How were the Pyramids Built? Lifting the Stone Blocks

Pyramid Construction Theory
Article by Daniel Gerardo (reprinted with his permission)

Introduction
The pyramids, a monument of human strength and intelligence, have caused awe and curiosity among men at all times.

Cheops's Pyramid - also called the Great Pyramid -, which was raised on the Gizeh plateau during the ancient Egyptian Empire, is the masterpiece of builders.

The construction techniques applied for carrying out this work and the explanation of the reasons for its unique inner layout are both vast and debatable matters.

n this article I shall refer to two issues which have attracted the attention of archaeologists from Borchardt's time to our days:
a) the method used for lifting the blocks of stone;
b) the purpose of the Grand Gallery.

Traditionally, the two questions have been analysed separately without ever gathering enough evidence in either case. I shall briefly outline the existing scientific views on each one of them and will then formulate a different approach whose uniqueness lies in the fact that the two are assumed to be related.

The Purpose of the Grand Gallery
Flinders Petrie was the first archaeologist to express the opinion that the Grand Gallery had been used for storing the three granite blocks blocking the upward corridor - where they had been placed after the Pharaoh´s funeral (see Fig. 1).

Figure 1. The Architecture of the Pyramid of Cheops

Borchardt shares this idea, yet he points out that it can explain neither the slots carved in the lower part of the third row of stones on the side-walls of the gallery, nor the blocks mounted on each one of the twenty-eight holes carved in the wall benches at regular intervals (see Fig. 2).

He also believes that the blocks of stone on the floor of the gallery might have hindered the funeral procession, and postulates that they were placed on a wooden platform mounted on the side-wall slots which was supported by logs embedded in the bench holes. He completes his hypothesis with the theory of the successive stages of the construction, based on the assumption that during the building process three changes were made in the layout plan.

Figure 2. Drawing of the Grand Gallery

This might cast a new light on the existence of three chambers in the pyramid.

According to Lauer, the second layout plan provided that the intermediate chamber would act as a chapelle ardente, while the gallery would be built as a dead-end hall for storing the large granite blocks which would obstruct the whole upward corridor.

In the end, this idea might have been discarded by the builders. The upper- and antechambers were furnished with a built-in blocking system which provided sufficient safety for the upper storey, so the builders may have deemed it unnecessary to obstruct the whole upward corridor and thus limited the number of blocks to three.

The remaining granite stones were used for building the upper chamber. They mounted a scaffolding akin to the one formulated by Borchardt - and consistent with the various details found in the gallery - in order to raise the blocks of stone to the upper chamber.

The technique for lifting the blocks.(continued)