Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
7.9
Moving a 50-t statue at el-Bersheh on a wooden sledge,
1800
B
.
C
.
E
. From R¨hlmann (1962).
orientation of all major pyramids—offers the most plausi-
ble explanation of the challenge while also narrowing the
beginning of the Great Pyramid's construction to 2485-
2475
B
.
C
.
E
.). But arguments continue about the actual
ways of building the core of over 2 million blocks, and
emplacing and precisely finishing thousands of smooth
casing stones (Tompkins 1971; Mendelssohn 1974; Gri-
mal 1992; Wier 1996; Edwards 2003).
Three principal explanations have been offered to ex-
plain the construction. Many Egyptologists have believed
that pyramid builders used gigantic clay, brick, and stone
ramps, but this explanation is highly unlikely. A single
suitably inclined plane (slope 10:1) would have had to
be extensively enlarged after finishing every layer of stone-
work, and its volume would have far surpassed that of
the pyramid itself. Winding ramps encircling the pyramid
would have had to be very narrow (hence difficult to
negotiate) and supported by very steep walls. Most
tellingly, there are no signs of a vast volume of ramp-
building rubble anywhere on the Giza Plateau. In con-
trast, the proponents of lifting have offered many
solutions of how the work could have been done with
the help of levers or simple machines. Hodges (1989)
argued for just levers and wooden packing pieces to lift
stone blocks, and rollers to emplace them.
Objections to this explanation include the large
number of horizontal transfers that would have had to
be performed for every block as the pyramid grew higher,
and the need for extraordinary caution and precision to
avoid repeated accidents in manipulating 2-2.5-t stones.
Edwards (2003), assuming an average sustained pull of
68 kg per worker (the value derived from moving the el-
Bersheh colossus) and a 0.2 coefficient of friction, argued
in favor of gangs of about 50 workers using the pyra-
