The Great Pyramid Controversy

by Isabelle Sambles

Little is known about exactly how the Egyptians managed to create the pyramids, however five years ago a diary was found belonging to one of the architects of the great pyramid as to how they managed to transport all the building rocks to the site. This discovery is what my article is based and I will explain some of the ingenuity that they used to get the stones from the quarry to the site.

The ancient Egyptians believed that their pharaohs were going to become God’s in the afterlife. So, to prepare them for this event, they would erect large pyramids tombs and temples for themselves which would be laden with lavish objects which the pharaohs would need to guide and sustain him in the next world.

Although much is known about the lifestyle of the pharaohs and why the pyramids were built, little was known about the construction of the pyramids and how the engineers of their day managed to create such builds. This within itself has been the fascination of many archaeological digs, bearing in mind that each of the 2.3million stone blocks that were used to make the pyramids weighed as much as an adult giraffe, without all the machines and transport today it has puzzled many minds as to how they were moved about and put together.

However, in 2013, the diary of Merer was found.

Merer was an official involved in the construction of Giza’s great pyramid. His diary contained the waterworks systems, construction of boats and moving techniques that were used in the construction of the great pyramid and depicted how the workers shipped the stones down the Nile River.

The blocks themselves, for the great pyramid, are believed to have been quarried south of the site and were transported down the Nile on a four-day boat trip. There is evidence to suggest that, when the Nile would flood in the summer, the Egyptians had in place a whole trade system of ports and ships that allowed goods to be transports to nearby towns, and the built artificial canals near the pyramids so the materials could be close by.

The boats themselves were constructed out of rope and wood. The rope would sow together the ships and would act as a replacement for the modern-day nails. These boats would be propelled down the river by wind energy and teams of 40 men.

From the boats the Egyptians used large sledges that would have been pushed by workers. One piece of information discovered when finding the diary was that the Egyptians would wet the sand in front of the sledges to reduce friction. Through dampening the sand, it stopped the clumps of sand being formed so less force was required to pull the blocks across.  This was because the water drops created bridges between the grains of sand, helping them stick together and increase their stiffness. This can be seen when building sandcastles as the sandcastle will only keep its structure once slightly damp.

Although it didn’t tell archaeologists about the construction process this find was a breakthrough in terms of the mystery of the pyramids and gave hope for similar items to be found.