Luke Bakerian
How did the Egyptians build
The Great Pyramid of Giza? This
amazing 455 foot monument was
made from several types of
stone. The first type of stone was
granite, the second type was
limestone. It was a
very difficult task for
the Egyptians to
build this structure
but by mining and
moving the stone,
putting the stone
where it belongs with tools, and
using big ramps it was all
possible.
First, people had to get all the
stone. The stone was mined from
two quarries. One limestone
quarry right across from the
building site, and one granite
quarry over 100 miles south. The
stone was sculpted using only
primitive tools. According to the
book The Great Pyramids by
Elisabeth Man, Egyptians shaped
blocks so skillfully that a knife
couldn't glide between them.
After the blocks were shaped
they were loaded onto a big boat
that sailed to the Giza plateau.
From here the blocks were
unstacked at a man made harbor
near the building site.
Then, Egyptians had to use
various techniques to move
these gigantic two ton blocks on
land. Although tools like chisels,
drills, mallets, and saws were
very important, Dave Antram in
the book Pyramid said the most
important tool was a sled that
carried the massive
blocks from point A to
point B. The sled was
like a wooden square
bed with logs under it
so it was easy to pull.
Could you imagine
trying to push a granite block with
20 of your friends that weighed
4,000 pounds? Now that would
be a challenge. After the gigantic
blocks were dragged to the base
of the pyramid, it was the big
ramps turn to do the work.
The big ramps were built up
the side of the pyramid so that
the workers were able to drag
these 4,000 pound blocks to the
tippy top of the pyramid which
was located 455 feet off the
ground. After 20 or more men
dragged the block to where it
was suppose to go, masons set
them in their final places. Wood
rockers would be used to put the
block in it’s ultimate place.