How they built the pyramids with water and barges

Before the pyramids were built, the high priests went out to search for a location, they were looking for underground rivers.
they tapped into these rivers and built pools around the pyramids, channeled the water in to small rivers above ground then used the water lock to barge the large blocks into place, they then used the water as a level which made the measurment so precise.
Never under-estimate the power of water.

Sounds like an interesting theory.

How do you know all of this?

No matter how they did it if we accept the reign of Khufu as 23 years we must acknowledge that every 2.5 minutes one of 2,300,000 stones was moved to its final position. That's how it would have to work out if they labored 12 hours a day, 100,000 stones per year; 273 per day is about 23 per hour. Ya still gotta wrestle it off a barge and precisely position it into its final resting place in 2.5 minutes and gett the hell outta the way of the next of 272 barges.

Originally posted by Cruizer
if we accept the reign of Khufu as 23 years

Some sources suggested much longer than that, so maybe they had like 10 minutes instead

To the original poster, did you read this or did you think it up? Where did you hear about underground rivers in ancient Egypt?

I often wonder if the simplest most logical answer to this is closest the truth. If you asked me to build them out of blocks that size I wouldn't cut and drag them up out of a quarry, build a huge ramp with more mass than the actual pyramid, float them on barges. As a matter of fact I wouldn't cut stones at all, I would drag up aggregate of crushed limestone and by the usage of formwork pour the blocks out of the mix of aggregate limestone and water. This way you wouldnt be able to fit a peice of paper between the joins .

Yeah merka 10 minutes would be a 92 year span giving realistic some breathing space

Blocks made from limestone slurry would have to poured and set in 2.5 minutes in some way to the adjacent block without using wooden forms, none of which remain between the stones, or 10 minutes for a 92 year project. Todays Quickcrete doesn't set in 10 minutes.

One thing they did do was use the Nile a lot to transport the large granite from Aswan and other building materials from up/down river.

Originally posted by PHARAOH1133
Before the pyramids were built, the high priests went out to search for a location, they were looking for underground rivers.
they tapped into these rivers and built pools around the pyramids, channeled the water in to small rivers above ground then used the water lock to barge the large blocks into place, they then used the water as a level which made the measurment so precise.
Never under-estimate the power of water.

Proofs?
Sources?
You watched the fiction movie "Sahara" on Showtime?
(The movie included a fictional theory about rivers that once flowed on the surface being now underground. It has been airing regularly for a few weeks.)
If your going to stick out your tongue at everyone at least provide something, eh?

Originally posted by Cruizer
No matter how they did it if we accept the reign of Khufu as 23 years we must acknowledge that every 2.5 minutes one of 2,300,000 stones was moved to its final position. That's how it would have to work out if they labored 12 hours a day, 100,000 stones per year; 273 per day is about 23 per hour. Ya still gotta wrestle it off a barge and precisely position it into its final resting place in 2.5 minutes and gett the hell outta the way of the next of 272 barges.

Why only 12 hours per day? They had slave labor and could have worked around the clock using oil lamps.

They had slave labor and could have worked around the clock using oil lamps.

they didn't have oil lamps during that period
no oil to put in them see

Yeah Craig, of course they had oil lamps but if they did work 24 hours a day it would still only leave 5 minutes for placement of each stone if we count all 23 years of Khufu's reign.

With all due respect to the concept of night labor I find it a bit too extreme. It was dangerous enough to do what they did in daylight. I can't see flicker torches illuminating things sufficiently for efficient labor of placement of stones.

One possiblity is that the associated logistics of food prep, organizational prep and scheduling of personnel was done during the dark hours. All the support personnel and non-labor staffs could have gotten some of their work done at night.

Diverting the Nile is a possiblity that might have made sense for the maximum amount of water transport possible to get stones closer to the work site. I can't fathom any system that would have been able to raise barges several hundred feet as the pyramid grew to easily deliver materials. There's no lock system in the world today that can achive that. Again we'd be looking at a construction for that as great as the pyramid itself.

I like your sig Craig- when people can accept that there are limitless possibilities and be mature enough to stop sniping, sarcastic comments and flaming we'll all be better off.

They did use water to level the ground but not so sure about diverting underground rivers. The quarries used for most of the stone were relatively close to the building sites anyway. Only the good stone was cut from further away & transported by barge.

They didn't really use slaves either, mostly just normal average folks & they were well taken care of, didn't live particularly badly by any means. Farmers mostly waiting for crops to grow so had time on their hands etc.

The majority of the stone wasn't really super duper well cut, only the outside ones were precision cut so to speak, basically the visible stone was amazingly well cut & fitted with the rest being rough & cracks filled in with rubble, cementy type stuff.

Originally posted by Cruizer
Yeah Craig, of course they had oil lamps but if they did work 24 hours a day it would still only leave 5 minutes for placement of each stone if we count all 23 years of Khufu's reign.

Assuming they only placed on stone at a time. Instead of, say, 20 teams placing 20 stones at a time .... in which case to maintain the same rate they'd have to place each stone in 1 hour 40 minutes

Originally posted by PHARAOH1133
Before the pyramids were built, the high priests went out to search for a location, they were looking for underground rivers.

Giza (where the pyramids are) is next to the river.

So are the quarries.

they tapped into these rivers and built pools around the pyramids, channeled the water in to small rivers above ground then used the water lock to barge the large blocks into place,

Why would they do that? The river was right there. They didn't need locks.

they then used the water as a level which made the measurment so precise.
Never under-estimate the power of water.

Your enthusiasm is commendable, but you might want to read what we know about the area (including the pictures of them bringing the stones on barge using the Nile and the overseers reports.)

Current thinking is that it took quite a bit longer than 40 years to build the pyramid.

Oh... and slave labor was NOT used.

It's getting deep in here. I have to get my boots. Another improbable "offical" explanation.

[edit on 15-10-2006 by SpeakerofTruth]

Byrd I was assuming he was thinking about the heaviest granite pieces brought down by barge from Aswan. The "free ride" on the Nile was sufficient to make it a benefit and that any major work to make canals to get it to the pyramid perimeter would have not been worth the effort.

"Assuming they only placed on stone at a time. Instead of, say, 20 teams placing 20 stones at a time .... in which case to maintain the same rate they'd have to place each stone in 1 hour 40 minutes."

That could have perhaps worked on the foundation elevation only. Any means of getting 20 teams with their stones simultaneously at the ready-to-place point is superfluous without a ramp as wide as the pyramid itself with the 20 teams commencing their pull from the quarries at the same moment and unbelieveably arriving at the work summit at the same moment. A 500 foot wide ramp elevating to even just a couple hundred feet would take more production to build than it was worth since any ramp from desert floor to a work concourse would require modification with every row placed. The row you just finished would now require you to lift the next row 10 feet high atop the row you just easily rolled up to at equal height of the ramp or re-elevate the ramp.

Any real time gained by en masse placement would be negated by the constant need to re-elevate the ramp to a height so as it would be level with the row being placed. How long would it take to continually raise the ramp row by row across the face of one side? A conical ramp would not work since it would require a massive base as well plus it would be too narrow for 20 sledges to go up side by side.

PS. I 'm not attempting to be a wise guy or rain on anyone's parade but to use logical time versus effort scenarios well thought out step by step. i can't buy the 23 year time of construction. A 100 years, yeah

[edit on 10/15/06 by Cruizer]