:42Z")
Not really. He’s claiming the existing translations are ok but that much of the material is metaphorical in nature and that only his interpretation is the correct one. ETA: [This post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18297567&postcount=153) and [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18298856&postcount=166) kind of explain his philosophy on proper interpretation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-were-the-pyramids-in-egypt-built/706559.md?page=30)