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Ancient Egyptians used stone and limestone from massive quarries staffed by conscripted workers and then hauled it to the pyramid site which was carefully planned by the kings architects and then the first blocks were moved into place, gradually, as it went up, they used ramps to haul the bricks up further into place.

People who worked on the pyramids were conscripted from the local population, they were generally 18-25 years old

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14y ago
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6y ago

To complete the Great Pyramid at Giza, one stone block was quarried, shaped and placed in position every two minutes for 20 years. It was this hard monotonous work of quarrying and haulage that was done by slaves. They also constructed and repaired the ramp used to take the stones to the working level. The slaves were probably naked too low in status to wear clothes.
The pyramids were not built by slaves. They were made by a paid workforce. They used ramps and cattle pulled the large stones.

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9y ago

Shortly after coming to the throne the Pharaoh commanded his architects to prepare a burial place in keeping with his status as a god-king. A site was chosen west of the Nile in one of the existing pyramid sites. The royal survey team set to work marking out the site. Great care was taken in orientating the site to the four points of the compass and in levelling the site to provide a foundation for Khufu's Great Pyramid. When the slaves had cleared away the sand and cut the site roughly to shape highly skilled masons were called in to level the foundations. This was done by cutting a grid of channels and filling them with water. The rock was then cut back to the water level to make it perfectly flat. Finally the water was drained away and the channels filled with rubble.

At any one time as many as 20,000 workers may have been involved. Some of them were free men doing particular tasks such as masons, tool makers, carpenters, scribes and slave overseers. Most however, were slaves, naked slaves too low in status to wear clothes.

Through Khufu's reign, the construction site teemed with workers of all kinds hard pressed to complete the monument before the king's death. Day after day, year after year, the quarries buzzed with activity. Through the dust the sun baked bodies of the quarry slaves stand out dark against the yellow stone. Gangs of slaves bore holes using primitive drill bits and sand which acted as an abrasive. After they had drilled cores deep enough to define a block on one side, they packed the holes with pieces of porous wood and then doused it with water. The wood expands so fast that the block splits out with a crack. After the stone blocks are extracted from the quarry face they are strapped onto sledges. A mark is made on the stone by a scribe.

From dawn to dusk, gangs of slaves drag the sledges loaded with stones each weighing about 2.5 tons along roadways laid with wooden planks to staging areas at the base of the pyramid. Water or oil is poured under the runners of the sledges to ease their passage. Most of the stone blocks proceed up the ramp without future handling. Only a fraction of the stone blocks needed to be cut to precise dimensions by the masons to retain the accurate alignment of the pyramid. The slaves begin hauling the loaded sledges slowly up a long clay and rubble ramp. By the time the pyramid is complete this ramp will nearly a mile long. The noise here was one of chanting slaves and the rumble of heavy sledges. The work is expedited by the overseer's lash. With years of experience in its use the overseer rarely misses as it coils like a snake around the slave's exposed torso.

At the working level teams of slaves called setters using simple levers and brute strength shifted the blocks from the sledges into their designated positions. Once the stones had been delivered the hauling gang would make their way down the ramp carrying their sledge, in order to make the same back breaking journey up as they would several times a day. Their only substantial respite from this round of toil in the hot sun was when they stopped for food, a meal of bread and onions.

Toiling below were the support workers and guards under the watchful eyes of the Pharaoh's project managers, the scribes.

A number of slaves are employed in maintaining and extending the ramp as the pyramid grew. The ramp is made of rubble, bound together with desert tafla (a type of clay) and laid with planks to ease the passage of the ramps.

Rows of slave labourers are seen breaking up waste material from the quarries, mixing them with the desert tafla clay and loading the finished mixture into baskets. Individual baskets are loaded onto the shoulders of slaves for delivery to the ramp builders on the pyramid.

Boats made from reeds deliver brilliant white limestone from Tura just across the river. Here the slaves, in light provided by primitive lamps, toil in man made caves to obtain the best stone. This stone will be used for the outer case of the pyramid. Once put in place and polished the effect will be dazzling.

Giant barges brought granite from Aswan over 400 miles upriver. Some of the granite stones from Aswan weigh up to 70 tons. Copper chisels and drills used for quarrying limestone could not be used on granite. Balls of dolerite, a hard, black igneous rock, are used in the quarries of Aswan to extract the hard granite. These dolerite "pounders" were used to pulverize the stone around the edge of the granite block that needed to be extracted. Teams of slaves would pound out the stone toiling for hours on end in the blazing sun. The heat of the sun is radiated off the dark rock make life insufferable for the slaves. At the bottom, they rammed wooden pegs into slots they had cut, and filled the slots with water. The pegs would expand, splitting the rock. Slaves would then lower the blocks onto sledges. Long lines of slaves, their naked bodies gleaming with sweat, drag the loaded sledges along a causeway to the river where they will be loaded onto barges and floated down the river.

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11y ago

They had to build the King's Chamber in the heart of the pyramid, and make tunnels leading to the King's Chamber but the Grand Gallery route to the King's Chamber is seal off with granite blocks

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12y ago

They didn't really cooperate they were forced to and most of them were slaves forced to by Egypt because each time they stopped the worker "foremen" would whip them and if they didn't keep working the pain would take over them and then they'd eventually be whipped to death. And that if they rebelled the Egyptians had all the weapons and they would be put down. That and in historic writings to control the population of the people they'd feed each newborn son to crocodiles, so woman mostly populated the workers.,

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7y ago

No one really knows exactly how but there are many theories.

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10y ago

no i dont know

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11y ago

u really want to know but guess wht NO

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10y ago

I dont know thats why im asking

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Q: Describe how the ancient egyptians organized the building of the pyramids?
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Describe how the ancient Egyptians organized the bilding of the pyramids?

i dont know lol


Describe the ancient egyptians organized the building of the pyramids .?

They had to build the King's Chamber in the heart of the pyramid, and make tunnels leading to the King's Chamber but the Grand Gallery route to the King's Chamber is seal off with granite blocks


Describe the ancient egyptians organized the building of the pyramids.?

They had to build the King's Chamber in the heart of the pyramid, and make tunnels leading to the King's Chamber but the Grand Gallery route to the King's Chamber is seal off with granite blocks


What did the Egyptians use to get to the top of the pyramids when building them?

A ramp.


How did the Ancient Egyptians organize building the pyramids?

the pharoah


What was the ancient Egyptians best achievement?

Building the pyramids.


When building the pyramids what did the egyptians develop?

The Tiger King


What did Egyptians get for building pyramids?

It is believed that they are just tombs.


Did Egyptians use Geometry?

yes for building pyramids


When did egyptians begin building smooth sided pyramids?

When did EGYPTIAN build smooth sided pyramids


How did the Egyptians organized the building of the pyramids?

The pharaoh would decide he wanted a pyramid. One of the men who worked for him would get craftsmen, painters, and labourers together and pay them to build the pyramid.


What were four specific architectural or engineering advances of the ancient Egyptians which allowed them to master the building of pyramids?

pyramids