Archaeology & History

How did the Egyptians move large stones ?

By T.K. Randall
May 2, 2014 ·  739 comments

Did wet sand help the Egyptians build the pyramids ? Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Kallerna The exact way in which the Egyptian workers moved the huge stone blocks that made up the pyramids and other structures several thousand years ago has remained a matter of some debate.

Theories include everything from ramps and rollers to extraterrestrial intervention, but now scientists from the University of Amsterdam and the Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) have discovered a new method that would have made things significantly easier.The solution is surprisingly simple - by moistening the sand in front of a sled carrying the stone block being moved, the workers would have been able to pull it across the ground with ease. This idea works because dry sand tends to pile up in front of the object being dragged along while the ground remains smooth when the sand is wet.

It is believed that the ancient Egyptian builders would have been more than capable of utilizing this method to make moving the pyramid's large stone blocks in to position a reality.

Source: Phys.org | Comments (739)

Tags: Pyramids, Egypt