This 4,500-Year-Old Ramp Contraption May Have Been Used to Build Egypt's Great Pyramid

[Judi Lynn]

By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | October 31, 2018 10:40am ET
 

- click for image -

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZS5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzEwMi81ODcvb3JpZ2luYWwvaGF0bnViLXN0b25lLW1vdmluZy1zeXN0ZW0uanBn

This 4,500-year-old system used to pull alabaster stones up a steep slope was discovered at Hatnub, an ancient quarry in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Two staircases with numerous postholes are located next to this ramp. An alabaster block would have been placed on a sled, which was tied by ropes to the wooden poles.

Credit: Yannis Gourdon/Ifao

Archaeologists have long wondered exactly how the ancient Egyptians constructed the world's biggest pyramid, the Great Pyramid. Now, they may have discovered the system used to haul massive stone blocks into place some 4,500 years ago.

They discovered the remains of this system at the site of Hatnub, an ancient quarry in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The contraption would have been used to transport heavy alabaster stones up a steep ramp, according to the archaeologists working at the site, from the Institut français d'archéologie orientale (French Institute for Oriental Archaeology)in Cairo and from the University of Liverpool in England. And it was possibly how Egyptians built the Great Pyramid, in the name of the pharaoh Khufu. [In Photos: Inside Egypt's Great Pyramids]

"Thissystem is composed of a central ramp flanked by two staircases with numerous post holes," Yannis Gourdon, co-director of the joint mission at Hatnub, told Live Science. "Using a sled which carried a stone block and was attached with ropes to these wooden posts, ancient Egyptians were able to pull up the alabaster blocks out of the quarry on very steep slopes of 20 percent or more."

The ropes attached to the sled acted as a "force multiplier," making it easier to pull the sled up the ramp, said Roland Enmarch, the other co-director of the Hatnub mission.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/63978-great-pyramid-ramp-discovered.html

[central scrutinizer]

1. A similar theory was proposed for Rapa Nui moais

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/06/how-easter-islands-famous-statues-got-their-giant-stone-hats/

[defacto7]

2. I'm sorry, it's a start as far as quarry retrieval.

We know they were capable of pulling stones from a quarry but they have a lot farther to go before they can answer the pyramid question. They want to answer that question so much that they will connect anything to it. It's the usual hyperbole. Too soon and not enough evidence.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. A whole system of corridors and ramps *within* the Great Pyramid was used in construction.

There's no "great mystery" left to figure out.