Engineers have a new theory about how Egypt’s first pyramid was built. Here’s what Egyptologists have to say about it

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Egyptologists have long debated how the massive pyramids of ancient Egypt were built more than 4,000 years ago. Now, a team of engineers and geologists has come up with a new theory: a hydraulic jack that would have driven the heavy stones through the center of Egypt’s oldest pyramid using stored water.

The ancient Egyptians built the Step Pyramid for Pharaoh Djoser in the 27th century B.C., and it was the tallest structure at the time, at about 62 meters (204 feet) high. But exactly how the monument, with some stones weighing 300 kilograms (about 661 pounds), was erected has remained a centuries-old mystery, according to the study published Monday in the PLOS One diary.

“There are many detailed publications that have discussed the procedures for building pyramids and provided tangible evidence, but these tend to focus on more recent, better documented, and smaller pyramids of the Middle and New Kingdoms (1980 to 1075 BCE),” said lead author Dr. Xavier Landreau, CEO of Paleotechnicala private research institute in Paris that studies ancient technologies.

“The techniques used here may include ramps, cranes, winches, elevating hoists, hoists, pivots, or a combination of these methods,” he added in an email. “But what about the Old Kingdom (2675 to 2130 BCE) pyramids, which are much larger? While human power and ramps may have been the only building forces for small structures, other techniques may have been used for large pyramids.”

The authors wrote that the new paper, which used an interdisciplinary approach, was the first to report a system consistent with the internal architecture of the step pyramid.

A complex water purification system using local sources would have allowed for a water-powered elevator in the pyramid’s internal vertical shaft. A kind of float would have lifted the heavy stones up to the center of the pyramid, the study said.

While the theory is an “ingenious solution,” some Egyptologists are not convinced, as a more widely accepted theory is that the ancient Egyptians used ramps and transport devices to move the heavy blocks into place, according to Egyptologist Dr. David Jeffreys, a retired senior lecturer in Egyptian archaeology at University College London who was not involved in the study. Here’s what experts have to say about the new theory.

The desert of Egypt was once savannah

By analyzing available data, including paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climates, and archaeological data, the research team proposed that water flowed from ancient streams from the west of the Saqqara Plateau in a system of deep water channels and tunnels surrounding the Step Pyramid.

The water would also have flowed into the Gisr el-Mudir—a rectangular limestone structure measuring a whopping 650 by 350 meters (2,133 by 1,148 feet)—which would have served as a dam. Previously thought to be a fortress, a festival arena, or a cattle ranch, the device would have controlled and stored water from heavy flooding, while filtering out sediment and debris to prevent it from clogging water passages.

According to the research team, water flowed from ancient streams<strong> </strong>in a system of trenches and tunnels that surrounded the step pyramid. – Paleotechnic” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/slcONhFU5veP3qR9v5pyhQ–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/cnn_articles_875/1b28ee6ff950ec754ff4904e2170ddf2″/><img alt= in a system of channels and tunnels that surrounded the step pyramid. – Paleotechnic” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/slcONhFU5veP3qR9v5pyhQ–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/cnn_articles_875/1b28ee6ff950ec754ff4904e2170ddf2″ class=”caas-img”/>

According to the research team, water from ancient streams flowed into a system of gullies and tunnels that surrounded the step pyramid. – Paleotechnic

The theoretical water purification system would not only have provided water control during floods, but would also have “guaranteed adequate water quality and quantity for consumption and irrigation purposes as well as for transport or construction,” said study co-author Dr. Guillaume Piton, a researcher at France’s National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, or INRAE, based in the Institute for Environmental Geosciences from the University of Grenoble Alpes.

The authors pointed out several previous studies that the Sahara Desert experienced more regular rainfall thousands of years ago than it does today. The landscape would have resembled a savannah instead, which could support more plant life than dry desert conditions. However, there is debate about exactly when climate conditions were wetter.

There could be enough water to support a system like the hydraulic lift, said Dr. Judith Bunbury, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Cambridge in London who was not involved in the new study. She pointed out past research who found that rainwater gutters were already being built and used in the Old Kingdom, as well as earlier research that looked at the diet of birds at the time, which consisted of marsh species like frogs.

“I think there is quite a widespread belief that it was rainier in the Old Kingdom, certainly in the early Old Kingdom when the Step Pyramid was built,” she added.

On the other hand, experts debate whether there would have been enough consistent rainfall to fill the structures that would have supported the hydraulic elevator, such as the “Dry Moat,” a giant canal surrounding the Step Pyramid and nearby structures, which the authors believe collected water that helped power the elevator when it was in use.

The Sahara’s greener period likely ended in the early third millennium B.C., Jeffreys said. Low rainfall would not have filled the structures to the extent needed for a hydraulic lift, and it would not have been able to keep up with the water loss in the structures’ limestone, added Dr. Fabian Welc, director of the Institute of Archaeology at Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland. Welc was not involved in the new study.

“There was a wetting of the climate (seasonal – winter rains) in Northern Egypt (including Saqqara) during the 3rd Dynasty (2670-2613 BC), but their intensity was relatively low. These rains even filled the wadis (a dry valley except in the rainy season) with water, would not have filled the dry moat even slightly… this water would have immediately flowed away under gravity deep into the rock mass, about which there is no doubt (unless it was a biblical flood),” Welc said in an email.

The study authors agreed that it is highly unlikely that the system was permanently filled with water, arguing that it is more likely that the flash floods of the time provided enough water to support the hydraulic lift during the pyramid’s construction. However, more research is needed to know exactly how much rainfall and flooding likely occurred during that time, the authors noted in the study.

This is not the first time that the Nile has been investigated to determine whether it played a role in the construction of the pyramids. A study published in may found a dried-up branch of the massive river and hypothesized that the stream was likely used to transport huge limestone blocks to construction sites for multiple pyramids. There is also some evidence that ancient Egyptians used hydraulics on a smaller scale, Jeffreys said.

Mysteries of Ancient Egyptian Structures

Researchers have not yet been able to establish a clear purpose for the vertical shaft in Djoser’s pyramid. Some later pyramids, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza, have shafts that are thought to have been used for ventilation, and it’s possible that the internal shaft was also intended for lighting or to relieve pressure on the chamber below, Jeffreys said. But as the first of its kind, the Step Pyramid was an experimental structure that is thought to have started out as a mastaba (a flat grave) and was built up, so it remains unclear what exactly the internal features were intended for, he added.

The shaft inside the Step Pyramid is connected to a 200-meter-long (656-foot-long) underground tunnel that connects to another vertical shaft outside the pyramid. The external shaft could then connect to a hypothesized water-transport section of the Dry Moat, also known as the Deep Trench, but more research is needed, the authors wrote in the study.

The internal shaft begins directly beneath the pyramid, near the center, where a granite box with a plug at its base stands. This box is generally considered to be the burial chamber of King Djoser, but the authors suggest that it was built to open and close the hydraulic lift, allowing water to fill the shaft when it was in use.

The internal shaft of the step pyramid is located near the center of the structure, where a granite box with a stopper at the base stands. - PaleotechnicThe internal shaft of the step pyramid is located near the center of the structure, where a granite box with a stopper at the base stands. - Paleotechnic

The internal shaft of the step pyramid is located near the center of the structure, where a granite box with a stopper at the base stands. – Paleotechnic

As for whether other pyramids were built using this method, Landreau said further research is needed. “It could be the key to unraveling the mystery of how the largest monoliths, found in pyramids like Khufu or (Kefren) were lifted. These monoliths weigh tens of tons, making it seem impossible to move them with (human labor) alone. Conversely, a medium-sized hydraulic elevator can lift 50 to 100 tons. Exploring hidden shafts in these pyramids could be a promising research direction,” he added.

Despite the more than 4,000-year-old mysteries surrounding the pyramids and their features, there is ample documentation that ancient Egyptians used certain technologies, such as scaffolding and mud-brick ramps, to aid in the construction of various structures, said Bunbury, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Cambridge. However, to her knowledge, there is no documentation or image of a water-powered lifting device.

“I think people, even since ancient times, have been inspired by the pyramids as a huge building project,” Bunbury said. “And they find it hard to believe that they were built by ordinary people at the time, partly because they see it as a long time ago. … It’s astonishing that there are so many proposals of what could be a technological innovation that have been dropped, when we know that they already had technical solutions for these things.

“That doesn’t mean (the hydraulic lifter) wasn’t used,” she added. “But there is some kind of Occam’s razor of what is simplest, based on what we already know.”

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