“Ahem. This is a stack of rocks.”

“Perhaps someone just found a cool way to stack rocks?”

“this is pic of a corner of one of the sides of the GP.
It is a pile of rock, mostly, with structures of rock inside.
a marvel of engineering.”

In the strictest sense, all of these quotes are more or less correct, antagonism and sarcasm aside. The Great Pyramid is indeed a stack/pile of rocks just as this digitized picture...

…when closely examined, is nothing more than bunch of pixels,

but if you pull back from it you have a complete and detailed image.

What have “experts” learned about this "pile of rocks" over the centuries it has been studied about its construction?

“If you want your monument to stand strong, it needs to be heterogenous in its dimension. That will keep the wall from collapsing in the case of stress, like in an earthquake. - Dr. Joseph Davidovits (Geochemist and Egyptologist)

In other words, your “pile of rocks” needs to be of different shapes and sizes. In the case of the Great Pyramid, not only are they an agglomeration of stone, there is also approximately 500,000 tons of mortar used for binding that "pile of rocks" together into an image in the architects mind. A pyramid that would withstand the stress of the shifting and settling of 1.5 ton to multi-ton blocks over time as well as protect and maintain the cut and shaped granite (and limestone) passageways and chambers inside and below. Many of which are exceptionally precise and tightly fitted together without mortar.
The Great Pyramid wasn’t a haphazard and ad hoc construction project. It was planned and executed in fine detail right down to the last block of stone set in place. The outer blocks were intentionally amorphous, not because it was easier, because it wasn’t, but out of necessity.

The intermediate shell of the pyramid was not pretty under the white limestone outer casing upon close inspection...

...and it wasn’t meant to be, but it is very functional as the millennia have proven. The outer casing of white limestone was for pretty as well as functional to protect the "pile of rocks" underneath. The design of the Great Pyramid has stood the test of time, without and within.

As the old Arab proverb says “Man fears time, time fears the pyramids”

Just a pile of rocks? You bet. A pile of rocks that was probably the tallest structure in the world for thousands of years made up of approximately 2.5 million blocks of stone, and when finished would have been a shining example of craftsmanship to behold. It still is. It was a marvel of ancient engineering and construction when it was built and is still marveled at today, for good reason in my opinion, given the tools they allegedly had to work with.

Yet, we moderns have the unmitigated and arrogant gall to define them as backward, undeveloped primitives, considering ourselves to be the peak products of human history.

There is so much in past history that we either don't know or are lied to about.

Perhaps my favorite quote from the entire body of Shakespearean work is this:

“And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Hamlet, 1 v

a reply to: incoserv
Some folks really need history to be linear. Any deviation is troublesome.

a reply to: Klassified

OTFLMAO

originally posted by: incoserv
Yet, we moderns have the unmitigated and arrogant gall to define them as backward, undeveloped primitives, considering ourselves to be the peak products of human history.

Who is doing that?

The ancient Egyptians were certainly proficient at moving large amounts of stone and being relatively precise about it. But personally I would expect that from a civilization that worked with big rocks for literally thousands of years.

But they never apparently figured out how to use a damn wheel. So what does that make them?

I have notice how in the areas where they built brick and stone structures and made mortar for these and also made pottery that there are desert areas around them. They stripped the clay layer off to make pottery, bricks, and mortar out of. The most ancient mortars contained clay until it was hard to get, that clay makes it way more waterproof and longer lasting. Crushed bone was utilized to make the lime for the mortar in areas without limestone or other calcium stones. Around here you can grind up some old pieces of dinosaur or mammoth bone to get calcium.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: incoserv
Yet, we moderns have the unmitigated and arrogant gall to define them as backward, undeveloped primitives, considering ourselves to be the peak products of human history.

Who is doing that?

The ancient Egyptians were certainly proficient at moving large amounts of stone and being relatively precise about it. But personally I would expect that from a civilization that worked with big rocks for literally thousands of years.

But they never apparently figured out how to use a damn wheel. So what does that make them?

Egyptians didn't know how to use a wheel?

Well, thank you! You provide - with that statement - support for my statement, manifestation of the exact attitude that I'm talking about. My short answer to your question of "Who is doing that? would be: YOU, RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!.

There are ancient architectural feats all over the planet that could not be accomplished in any way with modern technology. Maybe in those instances where they didn't use the wheel, it was because they didn't even need the wheel.

There are massive stone blocks that were cut to extremely precise tolerances yet bear no kind of tool marks on them. If modern man could do that, it'd only be with high-powered lasers or perhaps water jets.

If, as you say, the Egyptians didn't even know how to use a wheel, that makes the fact that they moved those multi-ton blocks of stone over long distances even more intriguing, more amazing. If they didn't know how to use a wheel, how did those massive stone blocks get moved?

That's a serious question! Care to answer?

BTW ... If you understand the geographical characteristics of the region, you'd understand that much of the land of Egypt was marshy due to its proximity to the Nile river and the river's ever-shifting course and seasonal flooding. This means that the ground was muddy, very soft, so using wheels to transport heavy cargo would not have been practical. This means that they, obviously, found an alternate mode of transportation - one that we know nothing about, do not understand, and cannot duplicate without massive and very expensive technology. So, again ... how does this make that civilization backward compared to modernity?

Your reply is a perfect example of the attitude that I'm addressing in that post. Your ilk thinks you're better, smarter, more developed than they were simply by virtue of being later on the timeline, I guess. That and a heavy dose of hubris.
:

Star and Flag as this is why I am on ATS!

Very cool!

a reply to: Klassified

We don't have to listen to the academics who insist they know
all about it. I'm wondering why you didn't elaborate more on it's
alignment and center of land mass and such? I know we couldn't
match it only using the tools they supposedly used. I doubt we
could get the first block cut, transported and placed. Which means
humans aren't as intelligent as they once were. Which means
devolution is what's actually taking place. That's part of what is
being kept hidden from most of us.

a reply to: Blue Shift

The Egyptians had chariots you know ... they most certainly knew the function and utility of 'wheels' to the point they developed, or rather co-developed over time with surrounding societies a wheel and axle function.

originally posted by: Randyvine2
a reply to: Klassified

We don't have to listen to the academics who insist they know
all about it. I'm wondering why you didn't elaborate more on it's
alignment and center of land mass and such? I know we couldn't
match it only using the tools they supposedly used. I doubt we
could get the first block cut, transported and placed. Which means
humans aren't as intelligent as they once were. Which means
devolution is what's actually taking place. That's part of what is
being kept hidden from most of us.

But we have computers and the internet and McDonald's ... Woo hoo!
:

a reply to: Randyvine2

I'm wondering why you didn't elaborate more on it's alignment and center of land mass and such?

It wasn't the main point of the OP.

a reply to: incoserv

But we have computers and the internet and McDonald's ... Woo hoo!
:

Yeah those poor assholes that came before us were just getting
acquainted with the wheel. What a bunch Neanderthals. lol

Hey everybody what about we cut 2.5 millions gigantic heavy
ass blocks out of that quarry over there. And then we'll some
how move um over here thru the sand on wooden wheels and
likely an axle technology in it's fledgling stages. So we can make
"a pile of f@#$ing rocks" that will really make people think 3000
thousand years in the future? Wouldn't that be great? Come on
everyone this is not a completely stupid thing to even think of
doing in the first place. People have this idea all the time! You
know why? Because it's so easy to do. It's just a pile of rocks!

You bastards!



And the other Egyptians are all. "Well I know but it's hot damn you!"

m.youtube.com...

Maybe they didn’t cut the stone but poured the pyramid blocks instead.
A reflection on how dumb we are, maybe

originally posted by: Raggedyman
m.youtube.com...

Maybe they didn’t cut the stone but poured the pyramid blocks instead.
A reflection on how dumb we are, maybe

I address that theory here.
There's more that could be said and there are others who address it better than I can, but that's the "Cliff Notes" version.

originally posted by: Randyvine2
a reply to: Klassified

We don't have to listen to the academics who insist they know
all about it. I'm wondering why you didn't elaborate more on it's
alignment and center of land mass and such? I know we couldn't
match it only using the tools they supposedly used. I doubt we
could get the first block cut, transported and placed. Which means
humans aren't as intelligent as they once were. Which means
devolution is what's actually taking place. That's part of what is
being kept hidden from most of us.

Not hidden from us, we’re just to imbecilic to notice and to narcissistic to care.

Smart monkey puts twig in hole to get termites.

Dumb monkey let’s an unknown, rumoured to be dangerous, substance be stuck into them and their progeny.

All on the say so of the latest in a hereditary line of Eugenics exponents.

Dumb monkey, dumb.

originally posted by: strongfp
a reply to: Blue Shift

The Egyptians had chariots you know ... they most certainly knew the function and utility of 'wheels' to the point they developed, or rather co-developed over time with surrounding societies a wheel and axle function.

I suppose I should have clarified that they apparently didn't use wheels to build the pyramids, relying on slippery ramps and ropes and elbow grease and such. They certainly used the wheel a thousand years later, with chariots, as you say.

originally posted by: incoserv
If they didn't know how to use a wheel, how did those massive stone blocks get moved?
That's a serious question! Care to answer?

Excellent management and coordination, working primarily with muddy ramps and ropes and levers and a hell of a lot of elbow grease. As illustrated, they could move and stack the most of the interior blocks quickly because they weren't being so precise. I'm sure the outer casing stones took longer to fabricate and place, and were likely done by specialized teams once the bulk of the interior stones were seated and the interior hoisting mechanisms were constructed.

Nice thing about the pyramids is that the work probably got easier as they went along, since the volume of stones decreased as they went up. Unless they built them from the top down.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: incoserv
If they didn't know how to use a wheel, how did those massive stone blocks get moved?
That's a serious question! Care to answer?

Excellent management and coordination, working primarily with muddy ramps and ropes and levers and a hell of a lot of elbow grease. As illustrated, they could move and stack the most of the interior blocks quickly because they weren't being so precise. I'm sure the outer casing stones took longer to fabricate and place, and were likely done by specialized teams once the bulk of the interior stones were seated and the interior hoisting mechanisms were constructed.

Nice thing about the pyramids is that the work probably got easier as they went along, since the volume of stones decreased as they went up. Unless they built them from the top down.

This is one theory. Another similar one is that water was used. Yet another suggests a wooden crane with a counterweight on one end, and still another suggests the use of pulleys, ramps and fulcrums. The truth is, we don't know. Nothing wrong with educated guesses, but no one method has been conclusively identified as THE method used.

a reply to: Klassified

Modern marvels are nothing compared to what previous civilizations did.

And I refuse to believe written history. It does not seem to align with actual physical evidence.

I'd go as far as to say in some aspects we are less advanced than our ancestors.

I tried to explain to someone a few days ago how Egyptians had electricity. Man they shut down the conversation quickly and said they prefer to believe modern textbooks when it comes to history.

I have noticed if I ever ask someone who built the pyramids they immediately say slaves. No person has ever said aliens or giants or the Egyptians or Mayans or whatever indigenous peoples.

And never ask about the pyramid on the dollar bill. Quite a few tell me there is no pyramid on the dollar bill...




Edit:

Let me clarify. When they say "slaves" they mean African slaves. Supposedly it's being taught or said that black slaves have done building all around the world. Even the Great Wall of Covid.