The Great Pyramid of Giza

Research on its construction

By
Sajid Masoud

Forsmarksskola FS14B

Table of contents

Abstract.. 1
Introduction.2
Methods. 2
Results.3
Discussions..6
Figures...7
Bibliography...8

1
Abstract

The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the oldest Seven Wonders of the Ancient World,
constructed circa 25802560 BC1 . It is part of the Giza pyramid complex that is bordering the
city of El Giza in Egypt.
Its large dimensions of 138.8m height, 230.4m base and a volume of 2,583,283 cubic meters
as well as the carefully aligned construction that has been established with the help of very
precise mathematical calculations and in alignment with the four cardinal compass points has
raised many questions. Considering the situation in which the ancient Egyptians were in at
the point when the building of the pyramid was dated, it has been often challenged whether it
has really been built then, by whom and why.
The pyramids structure is formed out of 8 equal sides (see figure 1 in the Figures section
below) that can only be properly noticed during the equinox, from the above. This along with
the alignment of the main 4 corners has lead studies to result that the main reason it was built
was to track time by the seasons change as well as earths rotation.
The initial discoveries have shown that the pyramid was built by slaves for the pharaoh Khufu
(also referred to as Cheops due to the Hellenization the historical spread of the ancient
Greek culture and language) as a tomb. However, only an empty sarcophagus has been found
inside the pyramid. Claims have been made that the smaller pyramid belongs to one of the
pharaoh's wives2 .
Therefore there is still a lot to explore in order to understand the construction of this
sophisticated pyramid as it will be presented in the next sections.

1
2

Anon.1 (n.d.)
McKay J.P., Hill B.D., Buckler R.B., Ebrey P.B. (2004), p. 19

2
Introduction

The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the few of the Seven Wonders that remained largely intact
over a period of approximately 5.000 years3 . Its structure was built with precision in order to
resist earthquakes and other natural disasters. Because of this, the main investigation that has
been conducted here was to find out the reason why it was meant to be so resistant, what the
purpose behind this building really was as, unlike with other pyramids, it did not serve only as
a tomb.

Methods

The main method used to study this scientific report was information research. The work of
the archaeologist Dr. Mark Lehner, director of the Ancient Egypt Research Associates
(AERA), has been closely followed as his specialty is to map the Giza pyramid complex and
perform research to better understand these structures.
The writer Keith Mayes also provided very useful information in his Science, the Universe
and God: The Search for Truth book where he demonstrated how the pyramids were built by
humans, rather than an unnatural force.
Ancient Egypt researcher, Robert Bauval, helped provide a possible meaning of the pyramids
alignment in his book The Orion Mystery in collaboration with the British author Adrian
Gilbert.
Research from the book A History of World Societies where the main focus was on the
ancient Egyptian civilisation also contributed with a lot of ideas to this report.

Anon. 2 (n.d.)

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Results

The construction of the pyramid is estimated to have taken approximately 23 years to

complete and was commissioned by King Khufu, the 4th Dynasty pharaoh, during circa
25802560 BC. At least 10.000 people were involved in building it. However, regardless of
the enormous amount of construction workers implicated, the time range for that type of
building along with the materials they had at hand during those ages makes it seem very
implausible. Methods such as hauling over ramps or using some form of shaduf (a
hand-operated device for lifting water) are deemed as impractical solutions. J. F. Edwards
proposed in his research note on building the Great Pyramid that the most logical and
practical approach was to use the angled faces of the structure itself as a meaning on which to
transport the blocks used to build the pyramid. This methodology is considered more efficient
in terms of energy and time and makes 23 years of building the pyramid much more probable.
4

Furthermore, based on the findings at the quarry, the instruments used to build were simply a
mallet and chisel. The chisels were made out of copper as that was the hardest metal available
back then and because of them blunting after approximately 100 blows, they had to be
replaced quite often with re-sharpened ones that were provided by the blacksmiths who were
cooperating with the builders. This would mean that it would take a really long time in order
to cut out the blocks from the rocks.
The next step would be transporting them from the excavation site to the pyramid. The
plausible way to do this by the means they had back then was to carry them on wooden
sledges. The majority of the blocks weighed around 2.5 tons as their size is quite similar since
it is assumed that was optimal in order to not slow the transportation down. Well organized
teams would then carry these sledges by dragging them with the help of ropes over the clay
floor that covered the ramp from the quarry to the pyramids. It is estimated to have taken 10
years to build.

Edwards J.F. (2003)

4
The annual flooding of the Nile also had a strong impact over the process of building this
pyramid. It actually may have had quite a positive influence by helping to carry the stone
blocks to the pyramids site as they could have been floated on rafts. However, this rainy
season causing the inundation along with the fact that they had no night lightning didnt allow
the Egyptians to work non-stop.
Therefore, the capacity of the workforce needed to be great and well organized in order to
achieve these results in such a short time. Although initial discoveries pointed to slaves being
used to build this, newer research shows that they were actually privileged workers as
archaeologist Dr. Mark Lehner discovered.5 A village, known as The Lost City6, was built
specifically to host these workers. They were fed and well taken care of as their work was seen
as a service to their nation since they were building for their King. The remaining parts of this
village can still be seen today.
The Egyptians were able to afford such a labor pool due to having a very fertile land. The Nile
helped supply an environment that favored farming which was done easily and produced
generous amounts of food. There was no need for slaves as this population had enough
resources to provide for these kind of tasks. The ancient Egyptians are not to be
underestimated. Their intelligence and trained manpower achieved colossal results.
Although it seems strange at first, the accurate alignment of the pyramids main four corners
with the four compass points could have been easily achieved by the Egyptians even with the
means they had back in the ancient times. As Keith Mayes explains in the chapter Did aliens
build the pyramids? of his book, theyd just need to make use of a curved wall that was
approximately facing North. They could figure that out by orienting themselves by the stars.
The way to do this is to Select a rising star on the Eastern horizon and mark a line on the top
of the wall pointing to it. Mark another line on the wall when it is low on the Western horizon.
Take the line straight down the wall, using a plumb line, and then extend it along the ground
until it meets the other line. Bisect this angle and you now have a line pointing exactly due
North.7 This is also illustrated in figure 2 that can be seen below. After resolving this, they

5
6
7

Shaw J. (2003)
Anon. 3 (n.d.)
Mayes K. (2003)

5
could have used a variety of simple methods to build the right angle which will then help align
with the other compass points.
As it was proven many times already whilst investigating the construction of this pyramid,
ancient Egyptians were masters of angles and therefore achieving perfect slope of the angles
was not a difficult task for them.
As for the interior design of the pyramid, the first discovered chambers were in a number of 3:
the Queens Chamber, the Kings Chamber and the Grand Gallery. Recent research shows 2
more rooms uncovered with the help of infrared thermography, muon tomography, aerial
drone photography and laser scanning as part of the non-invasive and non-destructive project
Scan Pyramids.8 Further investigations still need to be done on this though.

Seftel B. (2016)

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Discussions

Based on the above results, the first thing that can be concluded is that, although it may seem
impossible to achieve these outcomes in such a short time, with proper organization and hard
work, this was possible to create by the mankind. Having in mind that during the ancient
times people were used to hard work considering that they didnt have the technology we have
today and therefore werent accustomed to automation, it is very likely that they were able to
build this pyramid by pure physical force.
In todays modern time, there are possibilities to build much greater and more complex
buildings than the Great Pyramid. However, the pyramids construction is still intriguing
because it is difficult to understand how they were able to achieve such results in those times.
Constant research done on this along with the ongoing Giza Plateau Mapping Project lead by
the Dr. Mark Lehner9 has proven over and over that this was indeed just the work of very
determined and diligent people.
It all gained a greater purpose once discovered that this structure was not used only as a tomb
but that it also pointed to the four cardinal compass points based on the true North (not the
magnetic North). This raised up the Orion correlation theory. The idea was proposed by
Robert Bauval who believes the Giza pyramids were built to mirror the stars of Orions belt
due to their alignment.10 His approach is presented in the book The Orion Mystery:
Unlocking the Secrets of the Pyramids. Whilst plausible, due to the lack of information, it
cannot be concluded whether this really was the intention of ancient Egyptians.
Finally, the reason why this Great Pyramid is considered one of the Seven Wonders is because
of its fascinating structure which cannot be fully understood yet. Many do assume that the
walls of the burial chambers are inscribed with texts that represent the pharaohs journey in
the afterlife (see figure 3). Research and further analysis are done in order to decipher the
scripts on the walls of the pyramid which may help gain some insight into the meaning of this
architecture.11

Anon. 4 (n.d.)
Anon. 5 (2000)
11
McKay J.P., Hill B.D., Buckler R.B., Ebrey P.B. (2004), p. 19
10

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Figures

Figure 1
Source: http://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/khufu-pyramid/khufu-numbers.html (2006)

Figure 2
Source: http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Who%20built%20the%20pyramids.htm (2003)

Figure 3
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/joseklo/egyptian-writing (2014)

8
Bibliography

Anonymous 1 (n.d.), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza (accessed

on 2016/11/30)
Anonymous 4 (n.d.), http://www.aeraweb.org/projects/gpmp/ (accessed on
2016/12/01)
Anonymous 3 (n.d.), http://www.aeraweb.org/projects/lost-city/ (accessed on
2016/12/01)
Anonymous 5 (2000),
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/atlantisrebornagain.shtml (accessed on
2016/12/02)
Anonymous 2 (n.d.), http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/explore/howold.html
(accessed on 2016/12/02)
Edwards, J.F., 2003. Building the Great Pyramid: Probable construction methods
employed at Giza. Technology and Culture
Mayes, K., 2003. Science, the Universe and God: The Search for Truth
McKay, J.P., Hill, B.D., Buckler, R.B., Ebrey, P.B., 2004. A History of World Societies,
Combined Volume. Boston New York: Houston Mifflin Company
Seftel, B. 2016. Mysterious Hidden Chambers Discovered In Egypt's Great Pyramid Of
Giza,
http://www.ibtimes.com/mysterious-hidden-chambers-discovered-egypts-great-pyra
mid-giza-2433377 (accessed on 2016/12/03)
Shaw, J., 2003. Who Built the Pyramids?,
http://harvardmagazine.com/2003/07/who-built-the-pyramids-html (accessed on
2016/11/30)
Front page image: http://ow.ly/fUFo306WRJZ (accesed on 2016/12/07, copyright:
Pavel Bortel)