Scientists Finally Explain How Pyramids Were Built

Bright Side

Ever wondered how the ancient Egyptians built those incredible pyramids? Scientists have finally cracked the mystery, and it's mind-blowing! Check out our latest video to discover the secrets behind these architectural wonders. Join us as we unravel one of history's greatest puzzles. Don't miss out on this fascinating revelation!  Credit: Kairo Museum Statuette Cheops: By Olaf Tausch, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kairo_Museum_Statuette_Cheops_03_(cropped).jpg Animation is created by Bright Side.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music by Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00Consider the Great Pyramids, one of the original seven wonders of the world and the only one

00:06that still exists today.

00:08Did you know that the Pyramids of Giza weren't the only pyramids out there?

00:12And they weren't even the first ones.

00:14First, there were the Pretty Good Pyramids, but they didn't catch on.

00:18Nah, I made that up.

00:21Back to the story.

00:22In ancient Egypt, it was believed that kings were chosen by gods to serve on Earth as their

00:27mediators.

00:29In the afterlife, they were expected to become gods themselves.

00:33The pyramid complex was built to make sure that the king had everything they might need

00:38in the afterlife.

00:39The complex included the pyramid, a palace, and temples.

00:43The tomb in the pyramid, where the king was buried, was filled with many things they might

00:48need, like furniture, food, and gold vessels.

00:52Actually, the first pyramid had been built 80 years before the first pyramid of Giza

00:57appeared.

00:59After all, there were around 100 of them.

01:01Some weren't finished, though, since the construction took a while, and not every pharaoh

01:06lived long enough to see the end of the construction.

01:09And now let's talk about the construction itself.

01:12The biggest of the Pyramids of Giza is as tall as a 40-story building.

01:17So how on Earth did they manage to build a structure that massive 5,000 years ago, long

01:23before machines and other equipment appeared?

01:26Well, let's figure it out.

01:29So Pharaoh Khufu ascended the throne around 2575 BCE, and his architects started the construction

01:36of the oldest and biggest of the Pyramids of Giza.

01:40He figured that over 2 million limestone blocks had to be used to build the pyramid, each

01:45weighing around 2.5 tons, around the weight of a rhino.

01:49The architect wanted to finish the construction in 20 years.

01:53To make it possible, a stone had to be carried and pushed into place every 4 minutes, 24

01:59hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, except leap year.

02:05So obviously, a lot of workers were needed to make it happen.

02:08Many believe that it was enslaved people who worked at the pyramid's construction site.

02:13But that's not true.

02:15Workers came from all over Egypt to contribute to the project.

02:19All in all, around 25,000 of them.

02:22The Egyptians were doing all kinds of work, starting with manual labor and crafting tools,

02:27to administrative work.

02:29They all worked around 10 hours a day.

02:31They were housed and well-fed, and they were overall living a more comfortable life than

02:36an average Egyptian could afford at that time.

02:39Supposedly, the builders lived in a nearby temporary city and were a highly organized

02:44community with a strong leader.

02:47The pyramids seemed to be designed to align with the points on a compass, and their sides

02:52symbolized the rays of the sun.

02:55But back at that time, there were no compasses.

02:58Ancient Egyptians figured out the directions themselves and with amazing precision.

03:04To align the pyramids, they used two constellations.

03:07The construction site was arranged on the west bank of the Nile River.

03:11This also had a symbolic meaning.

03:14Just like the sun sets in the west, life sets in the west as well.

03:19The second pyramid of Giza was for Khufu's son, Pharaoh Khafre.

03:23It's a bit smaller, but this one has the famous noseless statue of the Sphinx.

03:29Of course, originally, it had a nose.

03:31I would tell you what happened to it, but it's still a mystery, and no one knows for

03:36sure.

03:39Sphinxes have the body of a lion and the head of a human.

03:42They were considered guardians of important areas.

03:45This famous Sphinx, also pronounced Sphinx, has the head of Pharaoh Khafre and is guarding

03:51his pyramid, facing the sunrise.

03:53The Sphinx is one of the biggest and oldest statues in the world.

03:57Originally, it not only had a nose, but was also painted.

04:02Scientists have discovered traces of the red color of its face.

04:05So most likely, the Sphinx was painted red.

04:08There are also remains of yellow and blue color on its body.

04:11The statue definitely wasn't boring.

04:14Till around 1800, the Sphinx was buried up to its shoulders until an adventurer with

04:19a team of 160 men dug it out.

04:24But let's get back to the construction.

04:26The workers, of course, needed stone blocks.

04:29There were two main places where people could get these stones.

04:32One source was close to the construction site.

04:35But that fossil-lined yellow stone was only suitable for the pyramid's interior.

04:40The limestone blocks for the exterior were hauled from 8 miles away on 30-foot-long

04:46sleds.

04:47Apparently, it wasn't too hard to pull them.

04:49The sand mixed with the right amount of water was pretty slick, and 10 people could move

04:54a sled even with a rock weighing so much.

04:58Surprisingly, cutting off a block of limestone wasn't the biggest problem, when in the

05:03ground it was soft and could be split relatively easy.

05:07After getting exposed to the air, limestone hardens, so the most difficult part was to

05:13shape the blocks.

05:15That step was crucial because the smallest inaccuracies could lead to the whole pyramid

05:20collapsing.

05:21So, okay, those limestones were mined, carried on a sled, shaped, and then what?

05:27How could they be put into place?

05:29Well, this is still a mystery.

05:32Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a ramp system that dates back around the

05:36time the pyramids were being built.

05:38So historians have come to the consensus that, most likely, the Egyptians designed a unique

05:44ramp system to move and pull huge stone blocks.

05:48The most common opinion is that there were several ramps around the pyramid.

05:52There probably was a central ramp with two staircases on each side of it built over the

05:57pyramid stones.

05:59The ramp was growing as the pyramid was getting higher.

06:02People might've been walking up the stairs, pulling up stones on wooden sleds.

06:07But this is just one of the options.

06:09Other experts say that the ramps were around the pyramid.

06:13And some say that the ramps were inside the pyramid.

06:16Maybe we will never know for sure, and it'll forever remain a mystery.

06:21The exterior limestone of the pyramid was polished with sand and stone until it gleamed.

06:27On top, there was a gold and silver capstone, which glimmered over Egypt like a second sun.

06:33So that's how it was 5,000 years ago.

06:37Now about the interior.

06:39Surprisingly, there's not much inside the pyramid.

06:42Most of it is just solid stone with very little open space.

06:47But let's take a quick look inside.

06:49From the entrance, there are two stairways, one going down and the other going up.

06:54They take us to the chambers.

06:56There are three of them inside.

06:58Now why is that?

07:00Apparently, throughout the whole construction, a burial chamber had to be prepared at all

07:05times, just in case a pharaoh kicked the bucket before the construction ended.

07:10So separate chambers were built one after another as the construction progressed.

07:16The last of them was the main one.

07:18It's called the King's Chamber.

07:19It's the one where Khufu was resting.

07:22It's the biggest room at the very heart of the pyramid, and there's a big passageway

07:26leading to it.

07:27It was likely used as a kind of elevator to move granite up to build the interior.

07:33Granite was also used to make five stories of support beams to ensure that the pyramid

07:38didn't collapse.

07:40And we can see that it worked since it's been standing for centuries.

07:43Unfortunately, none of these chambers have hieroglyphs on the walls.

07:47If you want to see the writings, you should go to the decorated tombs near the pyramids.

07:52Those pieces of art are depictions of ancient Egypt's culture and daily life.

07:57The texts allow researchers to study their language and grammar.

08:01The treasures that once were in the pyramids have been taken by people.

08:06There were also many secret tunnels and passages inside the pyramids, but even today, no one

08:12knows the whole plan of the interior.

08:16Scientists have been sending little robots with cameras inside for many years, but there's

08:21still a lot we don't know about the pyramids.

08:23Now they're trying to use an X-ray to scan the pyramids from the outside, without going

08:28inside.

08:29So yeah, ancient Egyptians did create a mystery no one has been able to crack for 5,000 years

08:36already.

08:37That's it for today, so hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like

08:44and share it with your friends!

08:46Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!

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