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The Great Pyramids

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Djoser, the first ruler of the 3rd dynasty laid down the groundwork for construction of the Real Pyramids. It all began with the mastaba, “single-story square-block structures made of mud brick” (Feder 2014:251) that served as the resting place for pharaohs, from the mastabas evolved the stepped pyramid and mud brick evolved into stone. Through the process of trial and error The Old Kingdom was able to build the Great Pyramids at Giza. One of the great pyramids that was built for the Pharaoh Khufu, estimated about 2,300,000 stones, each stone weighing about 2.5 tons. Through the construction of the pyramids Egyptian civilization was able to thrive as a solidified state until being conquered and becoming apart of the Roman Empire in 30 BC. How …show more content…
Possible hypotheses include the ramp theory which evolved from the single ramp, to the internalized ramp theory consisting of a ramp inside of the pyramid spiraling around the entire inside of the pyramid while this theory has been proposed by Jean Pierre Houdin, it was never tested due to his request being denied by Zahi Hawass (Brier). Another explanation that seems to be supported by the Egyptians themselves is they simply pulled the stones and statues into their ideal formations. This can be supported by the famous wall painting discovered on the inside of the tomb of Djehutihotep which shows hundreds of workers pulling a large statue on top of something that can only be described as a sled, with one worker pouring a liquid in the front of the statue to help with the friction. Instead of all speculation and doubt surrounding the ability of the workers to actually complete these majestic structures, maybe we should take a step back and instead think why not? Not everything can be explained and not everything should be explained maybe this shows how resourceful one could be without technology and that we may underestimate their abilities and overestimate our own. Will power and the sheer determination to want to do something often times is enough to make something possible, especially when creating the pyramids gave a sense of nationalistic

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