Egyptian Pyramids

[ShadowMax76]

Could we build one today in the same time limit they had?

>< Probably sounds stupid but I want another opinion ^^"

With todays technology and the time limit of one Pharaoh's lifetime.

 

And without todays technology ^^" if that's not too much.

[Xyph]

Theoretically, I don't see why not. With today's technology we could probably do it even faster than they did.

 

Practically, it would probably take quite a while to properly plan it out before the actual building work started since (as far as I know) there aren't any remaining instructions on exactly how the Egyptians went about building a pyramid, and if you wanted to do it without today's technology you might have some trouble getting enough people to put enough effort in, since we wouldn't have the benefit of slaves anymore.

[BigMoosie]

We haven't evolved since then so I don't see why not.

[Xavier]

Pyramids really are very simple constructions - just a pile of blocks.

 

What is so wondrous about them is their scale and the size of the blocks that were used. This is precisely where modern technology excels - a block that would take an egyptian a week to carve out and dress could be quarried and sawn up in an hour and transporting it is now vastly easier. Consider that Tokyo was rebuilt almost from scratch after the second world war into a concrete jungle in 30 years.

 

Using only contemporary technology, though, I doubt that a pyramid could be built these days at all.

Firstly, the skills and knowledge of the ancients in their chosen tools is far beyond what is understood now - experimental archeologists demonstrate this regularly on TV shows where they attempt to emulate feats of ancient engineering - and even with our intense theoretical understanding the learning process would be painfully slow.

The egyptians also had the advantage of massive numbers of slaves along with their craftsmen, and little concern for their health and safety. The ancient techniques might be impossible to perform safely enough in our society.

And finally, no one would ever agree to underwrite the enormous cost - to a pharoah, the pyramid was a part of his or her passage into the next phase of existence and it was a perfectly rational decision to spend the wealth of an empire to do the job properly. No one today can match that sort of commitment nowadays.

[rocketboy]

How big were the blocks used on the Great Pyramid in Egypt?

[ShadowMax76]

Well, there were 2.3 million stones average about 2.5-3tons each,

inside some weighed more than 16tons

the roof slabs of the pharaohs room was more than 50tons

Pyramids are about 146m tall, 228.5m is one side of the square base

 

Think they used wooden pulleys? XD i doubt it *a question in my hw*

 

Lime stone would be 12.8km away, and the granite would be 966km away

 

THIS is the real feat that people are truly amazed about!

 

The fact they only knew of copper and gold metals, they chose the copper obviously, and used copper chisels with wooden mallets *>< ? how'd they

get the wood in the desert?*

Copper saws, adze with a copper blade,

 

The base of the pyramids are perfectly leveled

 

 

Well the size of blocks could be about, hmm... its a guess from pictures i've seen......60cm*20cm*30cm..... the ones used for temples made a grown man

look small XD

 

Well, i kinda agree with you people..we could build one with todays knowledge

the cost would be in the 10-13millions (i cheked a site )

The slaves weren't acutally slaves, they were craftsmen that wanted to earn an afterlife. Well that would mean a lot to them

 

WITH ONLY the technology they had, I honestly don't think anyone would be willing to do it, unless they were paid XD, But i still don't see how the egyptians did it in the first place .

 

Thanks for replyin, you can keep replyin and help me get through this one ^^

[ShadowMax76]

Heeyyy,.... during some research I found that the copper tools that were found were lower on the Moe's scale of hardness than limestone or granite~!

That makes it impossible for these tools to have actually quarried these stones, let alone in one Pharaohs life time~no wonder the Pharaohs were kids ^^"

EDIT:

Oh woops the cost was a bit off

Today we would use concrete right? *not rhetorical question*

http://express.howstuffworks.com/mb-pyramid.htm

Well it seems that the cost is in the 250-300 milliions of dollars if using concrete + human labour + other.

[Douglas]

Egyptian Pyramids (the building of)

 

6 years on a feasability study

5 years to draw up the plans

4 years of squabbling on the location

10 years to get zoning approval

8 years to relocate the endangered cockroach

15 years to be blessed by the environmental protection agency....if ever.

and more.............

[Ophiolite]

Two of you have claimed the pyramids were built by slaves. This is not current thinking in Egyptology. Rather, it is thought that farmers contributed there labour during the periods of the Nile flood - which was also handy for moving the stone blocks to the site.

And Douglas, you've totally missed out the impact of the HSE guys!

[Callipygous]

i can sort of see how a flood might make it easier to move a gian block, but i dont entirely get it.

 

i have trouble imagining them making a boat big enough to actually float an entire block, but it would be easier to lift with a lot of it under water, but i would imagine the hassle of having everything flooded would cause them more problems than actual help. how did they do this?

[ShadowMax76]

^^ would we use concrete these days to make our own modern pyramid instead of quarrying the granite and limestone miles away, right?

Oh yeah, they weren't slaves, they were paid, looked after *treated when wounded* egyptian craftsmen.

I believe that they did it so they could secure an afterlife for themselves ^^

[GeminiinimeG]

It is probably impossible to build the pyrammid with out technolgy, the egyptians must have been advanced architects to build something like that with out no mistakes, just because they were ancient doesnt mean they werent advanced, the romans built the colloseum that was advanced, the bad thing is when those civilizations fell all their knowledge was lost, if all of todays civilizations fell to war, the people of the future might think the same about things like the Statue of liberty or the eiffel tower and might be barely catching up to us, u never know stuff can disapear with some random events.

[Skye]

i can sort of see how a flood might make it easier to move a gian block' date=' but i dont entirely get it.

 

i have trouble imagining them making a boat big enough to actually float an entire block, but it would be easier to lift with a lot of it under water, but i would imagine the hassle of having everything flooded would cause them more problems than actual help. how did they do this?[/quote']

I don't think that the point is that the farmers worked during the flood because it made it easier (although it may have), but rather because their land was covered in water, so they had no other work to do.

[ShadowMax76]

>< gonna sound dumb but what they hey~

Where'd they get their wood if they're in the desert? Or are they actually trees out there? ^^" too much cartoons hey?

plus the wooden pulleys they had, they say in most sources that they weren't used in the construction since they weights were too heavy for the job

 

Oh and to correct that last post, i think u may have misinterpreted the other guy, ^^" soz 4 not callin u by ur names, either that u already know what he means and not show it,

The floods would have made the blocks lighter, u know jus imagine some boulders underwater ^^" u prob already know this but if u didnt ^^"

[insane_alien]

the land around the nile is quite fertile trees could be grown there for wood.

[Ophiolite]

i have trouble imagining them making a boat big enough to actually float an entire block, but it would be easier to lift with a lot of it under water, but i would imagine the hassle of having everything flooded would cause them more problems than actual help.

The pyramids are built on the first high ground at the edge of the Nile Valley. The best known ones, Cheops etc, along with the sphinx are on the Giza plateau. By moving stone blocks on rafts during the flood the builders would have elminated several kilometres of overland hauling.

[Callipygous]

how do you make a raft big enough to support several tons? much less get the block onto it?

[Ophiolite]

It's after four in the morning. I have to get up in less than three hours and pretend I am intelligent. Just work it out using Archimedes principle. It does not have to be that big.

You get the block on the raft using rollers and greased planes.

[ShadowMax76]

During some more research, they used rollers and used water, i think, to make the path easier.... O.o wet sand and rollers seem like a minus wouldn't it?

Or is it that the path from quarry to pyramid wasn't sand ><

EDIT:

Hey.... a mystery, >< mayb i mentioned it b4

How can copper tools cut and shape limetone and granite which are higher on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness?

[Edisonian]

Sure, we could build a pyramid. In fact, with our technology we could build one much faster! As others have explained, the pyramid is a very straight forward design. However, I don't think we could build the pyramids faster [under the SAME conditions] without using modern technology.

 

My reasons:

 

1. New evidence suggests that many of the builders were not enslaved. Instead there were volunteers and paid builders. They had a very strong spiritual commitment. They took pride in being a part of what was believed to be a noble cause.

 

2. They had the construction process down to a science, with years of experience. One should never doubt just how advanced the Egyptian civilization really was.

 

Everyone else...any thoughts?