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  • 5/25/2025

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00:00You have come tonight to the most fabulous and celebrated place in the world.
00:11No traveller, emperor, merchant or poet has trodden on these sands and not gasped in awe.
00:25They're much bigger than I thought they were going to be.
00:28It's absolutely breathtaking.
00:29And that it stands for so long.
00:31Yes.
00:33Ever since they were built, four and a half thousand years ago, on the desert beside present-day Cairo,
00:39the pyramids of Giza have stirred the emotions.
00:47And the spectacle continues to amaze the thousands of tourists herded to the site each day.
00:52All the 5,000 years of history is here, it's... I don't know, it just creeps over you.
01:01The most impressive pyramid, and the largest, was built by the pharaoh Khufu in 2600 BC.
01:09Known as the Great Pyramid, it was until the early part of this century the world's largest building,
01:15covering an area of seven city blocks and weighing six and a half million tons.
01:24The construction of Khufu's pyramid was one of the most extraordinary feats ever
01:29of engineering, craftsmanship and cooperative effort.
01:34In less than 30 years, the workers had to raise over two million blocks to a height of 40 stories
01:40at the rate of one block every three minutes.
01:43An amazing achievement, given that the ancient Egyptians possessed only the simplest technology.
01:51Without modern surveying equipment, pulleys or even the wheel,
01:55how did they lift stone blocks weighing two and a half tons,
01:59position them correctly and control the shape of the rising pyramid?
02:11Despite a batch of new construction theories,
02:14the question of how the ancient Egyptians solved these engineering problems
02:18has not been convincingly answered.
02:22So NOVA asked University of Chicago archaeologist Mark Lehner
02:26to come to Egypt and take a fresh look at the evidence.
02:31There's something about the pyramids here at Giza
02:34that inspires people to be very passionate about all kinds of different theories
02:38about what they hide, how they were built, what they mean.
02:43I have maps showing whole subway systems underneath the Giza plateau,
02:47hidden chambers and tunnels.
02:49Great charts of circles and intersecting lines
02:52showing the mathematical relationships of these pyramids
02:55to each other, to the Sphinx, to the stars, to Bethlehem, to Manhattan.
03:00There are just files and files and files of these ideas.
03:05But the bottom line on all these ideas, including those of Egyptologists,
03:09is that they have to stand the test of bedrock reality.
03:15And what better test than to build one's own pyramid?
03:19To help him do this, Mark invited Roger Hopkins,
03:22a stonemason from Sudbury, Massachusetts.
03:26Oh, God!
03:30Take it easy there, pal.
03:35The plan is for Roger and Mark
03:37to test out some of the more likely construction theories
03:40by actually building a small pyramid,
03:42right here in the shadow of the Great Pyramid.
03:51Aiding Roger are 14 skilled stonemasons from Cairo.
03:55They work for Mr. Ahmed, who is in overall charge of the workforce.
04:00OK?
04:02As none of the men speak English, and Roger's Arabic is nonexistent,
04:06everything is a bit of a mystery at first.
04:24To understand how the ancient pyramid builders
04:27might have gone about their colossal tasks,
04:30Mr. Ahmed's men will confine themselves
04:32to the materials and tools available in ancient times,
04:36as much as possible.
04:40The ancient builders constructed the pyramids with great care,
04:43as they were the sacred tombs of the pharaohs,
04:46designed to help ensure their immortality.
04:51To the ancient Egyptians,
04:52death was seen as just the beginning of a journey to another life.
04:58An afterlife that would last forever
05:01if things were properly organized before departure.
05:06First, the corpse had to be preserved by mummification,
05:10and then the body had to be protected from the elements
05:12and intruders by a burial chamber.
05:15Called mastabas, these tombs surrounding the pyramid
05:19were literally houses for the dead.
05:22They contained images of their owners, servants,
05:25and everything else needed for the afterlife.
05:32And there are whole subdivisions of them on the Giza Plateau.
05:36The Egyptians believed that their kings became gods at death,
05:40who could then ensure an afterlife for everybody.
05:43So the pharaohs got the biggest tombs of all,
05:46stone mountains built to last an eternity.
05:56One of the most popular ideas about the pyramids,
05:59fostered by Hollywood,
06:01is that they were built by slaves.
06:07But Egyptologists have found no evidence to support this myth.
06:14Instead, the early pharaohs probably constricted farm laborers
06:18during the annual flood of the Nile.
06:21Workers who in ancient graffiti
06:23proudly described themselves as the craftsmen gang,
06:27or the friends of Khufu.
06:33The very first pyramid was built here, at Saqqara,
06:37just to the south of Giza in 2700 B.C.
06:42Up till then, mud brick was the principal construction material
06:46for tombs and other important buildings.
06:49But in the reign of the pharaoh Zoser,
06:51an Egyptian architect, a visionary called Imhotep,
06:54discovered a more versatile building material, stone.
07:00Stone gave them the confidence to put one tomb on top of another,
07:04creating the first pyramid in the form of a series of giant steps.
07:12So here at Saqqara, you can really see the beginning
07:15of this period of gigantism in pyramid building.
07:18It begins with the Pyramid of Zoser,
07:20the world's first skyscraper in stone,
07:22and the first pyramid in Egypt.
07:24It's a step pyramid, some think, as a kind of symbolic ladder
07:27for the king's soul to ascend to heaven.
07:29This started with a short interlude following Zoser.
07:34It began the period of really colossal giant pyramids.
07:39The pharaoh Seneferu built the next three giant pyramids.
07:44A century of pyramid building
07:46had taught the ancient stonemasons many useful lessons.
07:50So when the pharaoh Khufu presented the builders
07:52with the epic task of constructing the Great Pyramid of Giza,
07:56they were ready.
08:00Unfortunately, Mark and Roger have rather less time
08:03to perfect their own building techniques.
08:05So basically, you have three weeks to move 189 steps
08:09into a pyramid?
08:10Right. It doesn't look like they'll fit all
08:12in this small square we're in.
08:14A pyramid of how big, how tall is it supposed to be?
08:17Well, it's a little less than 6 meters high
08:20and probably about 9 meters at the base.
08:23And you think this is doable in three weeks?
08:26You're going to do this by ancient Egyptian methods?
08:29Are you going to be faithful to the way
08:31the ancient Egyptians do it,
08:33or are you going to come in here with a backhoe and a loader
08:36and a forklift?
08:37Well, let's put it this way.
08:39I'll be probably as faithful as I can be
08:43given that I only have three weeks here.
08:46Yeah, Mohammed Ibrahim Barakat.
08:48This one I've already squared off.
08:50Before moving in the first level of blocks,
08:53Roger and Mark want to double-check
08:55that the base of their pyramid is exactly square.
08:58I think maybe we're going to have to check
09:01to see if this is square enough.
09:04We're going to double-check to see
09:06if this is running square to our north line.
09:09If this line is off,
09:10then all our measurements are going to be off.
09:13A universal characteristic of ancient Egyptian pyramids
09:17was the precision with which the base was laid out
09:20and the four sides were oriented
09:22to face true north, south, east, and west.
09:29The sun, or the stars,
09:30were used to establish the north-south line.
09:35The next step was to lay out a square
09:37with precise right angles.
09:39The Egyptians could have done this in different ways.
09:43One method is to intersect two arcs.
09:48A line connecting the points of intersection
09:50will be at a right angle to the original line.
09:54Or they could have used a triangle
09:56with sides of three, four, and five units,
09:59which always produces a right angle.
10:02Either way, the builders would have
10:04a virtually perfect square for the base of the pyramid.
10:11We're moving our first stone into the pyramid.
10:16This is our going into the inner works
10:20of the support of our pyramid.
10:22It's what we call a core block.
10:24It's not finely dressed.
10:26It's very rough.
10:27We'll do that after it's in place.
10:31Although the men were able to roll the blocks end over end,
10:35it was a slow and laborious process.
10:39There's evidence that wooden rollers
10:41were used by the ancient Egyptians,
10:43so Roger tries some out on a nearby concrete driveway.
10:47This is a piece of cake, Mark.
10:49We could do it with about...
10:50This is 10 men?
10:52Yeah, 10 men, easy.
10:55We're actually going up an incline right now
10:57that wouldn't be unlike coming out of the quarry.
11:04Rollers work well, but only on a smooth, hard surface,
11:08so they're of no use on Roger's sandy site.
11:11At neighboring pyramid complexes,
11:13the remains of clay roadbeds have been found
11:16into which the ancient Egyptians embedded wood,
11:19like railway ties.
11:21Perhaps a sled loaded with one of Roger's two-ton blocks
11:25could slide over this surface.
11:28Mark thinks it might.
11:42We're going to try to, within all the confusion,
11:45wet the ties and make it slippery
11:48and see if it goes on the ties without a layer of slick clay.
11:52It's not just the ties, the wooden ties themselves.
11:55Sleepers, if the sleepers will carry the sled.
11:57Nobody thinks it'll work. They think we're crazy.
11:59They're irritated, massively irritated
12:01at even making the attempt.
12:03They think we're wasting our time.
12:05Roger doesn't.
12:14Hey! It works!
12:23Flip it!
12:25The only drawback, I see,
12:27is that we're getting into a situation where...
12:31We want to do it all this way.
12:33Yeah, get rid of the machines, Roger.
12:36You do, pal, but I don't.
12:38We've got too much of a deadline here to do it all that way.
12:43We're going to do plenty of it that way
12:45when we get up in the upper levels.
12:47I think it's good just to see that it works,
12:50because this is another case where hands-on trial archaeology
12:54I think really proves some points,
12:56because even the men, even the experienced masons here,
12:59were saying vehemently that this isn't going to work,
13:02and they were almost angry and irritated about it.
13:04And lo and behold, they got off the rollers.
13:07Yeah, but we're still not up on a ramp.
13:09It was a bar of soap.
13:11Yeah, we're not on a...
13:15Although the sledding experiment is a success,
13:18Roger is opposed to building a network of clay roads
13:21because it would delay work on the pyramid itself.
13:24Roger has also decided not to lay down a hard foundation
13:27underneath the pyramid.
13:29Instead, he'll build directly on the desert floor,
13:32a decision he'll come to regret.
13:39Protected by the surrounding desert,
13:41the Egyptian nation grew up along the fertile Nile Valley.
13:45Together, the Nile and the pyramids played a central role
13:48in creating this unique civilization
13:51that was to last 3,000 years.
13:55The Nile was extremely important for pyramid building
13:58because it was the main artery by which all non-local materials
14:01were transported to the pyramid site.
14:03The granite, for example,
14:0550 to 70 ton blocks of granite came from as far away as Aswan,
14:09500 miles to the south.
14:11This could only have been brought by boat.
14:13The fine limestone for the outer casing
14:15was brought from the quarries at Tura,
14:17which is directly across the river,
14:19and this again could only have been brought by boat.
14:22So the water of the Nile was a principal means of transport
14:25for moving these materials to the pyramid site for building.
14:33Today, Roger invites Mark and his friend Nick Fairplane,
14:36a stone carver from England,
14:38to go with him to the Tura limestone formation
14:41where the blocks for this pyramid are quarried.
14:46But this is pretty much the traditional way,
14:48the way they've been doing it probably for the last, what,
14:514,000 or 5,000 years.
14:53This is about as deep as you can go, one man,
14:55from picking away at the surface in that narrow.
14:57It's just wide enough for them to get their leg down in there,
15:00and they really can't go much deeper than that.
15:03If they're going to get a bigger block,
15:05they'd have to widen the channel here.
15:08So the way they separate the block
15:10is by channeling these deep channels on three sides,
15:13but then how do they pull it up?
15:15They're splitting it on two sides with wedges.
15:18So they just stick wedges underneath and, like, pry it up?
15:21Yeah, they cut holes, basically,
15:23and then put the wedges in and hammer them in.
15:25And then that produces a horizontal crack
15:27that separates it from the bed underneath.
15:29In ancient times, this fine limestone
15:32was used only for the outer blocks of the pyramid.
15:38Back on the Giza side of the Nile,
15:40Mark takes Nick Fairplay to the place
15:42where he believes the bulk of the pyramid stone was quarried.
15:48Early archaeologists didn't recognize this area as a quarry
15:52because the ancient workers had filled it with building debris.
15:59When later investigators cleaned it out,
16:02they concentrated on the tombs of the pharaoh's high officials
16:05which honeycombed the rock face.
16:08So until recently, archaeologists didn't fully appreciate
16:12this quarry's role in the building of the Great Pyramid.
16:16And this, they're just extracting a block,
16:19or they're just defining the block,
16:21and that represents about a standard pyramid-sized block.
16:24You know, it's amazing that with evidence like this,
16:27people have still wondered
16:29if the stone wasn't brought from somewhere else,
16:31like across the river.
16:33And it's clear to me, it's clear as a bell,
16:35that almost, you know, the bulk of the pyramid
16:37was quarried right here on the plateau
16:39and simply transported up the plateau
16:41for piling it up in the form of the pyramids.
16:47Mark's survey of the Giza plateau
16:49has produced the first accurate computer reconstructions
16:52of how the pyramids appeared 4,500 years ago.
16:58The Giza complex consisted of the pyramids of the pharaoh's Khufu,
17:02his son Khafre,
17:04and grandson Menkaure.
17:07Each pyramid has a long covered causeway
17:10running down to the Nile with a temple at either end.
17:21But there were also satellite pyramids for the pharaoh's queens
17:25and hundreds of smaller tombs for the overseers and officials.
17:33The Giza plateau
17:43The Khafre pyramid shows all the standard elements
17:46of a pyramid complex.
17:49Sitting right at the base of the pyramid itself
17:51is the mortuary temple,
17:53where the daily rituals took place.
17:55From its entrance, a causeway, once with walls and a roof,
17:59runs a quarter of a mile down the plateau
18:02to end at the valley temple.
18:06The unique thing that Khafre added was the great sphinx,
18:09carved right out of the natural rock,
18:12with the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh.
18:15The face is probably that of Khafre himself,
18:18making the sphinx a kind of guardian
18:20for the whole pyramid plateau.
18:24Five days into his 21-day building schedule,
18:27Roger is only now moving in the first of the angled blocks
18:31that will form the sloping outer surface of the pyramid.
18:34This is our most important stone of the whole project.
18:37This is our first corner stone,
18:40and it's our casing stone,
18:42so it's the linchpin of the whole pyramid.
18:48When chiseled to the required size,
18:51when chiseled to the required slope,
18:54the casing blocks will give Roger's pyramid a smooth appearance.
19:00But on the ancient pyramids,
19:02most of the casing has long since been looted,
19:05exposing the rough blocks underneath.
19:12Up here at the top of the Khafre pyramid,
19:15some of the original limestone casing,
19:17the smooth outer shell of the pyramid yet remains.
19:20Looking out across it, you get a sense
19:23of how sensational the pyramids must have been
19:25when they were brand new,
19:27encased with this polished white stone.
19:29Now the casing has this brown patina,
19:31and it's been slightly roughed by the ages.
19:34But when it was new, it was as white as newly fallen snow,
19:37and the effect must have been truly blinding.
19:48Because the casing stones need to be placed very precisely,
19:52Roger wants to lower these blocks
19:54into position with his front-end loader.
19:57But Mark is insisting on ancient methods.
20:10As the corner stone is dragged in,
20:12it dislodges the baseline string.
20:18I didn't want to set it this way, remember that.
20:21It was much easier just to come in and set it down
20:24where it's supposed to be.
20:26I got to reestablish that line
20:28all the way from my north-south line again
20:30in order to find this line.
20:32Right now we don't know where the corner is.
20:34It could be anywhere in this whole area,
20:36right around in here, because this thing is bent.
20:38Okay, next!
20:40Up on the plateau,
20:42the ancient pyramid builders didn't have this problem.
20:45They engraved permanent reference lines
20:47in the stone foundation.
20:49That's good!
20:52And working on a hard surface
20:54also enabled the giant blocks
20:56to be positioned with amazing precision.
21:05Roger, how much do you estimate
21:07this casing block to be of the Khufu pyramid?
21:09It looks to me like about 15 to 17 tons.
21:13He says it's more than 17 tons,
21:15but I want to know how they got this join
21:17between two 15-ton stones,
21:19so how they did it so well.
21:37I can't even put the blade of my Swiss army knife
21:41and this is often said
21:43it would be hard to get a razor blade
21:45in that seam.
21:47As Roger tries to emulate
21:49the ancient's precise joints,
21:51he is once again stymied
21:53by the soft surface on which he is building.
21:57What's that, Mark?
21:59Is that as good as you're going to get it?
22:01No, that's pretty close.
22:03They're doing this by damming stones
22:05in under this side.
22:07The problem we've got here, Mark,
22:09is that we're not doing
22:11our bottom casement stones on them.
22:13You're not on stone service.
22:15We're not on stone service.
22:17So they're damming these pieces.
22:19Right. We can't really get a very tight joint
22:21like what they did up on the big pyramids.
22:23You know, with a little practice
22:25we could get those fine joints too.
22:27But you've got it now
22:29as fine as you're going to get it.
22:31You're not going to get it.
22:33Well, you know, I mean,
22:35we've got other fish to fry here.
22:37That's it. That's it.
22:41Come on.
22:43That's it.
22:45Towards me.
22:53When Khufu's pyramid was at this early stage
22:55in construction,
22:57work had already begun on the passageway
22:59leading to his tomb,
23:01deep in the bedrock below.
23:07♪
23:29We are right underneath
23:31the very center of the pyramid,
23:33about 100 feet
23:35from the actual surface of the plateau,
23:37with the whole pyramid rising above us.
23:41We've come down here
23:43by a narrow passage,
23:45about three feet in height,
23:47that descends for more than 345 feet
23:49until we get down into
23:51what's called the subterranean chamber.
23:57Well, the subterranean chamber
23:59here underneath the pyramid
24:01gives us one of the clearest looks
24:03at how they proceeded,
24:05carving out these chambers.
24:07Just like in their gallery cliffside quarries,
24:09they proceeded in great channels like this,
24:11not that great,
24:13about the size for one man to sit.
24:15And it seems from the stone
24:17that was left,
24:19which presents us in effect
24:21with a frozen moment
24:23in the construction quarrying process,
24:25it seems that individual men
24:27were allotted cubes of stone,
24:29which they had to work away
24:31from the surface, although of copper.
24:33And we can see very clearly
24:35how they were picking away the stone
24:37in these channels.
24:39In fact, some of the very chips
24:41of the last workmen to work
24:43in this little cubicle remain.
24:45And then they would lob off
24:47the hump of stone
24:49left in the middle of these channels.
24:51This is easy enough for us to imagine
24:53now when we see all these traces,
24:55but can you imagine what it must have been like
24:57when the men were working here?
24:59There was debris everywhere.
25:01It must have been absolutely choking.
25:03And can you imagine what it must have been like
25:05for the workman who created
25:07this lead channel, a kind of shelf
25:09to widen the room?
25:11He must have had to work
25:13practically, if not on all fours,
25:15then on his belly,
25:17swinging the pick away
25:19ahead of him
25:21to move the work
25:23farther into the solid rock.
25:25And again,
25:27the chips of these workmen yet remain
25:29as they did
25:31when somebody came, probably on orders
25:33for the king, and told them
25:35put down your tools.
25:37We have a different plan.
25:39We want to make a chamber higher in the pyramid.
25:41So after months of exhausting
25:43labor, the subterranean tomb
25:45was abandoned for reasons
25:47we may never understand.
25:49Then the pharaoh Khufu ordered
25:51the construction of a second chamber,
25:53but ultimately chose yet another
25:55burial chamber high in the pyramid.
26:11As Roger's pyramid begins to grow,
26:13he faces one of the most fundamental
26:15problems of pyramid engineering,
26:17how to lift
26:19the blocks.
26:21The traditional and widely
26:23accepted method has been a straight-on
26:25ramp made of mud brick
26:27that grew with the rising pyramid.
26:29But pulling blocks up a ramp
26:31this steep would be virtually impossible.
26:33If the ramp had a more gradual
26:35slope, a gradient of one in ten
26:37for example, it would be over
26:39a mile long, run past the
26:41quarry, and would be a bigger
26:43construction project than the pyramid itself.
26:45Well, some pyramid theorists
26:47say that there were no ramps whatsoever,
26:49that all the blocks
26:51were levered up from the very
26:53base of the pyramid all the way to the top
26:55on the steps.
26:57What they're thinking of are very regular
26:59steps like a household stairway,
27:01but when you come up here to the top of the
27:03pyramids, it seems inconceivable
27:05that these multi-ton blocks could
27:07have been levered up on steps
27:09such as they exist.
27:11When we lever this thing up, it's got to clear
27:13these things, otherwise you're going to get hung up here.
27:15Martin Eisler is one of the
27:17major advocates of levering.
27:19His work as a sculptor, which involved
27:21moving large pieces of marble,
27:23convinced him that levering is the most
27:25efficient method for raising up
27:27the heavy blocks.
27:29I love stone.
27:31All kinds of stone. Pyramids,
27:33statues, anything. Anything built of
27:35stone. It's just one of my passions.
27:37Also a professional
27:39draftsman, Martin, on paper,
27:41makes levering look like a very plausible idea.
27:43But today, for the first
27:45time, he is putting his theory
27:47to the test. He has to
27:49lever a one-ton block up
27:51one step of the pyramid.
27:53No loader.
27:55No loader.
27:57He says it's too heavy, we should bring a loader,
27:59but I told him we had to try it this way.
28:01We have to try it.
28:03The little guy will direct
28:05the operation.
28:07Adel is his name.
28:09Adel. Adel.
28:11He's a specialist in the use of the crowbar
28:13and the lever.
28:15Yeah, but it's...
28:17See?
28:19You see?
28:23See? This is good.
28:25That was no good. It has to be
28:27flat. Okay?
28:29Like that, flat. Yes?
28:31Yes, yes.
28:33A bit nervous?
28:35No, no. If it tumbles over, you're going to get hurt.
28:37No need to get excited. Am I excited?
28:39Yeah. I don't mean to.
28:41No, no.
28:43One side.
28:45Down.
28:47In.
28:49Good.
28:51Down.
28:55Wait, no. Down. Wait a minute.
29:01Up, up.
29:07Good.
29:09Now the other side.
29:11One at a time.
29:13Wait till he gets here because
29:15it's a waste of time.
29:25Okay.
29:27Down.
29:29The cribbage is getting a little
29:31precarious.
29:33How does it look, Mark? Looks all right.
29:35I mean, it's going up.
29:37They all say, don't worry, it's not going to fall.
29:39Yeah?
29:41They're not worried. Okay, they're not worried.
29:43Well, I'm worried.
29:45Well, let's stay worried and cautious and proceed.
29:47Yeah, okay.
29:49One side.
29:53You know, I've been waiting for that block to get up there
29:55for the last couple of hours.
29:57I don't think it's going to be a very practical way
29:59of bringing blocks up, except in cases
30:01where we're absolutely walled off
30:03and that's the only method we can get them in.
30:05But you could have
30:07a piece of wood that is four feet long
30:09and you can have a piece of wood that is three feet long
30:11and you can have a source of wood
30:13so that you could select wood
30:15according to the plan.
30:17So you have standardized lengths of...
30:19Well, you could cut just like carpenters do all the time.
30:21They have stacks of wood.
30:23I use this piece or I use that piece.
30:25This is an awful lot of wood, isn't it?
30:27It's a tremendous quantity of wood, isn't it?
30:29But it's all recyclable.
30:31All of it is recyclable.
30:33What kind of wood do you think it was?
30:35I have no idea.
30:37What kind of wood do you think it was?
30:39It's a country where wood is very scarce.
30:41I understand, but they've also imported wood from Lebanon.
30:43You've heard that.
30:45At great cost.
30:47At great cost.
30:49But the pyramid was an important monument, wasn't it?
30:51It's possible that having done this one trial,
30:53we have learned something
30:55and the next trial
30:57would be performed even more quickly.
30:59Is that possible?
31:01And the third one, even better yet.
31:03The fourth one.
31:05And the father will teach the son
31:07and the son will teach his son
31:09and it gets better as it goes along.
31:11Martin, however they did it, I'm sure that's true.
31:13They did it. Look at the monument.
31:15Yeah, however they did it, that's true.
31:23Okay, good. That's it.
31:27After two intense hours, success.
31:29Ahmed's levering team
31:31has inched the block to the top of the next step.
31:33All that remains
31:35is a tricky maneuver to get the block off
31:37the precarious piles of wood.
31:43You see the purpose of the block?
31:45You see where it landed?
31:47Okay?
31:51Thank you, guys. Thank you all.
31:55Very good. Number one.
31:57With only two weeks
31:59before his completion deadline,
32:01Roger is not enthusiastic
32:03about using Martin's levering idea
32:05for raising any more blocks.
32:07Instead, he's pushing ahead
32:09with building a ramp
32:11to slide blocks to the second layer
32:13of the pyramid.
32:15The ramp is made of locally available materials.
32:17Tuffla, the desert clay,
32:19is combined with gypsum,
32:21forming an all-purpose mortar
32:23that binds everything together.
32:27Allahu Akbar!
32:29Allahu Akbar!
32:31Allahu Akbar!
32:33Allahu Akbar!
32:35Allahu Akbar!
32:37Allahu Akbar!
32:39Allahu Akbar!
32:41Allahu Akbar!
32:43Allahu Akbar!
32:45Allahu Akbar!
32:47Once the ramp is filled with stone debris,
32:49the roadway on top
32:51is formed by embedding timbers
32:53in a layer of clay.
32:57Allahu Akbar!
32:59Allahu Akbar!
33:01Allahu Akbar!
33:03Allahu Akbar!
33:05Ready?
33:07Allahu Akbar!
33:09Today will be the first time
33:11Roger has attempted to pull a block
33:13up an incline on this surface.
33:15Allahu Akbar!
33:17Allahu Akbar!
33:19Allahu Akbar!
33:21Allahu Akbar!
33:23Allahu Akbar!
33:25Allahu Akbar!
33:27Allahu Akbar!
33:29Allahu Akbar!
33:31Allahu Akbar!
33:33Once we were on the wood,
33:35we got that lubricant and the friction,
33:37we took right off.
33:39Are you still a lever man?
33:41When necessary. Ramps, when necessary.
33:43Levers, when necessary.
33:45I mean, there's no such thing
33:47as one way only.
33:49I think sledding is a lot faster
33:51once you've got the rhythm,
33:53and the proper roadbed,
33:55I think you can move right along.
33:57On the lower part of the pyramid,
33:59which is basically 87%
34:01of the volume of the pyramid,
34:03why not use ramps?
34:05But above that,
34:07you can use levers.
34:09Take advantage of anything you can make.
34:11Roger's ramp
34:13is similar in construction
34:15to one that Mark has noticed
34:17leaning against a tomb.
34:19It was probably built about the same time
34:21as the one that stands behind it.
34:23They must have been using it
34:25for the construction in some way,
34:27and all these books are written
34:29about pyramid building,
34:31and they say they made mud brick ramps.
34:33Other people say they didn't use any ramps.
34:35They say there are no ancient ramps,
34:37and we're standing on a ramp
34:39that's probably from the time
34:41of the building of this mastaba,
34:43whether they use it for debris
34:45or for these stones,
34:47and it's about 5,000 years old.
34:49And this isn't the only ramp
34:51that still exists out here at Giza.
34:53I mean, there are others
34:55for hauling stone from the quarries
34:57up to the cemeteries.
34:59There are construction embankments.
35:01This has got to be how they constructed
35:03the pyramid ramps.
35:05It has to be this material.
35:07With the ramp appearing to resolve
35:09the question of how to raise blocks,
35:11the other major challenge
35:13facing the ancient builders
35:15was controlling the shape of the pyramid.
35:17You have essentially a square
35:19and a center point.
35:21The trick in constructing
35:23a pyramid accurately
35:25is to raise that center point
35:27above the square
35:29without developing twist in the four faces.
35:31In order to do this,
35:33you essentially have to achieve
35:35a series of squares,
35:37one above the other,
35:39as the pyramid is rising.
35:41Each new square has to be
35:43properly lined up with the one below
35:45to form a true pyramid.
35:47If the squares are not correctly aligned,
35:49the resulting pyramid
35:51will be less than perfect.
35:55So to avoid twist in his pyramid,
35:57Roger built a series of squares
35:59in the form of steps
36:01called a step pyramid.
36:07In addition to keeping the pyramid square,
36:09the inner step pyramid
36:11may also help control the slope
36:13of the rise of the pyramid.
36:25Mark and Nick Fairplay believe
36:27that there is a close relationship
36:29between the step pyramid and the outer slope
36:31and they assume that Roger had built
36:33the step pyramid with this in mind.
36:35But on later investigation,
36:37it quickly becomes clear
36:39that Roger's step pyramid
36:41was built to mark specifications
36:43and so does not have the necessary dimensions
36:45to control the slope
36:47of the outer pyramid.
36:4991 out here.
36:5191.5.
36:53So if this is 91.5,
36:55this measurement out was 50-something
36:57and that's 50.5 centimeters.
36:59What's the relationship
37:01of these steps to this slope?
37:05Other than just keeping it square.
37:07Well, I'm only using it to keep it square.
37:09You're only using the step pyramid
37:11to keep it square.
37:13Right.
37:15We're not using the step pyramid
37:17to actually control the rise and run
37:19of the outer casing slope,
37:21as did the ancient Egyptians
37:23according to some evidence
37:25at Meidum, for example,
37:27and in the Queen's pyramids.
37:29You can't prove that fact for one minute.
37:31Wow.
37:37It's only on record
37:39like three pyramids
37:41that they use a 51-degree angle
37:43and the rest of them show a 53-degree angle
37:45which shows you a vertical rise
37:47that's a 3-4-5 triangle.
37:49Well, this may be actually
37:51a really good point.
37:53You don't think there is any one rule
37:55by which they controlled
37:57the slope of the outer casing.
37:59You think they might have done it one way
38:01for one or two or three pyramids
38:03and another way for a different pyramid.
38:05I think that's a pretty good statement
38:07and a good possibility
38:09because I don't think there was a manual
38:11for pyramid building.
38:13No. You know, all they had to work with
38:15from generation to generation
38:17are just standard masonry practices
38:19which are the same today as they were
38:216,000 years ago.
38:23And in fact, when you look at the pyramids...
38:25The mathematics used by the ancient masons
38:27Through trial and error,
38:29the builders of the Great Pyramid learned
38:31that the proportions of 11 and 14
38:33would give them about a 52-degree angle
38:35if these were incorporated
38:37into every casing stone
38:39before being put in place.
38:41By using these proportions
38:43and by periodically
38:45sighting at the corners
38:47to check if the slope is true,
38:49Roger expects to end up
38:51with a perfectly shaped pyramid
38:53despite his disagreement with Mark.
38:55Using basically common sense,
38:57practical experience, and a hands-on approach.
38:59Right. Exactly.
39:01You know, Roger, I'm just beginning to realize
39:03maybe we should get off your case a little bit.
39:05Yeah. Get out of my anchor.
39:07With all this theorizing
39:09about the ancient stuff.
39:11It'd be nice to get on
39:13with just building this pyramid.
39:15Yeah.
39:17With only a week to finish the project,
39:19Roger has extended the ramp
39:21so it wraps around the back of the pyramid.
39:23But now we're going to try
39:25to pull a sled
39:27and we're going to try to turn a corner
39:29with the sled for the first time.
39:33We're starting out with a fairly small block,
39:35pulling it up the incline of the ramp
39:37and around the first corner
39:39that the ramp makes around the pyramid.
39:41We might need more men to actually make
39:43the pull around the corner.
39:45We'll add them on as we need them.
39:53Critics of the ramp method
39:55question whether a heavily laden sled
39:57can make a 90 degree turn.
39:59But Roger has a plan.
40:01Are you optimistic we're going to get it
40:03around the corner?
40:05We'll get it around the corner.
40:07Hell of high water.
40:15Watch out for the rope.
40:17Rope.
40:19Rope.
40:21Okay, hold it, hold it.
40:23Okay, now we rearrange the ropes.
40:29Rope.
40:31Rope.
40:33Here comes the turn.
40:35Rope.
40:37Rope.
40:39We're all set.
40:41Well, it worked like I figured it would.
40:43I mean, I knew I was going to have
40:45it around the corner there,
40:47but if that had been a five ton block,
40:49we could have done it the same way.
40:51This is twice the grade we had
40:53before easily.
40:55And I like the way you distributed the men
40:57going back down the ramp and the pull as well
40:59so that you're using the ramp
41:01in both directions.
41:03Well, there's no place else for them to go.
41:05It was a little bit complicated
41:07changing the ropes and so on.
41:09This is the first time we did it.
41:11It's the first time we did it.
41:15Roger only had enough time to build the ramp
41:17around three sides of his pyramid.
41:19But he was confident that he could
41:21have continued wrapping it around to the top.
41:23Okay, hold it.
41:25The success with the ramp convinced him
41:27that a similar ramp was used by the builders
41:29of the Great Pyramid.
41:33Mark and Roger's project
41:35has focused on figuring out how to build
41:37the main structure of the pyramid.
41:41But the ancient builders had to deal
41:43with engineering problems
41:45in the complex inner chambers as well.
41:55Deep in the heart of Khufu's pyramid
41:57is his tomb.
42:09It was supposed to protect the pharaoh's
42:11mummified body for an eternity.
42:17But all that now remains
42:19is his empty granite sarcophagus.
42:23At first glance, this is a deceptively simple room.
42:25It's a box
42:27lined with granite on the floor and the walls
42:29and roofed with great beams of granite.
42:31But in fact, this is the first time
42:33that the ancient Egyptians attempted to span
42:35a distance this wide
42:37in their stone architecture.
42:39And you can see in the cracks
42:41in these great granite beams
42:43that weigh up to 50 to 70 tons
42:45that they developed problems.
42:47There were too many stresses on the ceiling beams.
42:49And had these broken and fallen down into the chamber,
42:51the engineers and stonemasons
42:53would have been in deep, deep trouble.
42:57In an effort to build a tomb
42:59that would last forever,
43:01the pharaoh's builders reinforced the defective beams
43:03by adding four more granite ceilings,
43:05topped off by a pitched roof of limestone
43:07to relieve further stress
43:09on the chambers below.
43:13In the uppermost chamber,
43:15workers' graffiti include the name
43:17Khufu,
43:19the pharaoh whose mummified body
43:21required such elaborate protection.
43:27When the burial rites of the king
43:29were finished and the priests had left,
43:31the workmen whose job it was
43:33to seal off the pyramid,
43:35presumably for eternity,
43:37first had to slide great granite portcullis slabs
43:39like these down these notches
43:41to seal off the actual entrance
43:43into the king's chamber.
43:53The next line of defense against robbers
43:55was to plug the ascending passage
43:57with a row of granite blocks
43:59that were slid in place
44:01from the grand gallery.
44:05The only problem with this
44:07is once the ascending passage
44:09was plugged tightly,
44:11what were the workmen left with
44:13as an escape route?
44:17Right here at the bottom
44:19of the grand gallery,
44:21there's a crude tunnel forced through
44:23the already laid masonry of the pyramid
44:25all the way down to the descending passage
44:27from whence they could go back up
44:29out the original entrance.
44:31Despite the complex anti-theft devices,
44:33neither Khufu's pyramid
44:35nor the hundred or so others
44:37that were built
44:39could resist the tomb robbers.
44:41The mummified pharaohs
44:43would not be left in peace.
44:45All the pyramids were broken into
44:47and the bodies violated.
44:53Roger has his own problems.
44:55His assignment was to build
44:57just two sides of an 18-foot pyramid
44:59in 21 days.
45:01But with only three days to go,
45:03it looks unlikely that he'll achieve this goal.
45:21Rather than build the ramp any higher,
45:23Roger reluctantly tries
45:25to lever the last blocks into place.
45:27The attempt ultimately succeeds,
45:29but barely.
45:39Okay.
45:41All right.
45:43We got to get this sucker back up on.
45:47I told you to use the little
45:49rollers.
45:57You know,
45:59I've been trying to emphasize
46:01that these fulcrums have got to be
46:03just at the right height
46:05and they got to be steady
46:07and everything else.
46:11Well, this levering operation
46:13started out very methodically
46:15and worked very well,
46:17which, you know, Roger organized
46:19it extremely well.
46:21And in spite of that,
46:23the closer he gets to the top,
46:25he's running out of room for levers,
46:27running out of room for men to pull on ropes,
46:29and running out of room
46:31for the tall fulcrums that are necessary.
46:33And this bears out what everybody
46:35really had imagined,
46:37that the closer you get
46:39to the apex of the pyramid,
46:41the more problems there are
46:43engineering the stones.
46:45By now, everyone was an expert
46:47on moving blocks,
46:49and there was much debate
46:51on the best method
46:53to move the blocks.
47:15Once Ahmed's men got the block in motion,
47:17it quickly became clear
47:19that there could be no turning back.
47:23...
47:37Let's get some rope on that
47:39so they can pull up.
47:41My hair's going to get crushed.
47:53...
48:07It was kind of terrifying,
48:09I've got to admit.
48:11You know, I don't think
48:13if we had enough able-bodied people there,
48:15we probably could have lost it
48:17very easily.
48:19But I think
48:21the final hail of hope
48:23pulled us through.
48:33I had no doubts
48:35that we would get it up there.
48:37I was just afraid
48:39that no one got hurt.
48:45With fewer than 200 blocks,
48:47compared to Khufu's
48:492.2 million,
48:51Roger's pyramid would have no difficulty
48:53sitting on the missing top of the Great Pyramid.
48:55And although the Great Pyramid
48:57is 27 times taller,
48:59the achievement of Roger and his crew
49:01has strengthened Mark's understanding
49:03of the ancient techniques
49:05that permitted Khufu's builders
49:07to raise his great monument in less than 30 years.
49:09But that does not mean
49:11that all the mysteries
49:13have been solved.
49:15Well, I don't think there are any huge
49:17mysteries about the nuts and bolts
49:19of how they made a pyramid.
49:21I think more the mystery is
49:23the motivation behind the people.
49:25What caused them to do this all of a sudden?
49:27For the first time in history,
49:29they gathered not hundreds or even thousands,
49:31but probably tens of thousands of people
49:33in one place at one time
49:35to do this project.
49:37What motivated them to do that?
49:39That's the real mystery.
49:47♪
49:49♪
49:51♪
49:53♪
49:55♪
49:57♪
49:59♪
50:01♪
50:03♪
50:05♪
50:07♪
50:09♪
50:11♪
50:13I've learned a lot of respect
50:15for the ancient Egyptians.
50:17I think they were pioneering
50:19in an area
50:21which no one else had been in.
50:23And I've got to give them a lot of credit
50:25for what they've done.
50:27Do you think they could build the real thing in 20 years?
50:29I think they could have.
50:31You know, it's just...
50:33Uh...
50:35What I've seen here is just absolutely amazing.
50:37♪
50:39I found it by
50:41masons, my quarrymen,
50:43and my stone setters.
50:45We're all fairly accomplished.
50:47Very good craftsmen.
50:49♪
50:51♪
50:53It shouldn't have come as a surprise
50:55they had such a long history
50:57of thousands of years doing this.
50:59♪
51:01Yay!
51:03♪
51:05When I look at the Great Pyramid,
51:07the marvel there for me
51:09is not the stonework
51:11as much as
51:13the level of organization
51:15that these ancient Egyptians had
51:17getting their society
51:19to pull together
51:21in such a way
51:23that they not only had blocks of stone,
51:25but bread on the table.
51:27♪
51:29Well, the real gigantic pyramids
51:31were built within the space
51:33of about three, maybe four generations.
51:35♪
51:37This was a unique moment
51:39in Egyptian history,
51:41and these pharaohs were seizing that moment
51:43to create pyramids that would stand
51:45forever.
51:47♪
51:49♪
51:51♪
51:53♪
51:55♪
51:57Time-honored monuments,
51:59wonders of the ancient world,
52:01these giant structures
52:03reveal the beliefs
52:05of lifestyle
52:07the spirit of cultures
52:09long past.
52:11What they don't reveal
52:13is the mystery
52:15of how they came to be.
52:17Now,
52:19Nova and a cast of hundreds
52:21use brute strength
52:23and sheer determination
52:25to rediscover the technical know-how
52:27of the ancient builders.
52:29You got that obelisk where you want it, Roger?
52:31Yeah.
52:33An Egyptian obelisk.
52:35England's Stonehenge.
52:37Inca masonry in Peru.
52:39A roof for Rome's
52:41Colosseum.
52:43Nova
52:45embarks on a four-part
52:47building spree
52:49to unlock the secrets
52:51of lost empires.
52:53Next time on Nova.
52:55♪
52:57♪
52:59♪
53:01Now you can tour
53:03the pyramids at Giza your way
53:05using the latest online technology.
53:07At Nova's website,
53:09navigate the tunnels, tombs
53:11and temples of the pharaohs
53:13and follow a real-time excavation.
53:15Log on for Pyramids,
53:17the Inside Story,
53:19a Nova PBS online adventure.
53:21♪
53:23♪
53:25♪
53:27♪
53:29♪
53:31♪
53:33To order this show for
53:35$19.95 plus shipping and
53:37handling, call
53:391-800-255-9424.
53:41And
53:43to learn more about how science
53:45can solve the mysteries of our world,
53:47ask about our many other
53:49Nova videos.
53:51♪
53:53This is number 80,
53:55Sphinx, three pyramids,
53:57and over in that.
53:59♪
54:01♪
54:03♪
54:05♪
54:07♪
54:09♪
54:11♪
54:13♪
54:15♪
54:17Nova is a production of
54:19WGBH Boston.