Scientists discover 'one weird trick' used by ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids

[jakeXT]

...




"Everyone who has been to the beach will know that dry sand doesn’t make good sandcastles - the grains slump into a puddle when the bucket is lifted,” reads the report, published last week in the journal Physical Review Letters. "Adding water can solve this problem: the grains stick and the castle holds its shape. This is great for sandcastle building, and also, it turns out, for sand transportation.

“In the presence of the correct quantity of water, wet desert sand is about twice as stiff as dry sand. A sledge glides far more easily over firm desert sand simply because the sand does not pile up in front of the sledge as it does in the case of dry sand.”

The physicists tested their theories by creating miniature recreations of the sledges and stones, measuring the amount of force needed to pull a weight and the stiffness of the sand in relation to the quantity of water.

Interestingly, the evidence for this discovery has been staring scientists in the face for millennia. A wall painting from the tomb of the ancient nomarch Djehutihotep shows the transportation of a massive statue with an individual seen pouring water in the path of the sledge – a detail that had had previously been dismissed as part of a purification ritual.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-discover-one-weird-trick-used-by-ancient-egyptians-to-build-the-pyramids-9330017.html

[upaloopa]

1. You have to get a lot of water to the desert.

Where did the water come from?

[gcomeau]

2. Considering the location of most Egyptian Pyramids...

...the Nile would seem like the obvious answer.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&t=h&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=209012295358219965484.0004bc7f0574267886a03&dg=feature

[IronLionZion]

3. Denial is not just a river in egypt. nt

[jtuck004]

5. Climate change..

Egyptians

By 6000 BCE predynastic Egyptians in the southwestern corner of Egypt were herding cattle and constructing large buildings. Subsistence in organized and permanent settlements in predynastic Egypt by the middle of the 6th millennium BCE centered predominantly on cereal and animal agriculture: cattle, goats, pigs and sheep. Metal objects replaced prior ones of stone. Tanning of animal skins, pottery and weaving were commonplace in this era also. There are indications of seasonal or only temporary occupation of the Al Fayyum in the 6th millennium BCE, with food activities centering on fishing, hunting and food-gathering. Stone arrowheads, knives and scrapers from the era are commonly found.[76] Burial items included pottery, jewelry, farming and hunting equipment, and assorted foods including dried meat and fruit. Burial in desert environments appears to enhance Egyptian preservation rites, and dead were buried facing due west.[77]

By 3400 BCE, the Sahara was as dry as it is today, due to reduced precipitation and higher temperatures resulting from a shift in the Earth's orbit,[9] and it became a largely impenetrable barrier to humans, with only scattered settlements around the oases but little trade or commerce through the desert. The one major exception was the Nile Valley. The Nile, however, was impassable at several cataracts, making trade and contact by boat difficult.

--wiki

perhaps...

[Baitball Blogger]

4. A purification ritual. LOL!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. "...a detail that had had previously been dismissed as part of a purification ritual."

Archeologists ASSUMING that EVERYTHING was driven by religion has become a joke.

It's like seeing a family gathered around the TV and ASSUMING the TV is a Holy Icon for their God(s) and they are praying to it.

Oh wait,...that's what was said about the TV in the 50s by ministers. They used to say that about the radio too.

[MrScorpio]

7. The Ancient Egyptians were thinking science and the scientists was thinking superstition...

How about that!