Stone-Sliding Sagas: How the Pyramids Were Built (Probably)
No wheels, no pulleys, no cranes. Just 2.3 million limestone blocks and a workforce that may or may not have been drunk. The Great Pyramid of Giza, usually dated around 2560 BC, might be older—if you listen to the whispers. Either way, it still refuses to explain itself. Engineers scratch their heads. Egyptologists sketch diagrams. Some point to Orion and mumble about star maps. And lurking in every documentary, there’s always that bloke talking aliens.
It’s the oldest of cold cases. We know who built it, roughly when, and more or less why. But the how? Still contested. Was it ramps? Levers? Sleds dragged over wet sand? A lost science? A trick of the light? A massive optical illusion?
Or is the real mystery not how it was built—but how we still don’t quite believe the answer?
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| Pyramids, Ramps, Beer, and a Few Aliens—Just in Case. Photo courtesy of unsplash.com |
The Pyramid Problem: Still Under Construction
How do you build a 146-metre high stone triangle without steel, concrete, or modern machinery? You don’t. Unless you’re ancient Egypt—and even then, it’s not clear how you pulled it off.
The Great Pyramid of Giza remains the only surviving wonder of the ancient world. It weighs more than 6.5 million tons, is made up of millions of limestone blocks, and has kept archaeologists, engineers, and conspiracy theorists in steady employment for over two centuries. Theories range from the practical to the paranormal. And while we can now say more than we could 50 years ago, a definitive answer still eludes us.
This, it seems, was one job site that forgot to leave a manual.
Theory One: Ramps, Ropes and Sore Backs
Let’s start with the most grounded idea: ramps.
The traditional theory is that workers dragged heavy stone blocks up long ramps made of mudbrick, rubble, and sand. These could have stretched out in front of the pyramid or spiralled around its sides like some oversized helter-skelter.
At the Hatnub quarry in the Eastern Desert, archaeologists in 2018 discovered a 4,500-year-old sloped ramp system with rope holes and haul marks—a smoking trowel, perhaps. It’s linked to Khufu, the man behind the Great Pyramid. So yes, they had ramps. But could a ramp tall and strong enough to reach the pyramid’s summit have been built, used, and then totally vanished?
No trace of a base ramp the size required has ever been found at Giza. Which either means they took recycling very seriously—or the method was more complex than a single slope.
Sub-theory: Jean-Pierre Houdin’s internal spiral ramp. A clever idea: as the pyramid rose, they built a ramp inside it, hidden in the structure itself. This explains the lack of exterior rubble, and it got some support in 2017 when the ScanPyramids project detected a 30m void above the Grand Gallery. Is it a hidden corridor? Or just empty space left to reduce weight? Still up for debate.
Theory Two: Sleds, Wet Sand, and a Bit of Science
Another theory leans on simple physics: dragging sleds over wet sand.
In 2014, a team found that adding water to sand can reduce friction by up to 50%. A wall painting from the tomb of Djehutihotep even shows a worker pouring liquid in front of a sled. Combine that with muscle and momentum, and it becomes more plausible that heavy loads could be moved with less effort.
Whether it worked on a grand scale—or was just a workaround for shorter distances—isn’t clear. But it’s nice to imagine ancient engineers standing around a damp patch, arguing about the optimal water-to-sand ratio.
Theory Three: Water Lifts and the Pyramid Volcano
If you’re looking for something a little different—but still Earth-based—consider the hydraulic lift theory.
Recent research into the Step Pyramid at Saqqara has suggested the use of “pyramid volcano” technology: canals feeding water into central shafts to lift stones on floating platforms. Basically, a glorified water elevator.
Could something similar have been used at Giza? Maybe. The area had an intricate canal network at the time. In 2013, papyrus fragments from the Wadi al-Jarf port described how limestone was floated down the Nile and through man-made waterways directly to the construction site.
Did they go further—using water to lift blocks up the structure itself? It’s an elegant theory, still being tested. Just don’t expect it to pop up in your high school textbook anytime soon.
Theory Four: Aliens, Atlanteans, and Astronaut Architects
Let’s not ignore the theory that gets the most YouTube views.
Some believe the pyramids are just too perfect. The alignment with true north, the dimensions, the sacred math, the fact that no one today can replicate them without massive machinery. Add in the alignment with Orion’s Belt and you’ve got yourself a galactic mystery.
The Orion Correlation Theory, made famous by Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock, suggests the three Giza pyramids mirror the belt of Orion the Hunter. Close enough, they argue, to prove a celestial plan—perhaps given to us by star-travelling teachers from Sirius or beyond.
Mainstream Egyptologists disagree. The alignment is... approximate. The scale’s off. The historical basis is shaky. But the theory’s popularity persists—not because it's proven, but because it feels meaningful. And, frankly, it makes for good telly.
As far as physical evidence goes: no flying saucers, no fusion-powered chisels, no wormholes beneath the Sphinx. But in a world where ancient humans can’t possibly have been clever without help from aliens, the theory will never die.
Who Actually Built Them? And Were They Drunk?
Not slaves. That myth has been dead for decades.
Archaeological finds—including workers' cemeteries, inscriptions, tools, and food remains—paint a different picture. The pyramid builders were likely skilled labourers working in shifts, fed a decent diet (lots of bread and beef), and paid partly in beer—up to four litres a day. Think more “state project” than gulag.
Graffiti found inside the pyramids refers to crews with names like “The Friends of Khufu” and “The Drunkards of Menkaure.” These were people with pride in their work and possibly a good sense of humour. The kind who carved their team name into a chamber wall 4,000 years before tagging was cool.
The Sphinx, the Sand, and the Stuff Underneath
The Great Sphinx—Khafre’s part-lion PR stunt—is another source of speculation.
Why the weathering? Is there a secret chamber beneath it? Was it built 12,000 years ago by a forgotten Ice Age civilisation? Some believe seismic surveys in the 1990s revealed cavities under the paws. Others say they’re just natural fissures.
Mainstream archaeology places the Sphinx around 2500 BC, carved from bedrock during Khafre’s reign. The water erosion theory (Graham Hancock again) argues for a much earlier date, based on weathering patterns. Interesting, but not widely accepted.
Is there a hidden library of ancient wisdom beneath it? So far: no. But the mystery persists—half science, half sandstorm.
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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com |
So How Were They Built?
Here’s the honest answer: we don’t fully know. Not yet.
It was probably a combination of all of the above—external ramps early on, internal corridors later. Wet sand sleds on approach. Stones floated via canals, then dragged. Smart design, simple tools, relentless coordination. Possibly some techniques we’ve yet to rediscover.
The alien hypothesis? Not supported by evidence—but an enduring example of how little faith we often place in ancient people’s intelligence.
Sometimes the real wonder isn’t technology. It’s organisation.
Demonstration of a forgotten pyramid-building method using an Egyptian hoist by Wally Wallington. Courtesy of Wally Wallington YouTube channel.
