Reprinted with permission from July/August 1999 Inventors' Digest
By Allen Dittmer
I'm not an Egyptologist nor a scientist. I'm a part time inventor (Invention Website) who is intrigued with ancient Egypt, specifically with the construction of the Great pyramid of Egypt at Giza.
Theories abound as to how this incredible structure was built. Some people contend it was built by thousands of slave laborers; others believe it was the result of the extraordinary intelligence of extra-terrestrials.
The Great Pyramid is composed of 2.5 million limestone blocks that weigh two to thirteen tons each. The largest and most elaborate pyramids were built in a 160-year span between 2650 and 2490 B.C.; the Great pyramid was built during the 23-year reign of Pharaoh Khufu. Evan Hadington, writing about Pyramids in the "Atlantic" magazine, calculated that to complete the Great Pyramid in 23 years, it was necessary to set one block in place every two minutes during a ten hour work day, 365 days a year.
How did an ancient civilization move the gargantuan blocks UP to the heights necessary? What ingenious block transportation methods did they use to accomplish this placements of limestone blocks in assembly line efficiency in order to complete construction during a Pharoah's reign? Most Egyptologists agree that the wheel was not yet around (no pun intended). The most popular theory is that flat-bottomed, two rail sledges (basically oversized wooden snow sleds) were used to pull the limestone blocks up clay/mud ramps (Fig. 1). Some theorists go farther and attempt to explain in detail how the sledges were moved. Currently there are two popular camps of sledge moving theories. One involves the use of long rollers to help move the sledge. Another entertains the notion that either water or oil was used to lubricate wooden planks that sledges slid across on their trek up the ramp.
The Use of water or oil to lubricate sledge rails has merit as long as the sledge is on solid/level concrete ground as shown in the Egyptian "relief" in Fig. 2. The problem with this transportation method for pyramid building is that a clay/mud ramp would become dangerously slippery and wouldn't be practical for moving large objects weighing thousands of pounds up to great heights. Logic says that these narrow earthen ramps were hazardous when dry; they would have been treacherous when wet and muddy. To further complicate matters, most Egyptologists agree that a wrap-around coil ramp was probably used for the largest of the Pyramids at Giza (Fig. 3).
Another theory suggest Egyptians used long rollers, but this seems impractical also. Men would have had to continually carry rollers from the back to the front of the sledge as it moved forward on a long, coiling ramp (Fig. 1). This method of roller use would be cumbersome because the rollers could easily roll askew (at angles that are not 90 degrees to sledge rails). This technology seem inefficient and crude for the ancient Egyptians who were ingenious and very precise with pyramid construction at Giza. Ancient Egyptian precision was of such caliber that, on many of the remaining casing stones still left on the pyramids, a razor blade cannot be slid between the stones after 4,500 years. Engineering of this degree hardly suggests inefficiency.
I have a theory that is based on tools and simple technology that was probably available at the time of the Old Kingdom in ancient Egypt (3100-2181 B.C.). I believe the Egyptians used modified rollers and a modified sledge. The modified sledge, which was either "arc rail" or "four rail", would allow the rollers to "automatically" reset by gravity (roll back into place down the ramp incline to roller stops) after they were rolled over (Fig 3).
The modified sledge and rollers would allow the limestone blocks to be towed up the ramp with less manpower and in a much more time efficient manner. This method would also help prevent damage to the earthen ramp from water or oil being poured continuously as proposed in one theory.
I believe the rollers were spaced equally apart and utilized "roller stops" to reset the rollers for the next sledge or sledge rail. Gravity would automatically reset the roller after the sledge released it.
U-Shaped channels, built into the earthen ramp, would constitute the roller track. The track would be laid out to cover the length of the wrap around ramp. The channels might also have strengthened by the insertion of wooden beams. The "U-Channels" would house the rollers and help guide the sledge up the ramp.
My initial attempt at a "roller reset" theory used rollers that were longer than the width of the sledge rails. The problem with rollers this long that it would be very difficult to get them smooth and straight, in large quantities, and to maintain uniform diameter over the entire length of the roller. In other words, it would have been a rough ride all the way up the ramp. Using shorter rollers would have afforded the Egyptians a much greater chance of finding sections of tree trunks that were smooth, straight, and a uniform diameter-especially in an era when wood was probably in fairly short supply. The "U-Channels" would keep the rollers and sledge rails ona straight path. I have not found an existing roller theory that has considered the use of the short roller possibility.
Arc Rail Sledge The arc rail sledge (Fig 3.) would ride on two rollers at a time, within the top part of the U-Channel, and thus produce a fairly smooth ride. The ride could be smoothed further by stabilizer bars in front and rear. If the sledge was tilted to front or back, the stabilizer bar would slide on top of the U-Channel to smooth out the ride until stabilization occurred.
Four Rail Sledge The four rail sledge would have ridden on four rollers at all times and would have delivered a smooth ride. The key to the four rail sledge lies in the two rails on each side; the notch between the two rails allows the roller at the front ail to be released as the two front rails roll up onto he next set of rollers (Fig. 3). This would allow the released roller to roll back to the roller stop, and the back rail would automatically have its next roller available as it journeyed forward.
Flat-Bottom Two-Rail Sledge Most Egyptologists agree that the flat bottom two rail sledge existed during the Old Kingdom pyramid era. However, these sledges would not have worked very efficiently with a roller configuration like the one proposed in my theory. The rollers would bunch up rather quickly because they are not released in sequence. This bunching would ultimately result in the sledge sliding over the rollers instead rolling smoothly.
Direct supporting evidence for any theory as to how the huge blocks were moved is sparse at best. To date, no text or relief (chiseled drawings) have been found describing how the Great Pyramids were built. Most Egyptologists agree that the wheel had not yet been invented, and the first recording of large blocks being moved with wheels is dated about 750 B.C.-some 2000 years after the Great Pyramid was built. The first wheeled transportation was introduced until the Middle Kingdom when the Hyksos brought chariots to Egypt between 2040 and 1786 B.C.
One must use indirect evidence to formulate theories as to how large objects might have been transported. A relief from the tomb of Djehutihotip (Fig. 2) dating to 1800 B.C. (800 years after the Great Pyramid was built) show 172 men pulling a huge statue on flat ground with a two-rail, flat-bottom sledge. Some type of liquid is shown being poured in front the sledge, presumably a lubricant. Another relief (from 1580-1588 B.C. 1000 years after the building of the Great Pyramid), known as the Tura Stele, show three oxen pulling a block of stone on a two-rail flat-bottom sledge across flat ground. Remains of clay ramps have been found at Giza and a mud ramp has been found at the Saqqara pyramid. Thus, sufficient evidence exists to conclude that ramps were used to some extent.
The two sledge reliefs provide compelling indirect evidence of how the blocks might have been moved. One problem, as previously eluded to, is that both reliefs date about one millennium after the Great Pyramid was built. The construction of the Great Pyramid appears to be the crowning technological achievement for the ancient Egyptians, since most later Egyptian construction pales in comparison. This supports speculation that technological advancement slowed considerably after the building of the Great Pyramid and supports the assumption that relief evidence must be considered indirect. It suggests that some technology was lost in the 1000 years between the building of the Great Pyramid and the time that the two sledge reliefs were engraved. David McCauley, author of PYRAMIDS, and other Egyptologists have proposed that easily movable wooden rockers (much like my suggested two-rail arc-bottom sledge) were used during the final shaping of the stone at the top of the pyramid. The stone was transferred from the flat-bottom sledge to the rocker. One can easily ask why it would not make more sense to simple use my theory's arc-rail sledge to pull the stone up, thus eliminating the step of transferring the heavy blocks from transportation device to another at the top of the pyramid.
A flat-bottom 2-rail sledge can easily be notched in the middle to make my proposed 4 rail sledge, and would also work nicely with my roller theory. My theory of two modified sledge possibilities and auto-resetting rollers could have easily been forgotten or lost to time during the thousands of years that passed before the first hard evidence (reliefs) of sledges emerged. My idea of two modified sledges is not dramatically different from the sledges and rockers most Egyptologists believe existed during the Old Kingdom. The use of rollers would have logically preceded the invention of the wheel.
Even today, modern logic is diminished in the presence of a great pyramid. Exactly how the pyramids were built is still a mystery which endures after 4,500 years and humbles the modern mind when we consider our "progress".
Please E-mail me your opinions
Other Pyramid Sites!
A very useful Pyramid Construction site with Pyramid Construction Links
Works Consulted for above Article
Tom McNeese, The Pyramids of Giza, San Diego: Lucent Books, 1997
David Macauly, Pyramid, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1975
Joseph Davidovits and Margie Moris, The Pyramids An Enigma Solved, New York, Hippocrene Books, 1988
Wm. R. Fix, Pyramid Odyssey, New York: Mayflower Books, 1978
Michael O'Neal, Pyramids, San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1995
