A new discovery in Egypt’s pyramids has left experts rethinking everything they thought they knew. Scientists recently found hidden chambers deep inside the Great Pyramid of Giza using advanced scanning technology. These rooms have never been explored and could reveal secrets about how the pyramid was built or what it was used for. The discovery is exciting because it opens up the possibility of new treasures or historical clues hidden within Egypt's most famous monument. Researchers are now planning how to carefully explore these chambers without damaging the ancient structure. This discovery could completely change our understanding of ancient Egypt! Credit: Kairo Museum Statuette Cheops: By Olaf Tausch, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90619671 Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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00:00Most people know that pyramids were built as grand tombs for the Pharaohs, designed
00:05to ensure they had a smooth journey to the afterlife.
00:09The Great Pyramid of Giza, for instance, was constructed for the Pharaoh Khufu.
00:14But what most people don't know is that this whole pyramid-building trend started
00:18right here, with the Step Pyramid of Djoser, about 4,700 years ago.
00:25This massive structure was built for Pharaoh Djoser, a ruler from Egypt's Third Dynasty.
00:31It rises seven layers high above the ground and stands about 200 feet tall.
00:36We think of it today as a phenomenal architectural project.
00:40But for ancient Egyptians, the Step Pyramid of Djoser turned out to be more like a massive
00:45experiment – a trial run, if you will – to perfect their building skills before they
00:50moved on to even more ambitious pyramids.
00:54Reaching new heights is super exciting, but the real mystery is what is going on below
00:59the ground.
01:00In this pyramid's underground labyrinth, there is a network of tunnels stretching about
01:043.5 miles long.
01:07And some researchers believe these tunnels might've been part of a sophisticated water
01:12system that could completely change what we think about pyramid construction.
01:17Let's talk about this massive complex located in Saqqara.
01:22Surrounding the pyramid, there's what's known as a dry moat – a continuous trench
01:27that is up to 164 feet wide and almost 2 miles long.
01:32It forms a sort of rectangular shape around the pyramid.
01:35This trench has an average depth of about 65 feet.
01:39Now, if you were to add up all the earth and rock they dug out to create this moat, it
01:44would be about 10 times the volume of the Step Pyramid itself.
01:49For the longest time, people just assumed this trench was nothing more than a huge quarry
01:54– a place where they dug up stone and clay to build the Step Pyramid.
01:58Makes sense, right?
02:00But when you take a closer look, it doesn't add up.
02:03The trench is too narrow and deep to be practical for mining, and its layout doesn't match
02:08anything we know about ancient Egyptian quarrying methods.
02:12Plus, some sections of the trench are actually covered with a rocky ceiling, which would've
02:18made it nearly impossible to use as a quarry.
02:22Another theory suggests that the dry moat had some kind of spiritual significance.
02:27Maybe it was a sacred place, where souls of nobles gathered to serve the late king in
02:32the afterlife.
02:33There are even niches in the walls that work as a hint at this spiritual function.
02:39But most researchers believe that this purpose likely developed much later, long after the
02:44complex was built for Djoser.
02:47So what was the moat really designed for?
02:50In 2020, a researcher came up with a pretty intriguing idea.
02:54It is possible that this trench was actually designed to collect and manage water, especially
03:00after heavy rainfalls.
03:02Now that makes sense when you consider the location.
03:05The moat sits in an area that could easily have been flooded by runoff water from nearby
03:10plains.
03:11This could also explain why the trench wasn't used for new graves until much later when
03:16the climate became drier and less prone to flooding.
03:21The story becomes even more intriguing, as this trench appears to be part of a larger,
03:26more complex hydraulic system within the Djoser complex.
03:30It is like the trench has several compartments, carefully carved out of the rock and connected
03:35by tunnels.
03:36These compartments likely served as a part of a water treatment system, where water would
03:41flow from one compartment to the next, getting cleaner as it moved along.
03:47Now here is where things start to tie into the pyramid itself.
03:51The Djoser complex has a series of underground shafts, and some researchers think that water
03:56from the moat's deep trench might've been used to power a hydraulic lift system.
04:02And this giant water-powered elevator could've been used to raise the heavy stones needed
04:07to build the pyramid.
04:09It worked like a volcano, but instead of lava, water did the heavy lifting.
04:14Imagine a big deep hole in the ground at the center of the pyramid's site.
04:19Inside this hole, there was a huge wooden platform, kind of like a giant raft that could
04:24move up and down.
04:26When the workers wanted to lift a heavy stone, they would fill the hole with water.
04:31As the water rose, the wooden platform started to float up, carrying the stone with it, almost
04:37like a giant water-powered elevator.
04:40When the stone reached the right height, the workers slid it off the platform and onto
04:44the pyramid.
04:47The idea is that water from the deep trench, after being cleaned and filtered, would flow
04:51into these shafts.
04:53A massive float, possibly made of wood, would then rise as the water filled the shaft, lifting
04:59the stones up to where they were needed for construction.
05:03Once the stone was in place, they'd let the water out, lowering the platform back down
05:08to the bottom, ready to lift the next stone.
05:12This fancy hydraulic lift system could've been a game-changer, making the whole building
05:16process a lot faster and more efficient without using a lot of workforce.
05:21It is like the ancient Egyptians were already embracing the whole idea of work smarter,
05:27not harder.
05:28But, of course, not everyone is on board with this theory.
05:33Some experts argue that the area where the step pyramid of Djoser was built couldn't
05:37have held enough water from occasional rains to maintain such a fancy hydraulic system.
05:43The main theory suggests that, in the past, there might've been some kind of lake nearby
05:49that would've filled up after a period of rain, and this lake could've supplied water
05:54to the complex's hydraulic system.
05:56But there is no mention of such a lake in any ancient Egyptian writings, so it might
06:01be more of a what-if situation than a reality.
06:06And then there's the issue of the hard work itself.
06:09Remember when I said this method could've allowed the ancient builders to raise stones
06:13with far less effort?
06:15Well, that might not be entirely true.
06:18According to some experts, just building this hydraulic device would've required a lot
06:23more heavy work than simply moving the stone blocks using good old-fashioned manpower.
06:29But let's not forget, the step pyramid of Djoser is like a baby pyramid compared to
06:34those that came later.
06:36The stones used for Djoser's pyramid weighed, on average, about 660 pounds each, which is
06:42nothing compared to the more than 2.5-ton blocks used later for the pyramid of Cephran.
06:49If this cruel water-lift theory gets completely ruled out, we still need to explain how this
06:55pyramid was built in the first place.
06:57To answer that, we need to rewind a bit and talk about the original plans.
07:02See, before Djoser's tomb became a pyramid, the idea was to construct a simple mastaba.
07:09This type of tomb was pretty common in earlier periods – a flat-roofed rectangular structure
07:15with sloping sides.
07:17But after the original mastaba was finished, they decided to expand it a bit by adding
07:22more layers on top.
07:24And then they added even more layers, until the construction reached 6 distinctive steps
07:29– each one smaller than the previous.
07:31And they probably did all this by raising those heavy stones using ramps, not a water-powered
07:37elevator.
07:38There is still so much we don't know about the step pyramid of Djoser.
07:43More research is definitely needed to fully understand how this system worked, or if it
07:48even existed at all.
07:50But the idea of using water to help build the pyramid adds a whole new layer to our
07:55understanding of Ancient Egyptian engineering.
07:57It's a powerful reminder of just how clever and resourceful those builders were, using
08:03the natural landscape and the power of water to create one of the most iconic monuments
08:08in history.
08:10That's it for today!
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