Thread: Building the Great Pyramid--Today

Hi Friends:

If I understand correctly, the Great Pyramid in Giza Egypt has a base that covers thirteen acres. It is about 450 feet high and weighs millions of tons. If we were to create an exact replica of the great pyramid in Giza using modern technologies, then how long would it take, how many man-hours would it require, what machines would we use, and how much would it cost?

I'd appreciate some thoughts on this fascinating issue.

Jagella

If the technologies were latest, (latest was the term used, that being later than everything else) then there would be no technologies until after everything else in the Universe occurred. Therefore, it would take a rather long time to build the pyramid (as it would have to be done by hand.)

Syncrude could build it in about 2 years but it would be made out of the extra sulfur they remove from the bitumen they mine.

Syncrude sulfur piles
Syncrude Mine

*Sucks front teeth.*
I'll get back to you next Tuesday with a quote.

We *could* build the Great Pyramid today and it wouldn’t require aliens, just like it didn’t back in ancient Egypt. As impressive as the Great Pyramid is, its engineering problems are known and solvable. Sure, a couple of dim-witted scientists in a NOVA television special weren’t up to the task — which only shows they weren’t up to the task.

Engineers like Jean Pierre Houdin have articulated in great (and coherent) detail how the pyramid could have been built without modern machinery. Other engineers (namely Davidovits and Barsoum) have proposed that the pyramid blocks were fabricated ancient concrete. Scholars of Egyptian engineering are well informed in Egyptian construction methods, including the pyramids.


And isn’t it odd how ancient astronaut theorists never seem to talk about the failed pyramid projects, like the pyramid of Huni (the Meidum collapsed pyramid), built during the reign of Sneferu, the father of Khufu? Maybe the aliens were on vacation for that one. And also the Bent Pyramid . . . and the Step Pyramid of Djoser, which was built in stages after altering the non-pyramid burial mastaba style.

These are all examples of human engineering — the Egyptians learned how to build pyramids gradually, trying new techniques and learning from failures. Pyramid engineering evolved through various transitions. The pyramids themselves demonstrate this quite clearly. To say they needed alien help is just insulting.



https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...SZTK1xX5luW09g

Originally Posted by cosmictraveler

We *could* build the Great Pyramid today...

One source I found claims that we could build the replica of the Great Pyramid by pouring sections of concrete in a fashion similar to the way Hoover Dam was constructed. The cost to build the replica this way is estimated to be $250 to $300 million.

Jagella

In reality, the principle technology, cranes, are not really much improved in the modern era compared with the ancient era. The main difference in the modern era is we can build them out of stronger materials more easily because we have steel, and the evidence so far suggests the Egyptians didn't have steel. The motorization part really doesn't matter much. A hand powered crane should be capable of lifting just as much weight as a motor powered crane. It will just be a little slower.


So Egypt's cranes would have to be made out of wood. There were some very strong woods available.

Also, the lifting mechanism need not necessarily be gear and pulley driven. I can't find a picture for it right now, but one possibility would be to have a big box or bag that pulls a rope downward, with the rope hoisted so that pulling downward on one part of the rope, causes the other part to be pulled upward. Then you put a big box or bag on the downward part of the rope, and fill it with small rocks, one at a time, until the weight of the small rocks is greater than the weight of the big rock you want to lift.

Originally Posted by Dywyddyr

*Sucks front teeth.*
I'll get back to you next Tuesday with a quote.

LOL.
A big plus to contracting with huge cost overruns.