[ad_1]
The mysterious Pyramids of EGYPT have always baffled scientists – but a hack of ancient construction can reveal how they were built.
Egyptologists made an unexpected discovery in an old quarry, suggesting that the pyramid builders had used a modified ramp to facilitate the transport of huge rocks.
The Great Pyramid of Giza is one of the oldest wonders in the world, and rightly so. The huge structure was built about 4500 years ago, from huge granite stones supposedly carved by wooden wedges.
Archaeologists are confused by the way the ancient Egyptians managed to transport these stones to the structure of the pyramid, the largest ones weighing between 25 and 80 tons.
Scientists now believe that these millennial builders used specialized ramps with wooden poles, which allowed men's teams to hoist the rocks with the help of a compound system.
With 2.3 million blocks making up the Great Pyramid, just drag rocks upward to require considerable effort.
But scientists who examined inscriptions on Hatnab's old quarry accidentally discovered an access ramp inclined at 20%.
It was previously thought that it was impossible for the Egyptians to have fired large blocks of stairs on ramps of more than 10%, but this ramp was double the slope.
The ramp, however, had a surprising feature: pole holes were placed along the steps on the side.
According to Roland Enmarch, of the University of Liverpool, these holes would have been filled with thick wooden posts.
Teams of constructors would then have wound ropes around the poles to create pulleys, thus making it possible to pull the blocks upwards.
This, coupled with a team of men pulling up, allowed for a steeper and more compact ramp.
"This arrangement allows people to climb up and down the ramp and deploy all the force in the same direction," said Dr. Enmarch, quoted by The temperature.
Yannis Gourdon, of the French Institute of Oriental Archeology, said the stones raised from the quarry would have been of a size similar to those used in the Great Pyramid.
Part of the problem for scientists, however, is that the ramps used to build the Great Pyramid were removed after construction.
This means that it is impossible to know if the same system was used at Giza.
But Dr. Enmarch described this as a "plausible inference".
He said: "This shows that at the time of the construction of the Great Pyramid, this technology was also used."
What makes the discovery even more exciting is that it was a complete accident.
The scientists were there only to record the old subscriptions.
"When we were working on it, we did some cleaning work," said Gourdon.
"We had to remove stones and debris from the walls to find the inscriptions."
During this process, they found a ramp 3 meters wide with steps on each side.
And the integrated holes could be filled with posts measuring half a meter in diameter.
"That means when (Pharoah) Cheops built the pyramid in Giza, he had the technology to transport huge stones on steep, steep slopes," Gourdon said.
Dr. Enmarch agreed, stating that the "double stowage system" would probably have been used at Giza.
"They could fire both around the pole and on the blockage in height," he said.
"That doubles the number of people who can carry on the blocks."
This article originally appeared in The Sun and has been reproduced with permission.
