Estimates have suggested that 100,000 men would be required to build the pyramid, but recent research shows local facilities could support about 20,000 people. Most were part-time farmers working during the Nile's annual inundation.
The Great Pyramid is built of some 2.3 million blocks each weighing about 2½ tons, with a total weight of approximately 6½ million tons. It stands 145 meters (480 feet) tall. Wheels had not been invented yet; likely, log rollers or hardwood sliders were used. The Egyptians had stone, water, desert/sand, timber, peace, manpower, and favorable geography.
A model “machine” made from stone and wood shows the Great Pyramid could have been built in 10–20 years by 10,000–20,000 workers.
A boat floats and rises with the water level, like a boat in a canal lock. A large boat can support enormous weights (equal to the water displaced). The 46-meter-long boat found in the Giza boat pit could carry 200–400 tons.
Imagine a lock near the pyramid, supplied by the Nile during flood and drained into the desert. By operating lock gates, a boat could cyclically rise and fall, transporting heavy stone blocks upwards in stages with docks/platforms at various heights.
With multiple "tables" and "shelves" spaced vertically, stones could be progressively lifted higher using only water power and simple sliding mechanisms.
A model using a boat scaled to 46cm by 7cm demonstrates the process. Stone blocks and tree trunks create 10 levels, each 5cm apart, moving 8 blocks at a time to a height of 5 meters. With a six-minute cycle, the model could move 80 blocks per hour.
Blocks are moved on sleds sliding on timber runners. Runners are balanced to create a slight downhill slope, allowing 2–3 men to move 5-ton loads with levers in minutes.
The Great Pyramid uses 2–3 ton limestone blocks with 0.9-meter sides. An up-down cycle time of six minutes could theoretically move 3000 tons per day.
Each shelf/table would need about 6 men. Using smaller loads with multiple machines could improve practicality and reduce congestion.
The lift shaft requires support from the surrounding pyramid structure. Thus, pyramid construction and shaft construction were mutually dependent, suggesting vertical shafts and canals under the pyramid — possibly detectable today.
The missing capstone: Constructing the top layers would be challenging. It is possible the capstone slipped and could not be repositioned, explaining its absence.
Pyramids were built on the West Bank because the underground terrain allowed drainage of the lock system into the desert, unlike the East Bank.
The historian Herodotus wrote more than a thousand years later that the pyramids were built with a wooden machine and "built from the top down."
© Gerry Westmacott 2004