The pyramids at Giza were simply built, one block at a time. But how did the worker actually move the massive material?
Three physicists from Indiana University have put together a method to move heavy stone blocks with only a fraction of the strength needed to actually move them.
The trio attached wooden dowels to the four sides of a concrete block. The block was a scaled down version of the 2.4 million limestone blocks that measured 50 inches by 50 inches by 28 inches (1.27m by 1.27m by 0.71m) and weighed 5,511 pounds (2,500 kg) used in the Great Pyramid. These rods turned the roughly 7.8-inch square (20 cm) and 15.7-inch long (40 cm) block into a dodecagon that can be moved more easily.
The physicists J. West, G. Gallagher and K. Waters pulled a rope wrapped around the block and stretched over the top of the bundle to roll it along. They found that the force needed to get the bundle was only 15% of the weight of the stone block, which was about 66 pounds (30 kg). The result, according to the physicists paper? "In order to maintain a constant block speed of 0.5 m/s a block of mass 2500 kg would require a work crew of roughly 50 individuals."
"For full scale pyramid blocks, the wooden 'rods' would need to be posts of order 30 cm in diameter, similar in size to those used as masts on ships in the Nile," the paper notes.
In the paper, "How they (should have) built the pyramids," the trio also looked at other hypothesized methods for moving these blocks. One method involved attaching half-circle shaped logs to the sides. Another had blocks moving on a mixture of water and sand to lessen the force needed to move them. West, Gallagher and Waters found that their method required less force.
The trio conclude in the paper that after testing their hypothesis with the practical movement of this bundle "that some variation of rolling the blocks should now be considered to be among the 'best' and most likely method used to move the stones for the great pyramids."
West and Gallagher are affiliated with the Department of Chemistry and Physics, at Indiana State University, while Waters is affiliated with the Department of Physics, at Michigan Technological University, formerly an undergraduate at ISU.
Photo: Jorge Láscar / Flickr
