How did they build the Great Pyramid of Giza? - Soraya Field Fiorio
As soon as Pharaoh Khufu ascended
the throne circa 2575 BCE,
work on his eternal resting place began.
The structure’s architect, Hemiunu,
determined he would need 20 years
to finish the royal tomb.
But what he could not predict was
that this monument would remain
the world’s tallest manmade structure
for over 3,800 years.
To construct the Great Pyramid,
Hemiunu would need to dig
a 6-and-a-half-kilometer canal,
quarry enormous amounts of limestone
and granite,
and use kilometers of rope
to pull stones into place.
Today, there are still vigorous debates
about the exact methods
the Egyptians employed.
But we do know that first Hemiunu
needed a construction site.
The Egyptians spoke of death
as going west like the setting sun,
and the Nile’s west bank had
a plateau of bedrock
that could support the pyramid
better than shifting sand.
In a brilliant timesaving move,
masons carved the plateau itself
to look like the stones
used for the rest of the pyramid.
With this level foundation in place,
construction could begin.
The project called for a staggering
25,000 workers,
but fortunately, Hemiunu had
an established labor supply.
Egyptians were required to perform
manual labor for the government
throughout the year,
and citizens from across the country
came to contribute.
Workers performed a wide range
of tasks,
from crafting tools and clothes
to administrative work
to back-breaking manual labor.
But contrary to popular belief,
these workers were not enslaved people.
In fact, these citizens were housed
and fed with rations
better than the average Egyptian
could afford.
To complete the project in 20 years,
one block of stone would need
to be quarried, transported,
and pushed into place
every 3 minutes,
365 days a year.
Workers averaged 10-hour days, hauling
limestone from two different quarries.
One was close to the site,
but its fossil-lined yellow stone
was deemed suitable
only for the pyramid’s interior.
Stones for the outside were hauled
from roughly 13 kilometers away,
using 9-meter long sleds
made from giant cedar trunks.
When mined from the ground,
limestone is soft and splits easily
into straight lines.
But after air exposure it hardens,
requiring wooden mallets and copper
chisels to shape.
The pyramid used over 2 million stones,
each weighing up to 80 tons.
And there was no room for error
in how they were shaped.
Even the smallest inaccuracy at the bottom
of the pyramid could result
in a catastrophic failure at the top.
Researchers know where the materials used
to build the pyramids came from
and how they were transported,
but the actual construction process
remains mysterious.
Most experts agree that limestone ramps
were used to move the stones into place,
but there are many theories on the number
of ramps and their locations.
And the pyramid’s exterior
is just half the story.
Since death could come
for the pharaoh at any time,
Hemiunu always needed an accessible
burial chamber at the ready,
so three separate burial chambers
were built during construction.
The last of these,
known as the King’s Chamber,
is a spacious granite room
with a soaring ceiling,
located at the heart of the pyramid.
it lay on top of an 8.5-meter high
passageway called the Grand Gallery,
which may have been used
as an ancient freight elevator
to move granite up the pyramid’s interior.
Granite was used for all
the pyramid’s support beams.
Much stronger than limestone,
but extremely difficult to shape,
workers used dolerite rocks as hammers
to slowly quarry the stone.
To ensure the granite beams would be ready
when he needed them,
Hemiunu dispatched 500 workers
in the project’s first year
so that the material would be ready
12 years later.
Five stories of granite sit
atop the King’s Chamber,
preventing the pyramid
from collapsing in on itself.
Once complete, the entire structure
was encased with white limestone,
polished with sand and stone
until it gleamed.
Finally, a capstone was placed on top.
Covered with electrum
and glimmering like gold,
this peak shined like
a second sun over all of Egypt.
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