The Mystery of the Pyramids: Who Built Them?

**Discussion begins at 5:15**


Today we are talking about the Ancient Egyptian pyramids.  Ancient Egypt is located in Northeastern Africa along the Nile River.  It lasted for over 3000 years from 3100 BC to 30 BC.  Fun fact for all you trivia people - this makes it the longest surviving civilization in history.  During this time, Egypt was a leading cultural and economic influence in North Africa and parts of the Levant.  It was ruled by 170 Pharaohs, and left behind many monuments, including pyramids and temples, as well as hieroglyphic writings. The civilians, rulers, languages, writing, climate, religion, and borders changed many times over the millennia, but Egypt still exists today.  The pyramids of Ancient Egypt still continue today, but the question remains - how were these magnificent pyramids built?  Their construction, especially the great pyramid of Giza, is one of the most fascinating and enduring mysteries of ancient engineering.  There are two major theories that have been discussed.  One is that they were put here by the aliens, along with the Egyptians.  Two is that slaves actually built the Egyptian pyramids.  

Transcript

Hey, guys.
Welcome back.
For drum roll, please.
Station deux.
Also, I think trois is three.
Yeah, it’s in French.
Yeah.
So.
Un, deux.
Apologies.
I did not take French in any of the courses.
I think it is deux.
It’s correct answer.
Okay.
My French accent.
I love that.
Thank you.
Starting off right.
Thank you so much for sharing.
You got Kait here, hosting only her second ever episode.
Look at me.
Number two.
Oh, yeah, I graduated.
How does it feel to be a graduate?
It feels great.
Thank you for everyone who journeyed with me and listened to me talk about school.
And guys, we have a new social media manager.
Yeah.
So heading over to the Gram and see the hard work that’s been happening.
Yeah.
That’s me.
It’s Kait.
I would like to shout out Colleen’s brother, Timmy.
This is coming out the Tuesday before your wedding.
Happy wedding week, Timmy.
Timmy requested this episode quite some time ago on the Gram.
And Timmy’s a supportive follower.
You know, Thelps is real supportive.
Erica is his soon-to-be-wife.
Erica.
We love Ricky.
So happy wedding week.
Yes.
Happy wedding week.
Shout out to Timmy.
Timothée.
99.7, the ride.
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So is it time for our drink check?
Guys, Kait and Colleen stopped at a cat yoga.
Yeah, kitten yoga.
Kitten yoga through the animal shelter.
I will say, full disclosure, that Colleen was planning this activity and I was working or something and I wasn’t responding.
And Colleen goes, should I get a ticket for Megan?
Kait said…
She’s not going.
She’s not gonna come.
Kait was like, yoga and cats.
It’s a no.
Not Megan’s thing.
Hard no for Megan.
I think you would have liked it.
They didn’t even come near you.
But it sounds like it was a great time on the way over here afterwards.
They stopped.
And Kait, what did you get us for a drink check?
Yeah.
So when I was researching this episode and actually while we were in Egypt, there is like a ton of tea.
The Egyptians really like their hibiscus tea.
And so Starbucks has their Passion Tea Lemonade.
And I’m a long time fan of a Passion Tea Lemonade.
I always say it’s not summer until I get a PTL.
You know?
Anyway, right now we’re drinking a Passion Tea Lemonade from Starbucks.
Passion Tea’s star player is a hibiscus.
Generally, I don’t like hibiscus because I don’t like my drinks.
I don’t like flowery things either.
I would say that this PTL is not overpowering with the hibiscus.
No, it’s like got a really good, I like to get mine tangy flavor.
Unsweetened PTL?
I do too.
These are unsweetened.
All right, Kait, kick us off.
So today we’re talking about the Ancient Egyptian Pyramids.
Ancient Egypt is located in North Eastern Africa along the Nile River.
It lasted for over 3,000 years from the years 3100 BC to 30 BC.
Fun fact, for all your trivia people, this makes it the longest surviving civilization in history.
During this time, Egypt was a leading cultural and economic influence in North Africa and parts of the Levant.
It was ruled by 170 pharaohs and left behind many monuments, including pyramids and temples, as well as hieroglyphic writing.
The civilians’ rulers’ languages, writing, climate, religion and borders changed many times over the millennia, but Egypt still exists today.
The periods of ancient Egypt still continue today, but the question remains, how were these magnificent pyramids built?
Their construction, especially the Great Pyramid of Giza, is one of the most fascinating and enduring mysteries of ancient engineering.
So there’s like two major theories that people have like discussed.
One is that aliens built them, that they were put here by the aliens along with the Egyptians.
And two, that slaves actually built the Egyptian pyramids.
First of all, I would like to know, do you guys buy in to any of these?
Have you heard of any theories?
I fall asleep every night to three hour long YouTube videos.
And one of my favorite favorites is the Discovery Channel on YouTube.
Right.
They’ve got like 30 episodes on the pyramid.
Oh yeah, there’s a ton.
And like, I feel like the Egyptians were like inspired by future technology.
Fair.
Which would have been like aliens telling them that.
That’s fair.
Maybe.
And you, maggie, you have an opinion?
That’s my opinion.
I don’t believe that extraterrestrial life built pyramids.
Okay, fair.
Like what would be…
Listen, we’ve talked about this before.
It’s one thing to come and be exploring.
We think, what are they looking for?
We think maybe a resource, right?
But like, why would they like build, like construct entire towns, cities, whatever, and then not live in them?
Okay.
Yeah.
I’ve got a random question.
I’ve got to ask it now because I’m going to forget my question.
Are the pyramids throughout Egypt or just one area?
Oh, no, no, no.
They’re in different areas.
I mean, what you think of as the pyramid is…
So there’s like three pyramids that are kind of all together.
There’s only three.
In Giza.
And that’s what people think of when they think of the Egyptian pyramids.
Okay, so the Great Pyramid of Giza is considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
It was built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.
And the Great Pyramid is 500 feet tall and it covers more than 13 acres.
It’s made out of approximately 2.3 million limestone blocks.
And each of those blocks are said to be or approximated to weigh 2.5 tons.
When did they start building this?
That is a great question.
It took them 20 years to construct this.
Great pyramid.
13 acres?
Yeah, that’s a lot.
Massive.
You think of how many chickens we could own on that?
We could have our compound.
20 years doesn’t seem like a lot to build that.
I was expecting a couple hundred.
No.
Okay.
20 years.
How many blocks?
That, 365 days a year.
Yeah.
How many blocks?
Millions.
2.3 million.
That are bigger than Bourbon Boy?
I mean, bigger than like an elephant, right?
20 years?
Oh my gosh.
I don’t know.
Okay.
Sounds like they had some help.
Okay.
Well, okay.
So this, so when you think of the pyramids in Egypt, you think of like three pretty, like big pyramids that they’re talking about.
These are located in the Geysa or Giza Necropolis.
And these pyramids were built between 2550 and 2490 BC.
And they were created as tombs for the Egyptian kings, Khufu, Khafre and Menkura.
So basically, Khufu, who came from a long line of pharaohs.
The Egyptians had been sort of doing pyramids, but not to the scale of what we think of when we think of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Most of them were smaller.
And you can still see them.
They’re still standing.
They’re just not as magnificent as what we think of when we think of pyramids.
And that sort of plays into later in the show.
But this is, you know, Khufu wasn’t the one who immediately thought of this.
Like, he came first, then Khafra, then Men’Khora.
And Khufu started the pyramids.
He’s the one who headed up this project for the Great Pyramid.
And then after that, the two pharaohs after that, they each have a pyramid called the Pyramid of Khafra and the Pyramid of Men’Khora.
And then they also have the Great Sphinx, which, you know, is the head of a man and the body of a lion.
And this stands near the pyramids.
So each one of these pharaohs sort of headed up their own project to create their own tomb.
So what made these these pharaohs are like, I want to build a memorial to myself, where I guess I’m going to, as I recall, from elementary school, right?
We’re going to rest after death.
Yeah.
With all of their belongings.
Right.
Why did they decide a pyramid was the shape they wanted to do?
The question or the answer to your question is a lot of the questions that archaeologists have, right?
Why?
Because there were pyramid-like structures, but not with the point at the top before the Great Pyramid of Giza.
So before Khufu’s pyramid.
What is a pyramid without a point at the top?
Oh, like the steppe, like the Aztecs and the Mayans?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
So let me talk about these theories, and then I’m gonna tell you how it really is, okay?
All right, the two largest theories.
Number one, they were built by slaves.
So Herodotus, have you guys heard of him?
Okay, so he was this Greek author from the first great narrative generation.
He went around, he was a reporter of sorts, and he would talk to people, and then he would write down historical events.
He is sort of known as the father of history, of the ancient world, and he said this, Ferrucufu brought the country into all sorts of misery.
He closed all the temples and then not content with excluding his subjects from the practice of their religion, compelled them without exception to labor as slaves for his own advantage.
A hundred thousand men labored constantly and were relieved every three months by a fresh lot.
The pyramid itself was 20 years in building.
This is from his second book that he published, Herodotus.
However, Herodotus, not so reliable.
Apparently, Herodotus did talk to the people, but picked and choose what he put into the history books and sort of embellished along the way.
He’s in his work.
He was like a journalist.
Yeah, he was like a journalist, CNN, if you will, right?
So anyway, so he put together these works.
He was sort of known as this father of history, and now he’s not known as the father of history anymore.
He’s known as the father of lies, which is harsh.
People like historians have claimed that his work, again, contain biases and accuracies and sometimes plagiarism.
And sometimes he gives like several accounts, or he would get these like several accounts of the events, and then he would like sort of put in what he thought was best.
So, so yeah, so father of lies.
Not so much what people believe.
Also, Exodus in the Bible also alludes to Israelite slaves being made to do what Pharaoh wanted.
However, the Book of Exodus takes place about 1,000 years after the pyramids were built.
And this takes place in what the Egyptians called the New Kingdom era, which dates around 1550 to 1070 BC.
So not a lot of evidence that supports the slave building theories.
Well, you know what I would say?
I hesitate to believe the aliens did it.
Okay.
But also, I think you might have told me in passing that there’s like a water level on the pyramids.
Like they might have been submerged.
Yeah.
And, you know, I’m sort of buying into the USOs.
Yeah.
Oh, you know, I, so I had heard that.
And then I couldn’t I saw like a random you, not a YouTube.
I think it was like, yeah, like an Instagram about it and then couldn’t find anything else about it.
So the the water theory is out.
But if you do look at the the top of one of the pyramids, it is all eroded away like one level.
Yeah, like from a point.
And then the others that like are not as tall as that one pyramid have erosion all the way up.
So like they there is a theory that they were underwater at one point.
Giant flood.
Oh, I don’t know.
But biblical.
And that that one tip of the pyramid was the only thing that was like actually, you know, sitting up above the water.
Also, just like doesn’t seem possible that it was paid labor.
That’s why I feel like slaves makes sense.
Yeah.
But anyways, yeah, I couldn’t be paid labor.
Well, it sounds like it was a dictatorship.
I don’t actually know anything about the governmental structure of a pharaoh and a king.
But I mean, aren’t kings sort of like dictators?
Like, that’s what I’m thinking.
Whatever they say goes.
I’m like, they want me or tell me all those ancient Egyptian civilians wanted to build a pyramid.
Good, good thought.
Yeah.
Anyways.
The type of government that existed in ancient Egypt was a theocratic dictatorship.
There you go.
The pharaoh was considered a god and held absolute power.
Government was centered around religious beliefs and the pharaohs acted as both political and religious leaders.
Sounds like a massive cult.
Yeah.
Well, a cult would build a pyramid, so.
Yeah.
Yeah, so.
Yeah.
They did.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was like a practice that the pharaohs did for themselves.
This isn’t the first pyramid.
It’s the first pyramid with a point and a giant pyramid, but it is not the first pyramid.
Yeah.
Okay.
So number two, aliens.
This just basically suggests that aliens came in, had these advanced technology, and helped the Egyptians build these pyramids.
This was sort of taken flight.
This theory took flight, like with social media and like Reddit and all those sort of, you know, realm of these people would come in with their partial, you know, yeah, Discovery Channel, these partial like truths and sort of these theories took off.
So one of these theories said that, you know, aliens rather than the ancient Egyptians were actually responsible for constructing these pyramids.
They argue, so the argument, just like Colleen said, is that ancient Egyptians could not have possessed the technology, the engineering, the precision, they were were not able to move those tons of rock.
They weren’t able to cut the stone and to get them into building these pyramids.
That is what the theory is based on, is that the ancient Egyptians and humans could not do that without technology that we have today, which I think is kind of like, is that like centralist?
Like a little bit like, I mean, I’m just thinking about what our friend Kathy would say whenever Colleen says something like the moon landing couldn’t happen because they couldn’t have technology or ventilators couldn’t have existed in the 70s and in the 60s.
And Kathy is always like, there were smart people before your generation.
Like, and that’s what I think.
I have to say, like, you’re smart.
I think technology is smart.
And we will have created the technology.
Humans.
Yeah.
So you must be evolving to create.
I don’t know.
But I guess that when it goes back to is kind of what you’re saying, that, yeah, to be like, just to think that tech, this technology, there couldn’t have been technology because it was so long ago and they must have been stupid.
Right.
Yeah.
But yeah, I kind of agree with you that that sounds like a very.
It’s like this egotistical idea that like we are more advanced than these when like, let’s be honest, I couldn’t build a house in my backyard.
Like these people were doing that to live.
So there’s like, there’s hieroglyphics that people argue.
It’s like these beings that are sort of like gods, right, that inspired these pyramids.
And people read these hieroglyphics and have looked at them and said, well, clearly these like god beings that are being depicted in the hieroglyphics have to be aliens.
And they’re the ones that told these ancient Egyptians to build these pyramids, like up towards the sky.
There are some really interesting facts about the pyramids that I would love to share, but that will come later.
But yeah, what did the hieroglyphics say?
That’s just the…
There was a picture with ancient…
This is where this theory comes from.
There’s a picture with, you know, Pharaoh and this being that like people, you know, is probably one of their gods or a god that they worshiped that people have associated with extraterrestrial beings.
Okay, so they just think that someone else was there.
Yeah.
And maybe they had the knowledge.
Right.
There is no evidence that supports this.
There is no evidence…
Yeah.
Well, I mean, I guess pictures are open to interpretation, right?
There’s so much research that goes into the ancient Egyptian pyramids.
Like, archaeologists are all over that place, like, you know, scouring.
And there has been zero text, like there has been zero artifacts.
There’s been nothing that supports extraterrestrial life that has been dug up.
Allegedly, obviously, we could, you know, it could all be in Roswell.
But according to my Internet searches, there is nothing that supports the extraterrestrial theory, which is want, want, boring.
Your government approved Google search.
You know what I blame?
Lack of evidence.
The British.
What?
Because the British found all of ancient Egypt, like, and tore it all apart and took so many things and ate mummies.
Ate mummies?
You don’t know that?
No.
Look it up.
I believe you.
Look it up.
Like leather, like jerky.
And they bought and sold so many ancient artifacts from Egypt that I bet we lost so many artifacts that…
No, I’m not saying artifacts that could have led to the alien theory, but just artifacts in general were lost because of these British people just eating things.
I’m right.
Just kidding.
Colleen is right.
That’s like a known internet thing.
I didn’t know that.
Or they used it for medicinal purposes.
He ate a mummy.
Ew, that’s cannibalism.
We’re doing that up into the 1900s.
Yeah, I know.
That’s what’s nasty.
So like the 1900s is only like a hundred years ago.
The exponential growth in education from then to now is what blows my mind, and what gives me that central view.
Well, it’s just because-
How can we start learning so much more in only a hundred years?
But are we learning more?
Well, like just with technology.
Technology allows for the dissemination of information, but is our youth actually smarter?
Have you seen the TikToks?
Well, I’m like recent data and shit, and like medicine has grown so much in just a hundred years.
Like people were eating a mummy only a hundred years ago because they thought it would make them feel better.
Yeah.
That’s stupid.
That’s what drives me.
That’s that.
Well, I mean, it’s a theory, right?
I mean, every, we get medicine and we understand medicine through theory.
So you can’t test the theory without actually doing it.
So maybe that was a theory.
I don’t know.
But that’s why I’m like, if we were all, which was probably not good.
If we were only eating dead bodies 100 years ago, what the heck were they doing in 3000 BC?
That’s what I mean.
That’s why I’m like, there’s no way child rides.
He making pyramids by themselves.
Yeah, that’s where my perspective comes from.
Okay.
Anyways, go ahead.
So what I would really like to talk to you guys about is really how cool the Egyptians were.
Nerd.
And how kind of amazing these structures are and the technology that they used to build them.
Because I feel like the ancient Egyptians need their moment, okay?
We are giving them their moment.
Every middle school girls, did we not all have an ancient Egypt era?
I had a mummy era.
Were you eating them?
No, I was watching the movie.
Brendan Frazier.
Love that movie.
Okay, give us their moment.
What did they do?
Okay, so history, you know, historians have uncovered these really cool facts.
Let me tell you a little bit about the pyramids.
And these are all proof proofs?
These are proof proofs.
Okay.
So like I said, Khufu was the one who designed the Great Pyramid of Giza.
This is the largest pyramid.
However, he wasn’t the first person that wanted to, you know, bury himself in a pyramid.
He just is the first person that created a big one.
So anyway, these pyramids were built because they were just like fancy burial tombs, right?
The idea is that the ancient Egyptians believed that their body needed to be preserved so that when their soul left them and went to the afterlife, it would come back to their body for like sessiness and renewal.
I guess it needed to eat or something from the body.
They all point due north.
So this is like the precision of like them all pointing the same exact direction is another reason why people think like clearly extra extraterrestrials had to do this.
Were they thinking about that?
Yeah, yes.
It has something to do with what I think you said about the sun god.
Like they wanted to point due north towards.
It probably has to do with how the shadows flow around it.
Right.
And that’s crazy.
So that’s how they figured out how to actually get them to point due north, is that they studied the shadows and they studied exactly where the sun would be, like directly above them.
And then again, like, you know, like nautical navigation, the North Star.
Everybody knew in, you know, back in the ancient times, like they were really good at reading the stars.
And apparently the North Star doesn’t move ever.
That’s why they call it the North Star.
Yeah.
Well, obviously, Colleen knows everything.
No, I thought you know that.
That’s like a navigational skill set.
Oh, I don’t.
I did.
I’m actually with Colleen on this.
I’m with Colleen on this one.
What is Bourbon Boy teaching you?
No, you’re going to get lost.
I’m directionally challenged.
Did you never grow up watching Survivorman?
No.
Oh, my God.
I love that show.
All right, Colleen, when you’re on a plane and you’re looking for your allies, Kait is not one of them.
I can cook.
Yeah, but actually, I just I wouldn’t want to live.
I’m also just thinking about.
Take me out.
What the sky would look like then.
Oh, my gosh.
Absolutely beautiful.
So like, hold on.
How many hours of a day were they building this?
Because they didn’t have electricity.
No.
So they could only operate.
And like, I’ll give them maybe 10 hours out of the day.
20 years is not enough.
Moving on.
So these ancient Egyptians, they were like really big on like perfection.
They studied a lot.
These engineers wanted to make everything perfect.
They were meticulous.
These, like I said, these mathematicians, engineers, they tracked the shadows and they sort of figured out how to get these pyramids pointed due north.
There is like, like you asked is it doesn’t have something to do with the sun god.
There it’s it’s unclear.
There’s no like text book about like there’s no text that they’ve uncovered.
But yeah, there’s no text that they have uncovered.
But historians believe it was probably likely due to like the body leaving.
I mean, sorry, the soul leaving the body and moving into the afterlife, like having a unhindered way north up.
OK, so the pyramids are also built out of limestone.
Well, the period of Giza is built of limestone and marble.
Limestone is actually a very soft stone and granite is pretty hard.
It’s like, I don’t know.
It’s like if limestone was a one, granite is like a five.
And like how hard it is to cut.
So basically, these archaeologists have uncovered tools that they think were used to cut the limestones.
And it’s actually pretty easy.
They used copper saws and then hammers with rocks.
And they also used these like drills that were sort of like forked at the bottom with copper, like a copper rod coming out of the fork and a rock on top.
And they would, you know, screw and drill into these.
One man job or?
No, no, no.
Multiple men.
I mean, I’m getting to that.
We haven’t even gotten to like moving these stones.
Yeah, I’m already just thinking about like.
Oh, how fit I was thinking guys would have had.
They’re just I’m just like picturing that this is you know, only men doing this.
Yes, only men.
It’s like, how long did it take just to chisel a rock?
That’s a great question.
And the 21 years counts from the first stone or just the pier.
Just one pyramid took 20 years.
And that was the largest pyramid.
And that’s not enough time.
Like over 70,000 hours spent.
And then if you have how many people working at a time, I’d like to see how long it took.
I know you don’t have these numbers, but I’m like, I’m just trying to guesstimate how long it took them to chisel one rock and then multiply that by a million.
Yeah.
And then how long did it take to stack a rock?
I actually also I think this is actually a pretty fun fact.
Okay, so limestone can be cut by a copper stone.
It’s been done.
Archaeologists had did that.
And but you know, it can’t be cut by a copper saw.
Granite.
So how’d they do it?
That’s such a good question.
They have dynamite.
The ancient Egyptians were really smart.
Apparently, if you use sand with the copper, it will cut right through a granite.
How’d they figure that out?
Because they weren’t on TikTok.
All they had to do was sit there and figure it out.
That’s all they had.
There was nothing else.
Were they pro math and science?
Yeah.
I just have been saying this whole time.
They were math.
Like, were they treating like math?
Well, I guess they weren’t called math and science.
Yeah.
I’m trying to compare it to like also like ancient Greece, too, and how there’s like fine balance between research and religion.
So I’m like, I don’t know.
I mean, I’m sure the whole, I mean, the whole reason why the pyramids were built were had to do with like religion and the afterlife, right?
Yeah.
The guy who’s like directing it.
Was it like, was it the pharaoh directing it?
Yeah, it was the pharaoh’s project.
Because are we assuming the king is the smart one?
No, of course, he has his advisors.
That’s what I’m thinking.
Yeah.
He was just like, I want that.
He was like, bring me the smartest people.
Some of these pharaohs were like young, too.
Yeah, they’re like teenagers.
Yeah.
All right.
So they stand.
That’s interesting.
Yeah, I thought that was really interesting.
And this has been re like they have redone this.
Archaeologists have like redone this in a lab like that you can cut.
They have the time to figure out like they know how long to cut that one too.
They probably do.
You can probably Google it.
Okay.
Okay.
So let’s talk about moving the stones.
There’s lots of theories about moving the stones.
Okay.
So have you guys ever heard of a pulley?
Yeah.
Well, that’s the method that they used.
They used pulleys.
And guess what?
There’s a hieroglyphic of how they did it.
Apparently, you know, this is in this, you know, have you guys ever tried to move anything through sand?
It’s impossible.
It’s like so hard to move anything with sand.
Well, guess what is so close to these pyramids?
The Nile.
They were loaded?
How close were we talking?
So the quarries that they would dig these limestones and granite out of, they were like down the Nile.
And so they would take these stones and they would use water to bring them down.
And then they would move the stones by a pulley system.
And they added water.
This is actually depicted.
And they added water to the sand to make the sand smoother and like are less, there would be less friction.
And they moved the stones that way by multiple men pulling on a rope.
Could you imagine their grip strength?
Are they moving them on a boat?
And how many do they move at a time?
I think that they used rafts to move them down the river from the quarry.
Two and a half tons.
They figured it out.
So the Nile was like central to how the Egyptians survived.
Right.
So like that it was part of like a long line of like docks and trade through the Nile.
One block, 50 hours.
Okay.
Just wait until you hear how many people were on these projects.
I was just about to say, I googled over here.
Because I’m doing math, because Colleen’s just like 20 years is not enough.
And if they put, does this match what you matched?
What you saw?
30,000 people?
There’s more than that.
Okay.
What I found is that the father of lies claimed 100,000 people built the pyramid, but that modern Egyptologists believe it was more like 30,000.
I just did all the math.
I’m like, okay, 10 hours a day.
And then if we believe that there were 30,000 people, it sounds like Kait thinks there was more than that.
But 30,000 people, we round down, worked on this and you do the math.
That is over 2.1 billion hours spent building pyramids.
So I don’t think that the 20 years is enough.
Anyway, they were loaded on boats, loaded down the river, like I already said.
And then how did they get up the pyramid?
And the answer is ramps.
Easy, simple ramps.
There’s lots of theories of what kind of ramps they actually use.
One is a straight theory, a straight ramp.
And actually, some of these are seen in the older pyramids that are part of the ruins in other areas.
A zigzag.
So it’s really, really slow incline with switchbacks?
What’s a switchback?
It looks like when you zigzag when you hike.
So if you go and then you turn around and go and then turn around again.
Yes, yes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It also goes back to how hollow were they?
And then, well, no, there’s an internal ramp theory, which is what you’re thinking of.
Yeah.
And then the zigzag was like external.
And then some of them talk about a wraparound.
But the wraparound has been like sort of debunked because in order to get the stones up, they couldn’t see where they were going.
So they kind of like debunked that.
Were they building it like 3D printing, like layer, layer, layer?
Yes.
But so there is like an internal ramp theory, where there’s actually ramps that are actually inside the pyramid.
And then there’s also a theory that there’s like ramps.
The pyramid was the actual ramp, but that would be like very steep.
So they think there were ramps.
But there’s no evidence that they have found that actually, that what kind of ramp they use, but they were using ramps.
And they’re just pushing it up the ramp?
They were using a pulley system.
Well, you were over here thinking about…
No, I heard pulley system, but would they be lifting it up with a pulley system?
Like, how does the pulley system affect the ramp?
Because pulley just moves up.
No, pulley isn’t…
I’m talking about a pulley across the sand.
That’s what I was saying.
A pulley is a wheel up on the top with rope.
Yeah, you can use a pulley to pull things too.
Horizontally?
Yeah.
Did you hear what I said about the sand getting wet?
Yeah.
And they would pull these stones.
And there was multiple men on the ground, these ropes, and they would pull the…
No, I know a vertical pulley is a type of pulley system.
I just…
There are horizontal pulley systems as well.
Okay.
Like when you think of like the old time, you know how people used to hang their clothes out the window, and there was a pulley on the window?
No, I think if you think, if there were, say there were like a hundred men on this pulley, and they’re all just pulling and walking.
Yeah.
And I think that would be helpful.
Yeah.
As opposed to like trying to push.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So this was like a really big thing that happened recently.
In 2018, there were these archaeologists that were from Liverpool, and they were digging, and they, lo and behold, they found an ancient quarry ramp that like they think may have like helped the ancient Egyptian move stones.
So Yannis Gurdon from the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo said, quote, The system is composed of a central ramp flanked by two staircases with numerous post holes using a sled, which carried a stone block and was attached with ropes to these wooden posts.
Okay, there’s wood.
Ancient Egypts were able to pull the alabaster blocks out of the quarry on very steep slopes of 20 percent or more.
End quote.
So they found this like ancient quarry with a ramp.
There were two staircases and they were, you know, this is the coolest fact that I think that I uncovered about this.
Like, pulleys are cool.
I think this them like, you know, using water to wet the sand and make it less like easier for the for them to move.
I think that’s actually very smart.
And like they used what they could to kind of figure out how to.
But I think this is the coolest.
Going back to the workers, archaeologists have actually uncovered a whole town that was dedicated to home these workers while they were building these pyramids.
There is evidence that shows that these towns had like bakeries, hospitals, they had fish markets, there’s beer brewing evidence, like these, they had administrative buildings in these towns.
There was thought to be, men were like the workers and the ones who were actually doing the construction on the pyramids, but women also lived in these towns.
And this place is actually called Hite el Gourab, which is also known as the Lost City of the Pyramid Builders.
And these, apparently, this town only dates back to like, not the person who, not during Khufu’s reign, but during Kafra and Men’Kura.
So those are the two pharaohs that are after him.
And to go back to the slave theory, these workers were paid, so not slave.
Well, I don’t think they had money back then.
They were just…
So it’s like they were working for food and beer, is what I read.
So that makes sense then.
Which is what was accurate then.
Yeah, which would make sense then if it’s like, they may, you know, come move here temporarily and build these pyramids.
And it makes sense to be like, everyone’s going to live in this little town because we want you to just like work.
Like, very much like a military type, right?
Like a deployment.
And then go over to the brewery after work, right?
And get your beer.
Have your fish.
Because you’re not getting money.
And actually, like, there is evidence that supports these people were actually fed very well, like fed, like the royal highness was fed.
Who’s funding it?
The pharaoh.
Where’s the funding to do all this?
They probably have very extensive trade.
Taxation and tribute from conquered territories.
I’m just trying to picture, like, there must have been so many Egyptians, like the population of the Egyptians.
Like you need at least, we’re saying at least 30,000 that was just in that 20 years.
Like, Reddit said that at this time, they were like 2 million.
Like that was a packed place to be.
Yeah, that Egypt had millions of people and then, yeah, tens of thousands were working on this.
I feel like you could throw a pebble and hit, like, an artifact in Egypt.
Like there must have been that many people that there must be just stuff everywhere in that ground.
Oh, yeah.
Like, that’s crazy.
Yeah.
Back to your point about them eating really well, like, again, and back to our point about how fit these people have to be.
Oh, my God.
Like, the calories that must be burned.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can’t have people like passing out on the right one on the line.
People died in the construction.
Oh, I’m there’s there are the archaeologists have uncovered, like, remains of people.
Yeah.
They found in the 90s a cemetery nearby where they think they buried anybody who died while building the pyramid.
And it says it was very nice.
They were, like, treated very highly and they were buried with expensive things that they could use in the afterlife.
Oh, that’s nice.
So, it’s not, like, well respected to be a building.
It’s not very much like the military.
Like, you do your time, you get respect.
Yeah, you get fed.
Building is pyramid.
You get shelter.
I mean, they, who knows, like, what life was life back then?
And like, if they’re being fed well and their families are being fed well and.
It’s worth it.
Especially if you were young.
Yeah.
Anyway, they were they were like grouped into they were split into groups.
And then those groups were were split into different groups called SAAs.
And those were then given their own tasks.
So they would be like in a group of 10 or a group group of 20.
And each of them were working towards one specific task.
You cut that rock.
Well, I feel like the rocks were cut in a quarry down the stream.
So a different group.
So a different group of people.
And this was actually the constructed construction.
Someone bringing it up the Nile.
Yeah.
Somebody want to know.
Yeah, that was like the Navy would bring it up the Nile, you know.
Who do you think laid the first rock?
That guy.
I feel like Pharaoh, like, wouldn’t it be like a Pharaoh thing?
It’d be like it’s like the ceremony cutting up the ribbon.
I did that.
Like George Washington starting in the Washington.
And I wonder if they like built a bunch of rocks as like a start up.
It’s like George Washington building the capital.
Oh, building.
He did not build his own.
Yeah, I know.
I said, yeah, like I knew what you were talking about.
I know more about the history of Westeros than I do about the history of America.
Now you know a lot about Egypt.
Yeah.
I’m like, what were they eating?
Like they must have all been fish, a calorie deficit.
I think they had a lot of fish from the Nile.
That’s crazy.
The Nile.
Well, there had to probably be people, maybe less than when we’re doing that also, who were just working to like feed these people.
But I just think it’s really cool that they like made this town for these, like everybody has sort of had the same project and they made this town and they housed these people and they gave them food.
And because it was very, yeah, it was like they were caring for, which like, I mean, was it caring for these men who had to be out in the sun for hours upon hours and just straining muscles?
And it’s very much like the military, like they all did contract.
Yeah, that is very government workers.
So government workers built the pyramids.
You know what?
Our taxes built the pyramids.
Well, not ours.
Their taxes built the pyramids.
They had taxation and representation, though.
So, I mean, I feel like Pharaoh is the representation, right?
But it was a dictatorship.
That’s a dictatorship.
There’s no representation in a dictatorship.
I don’t know.
I wonder if they had riots.
Anyway, is that ever?
Did you hear anything about riots?
Like against it?
I was specifically going for the building of the pyramids.
There was so much information I couldn’t do at all.
Like we could do a whole episode on the ancient age.
Anyway, that’s the pyramids, guys.
Definitely not aliens.
No, not aliens.
Actually, I think isn’t it cool, though?
I actually had a really good time researching because I think like, how smart are these people?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like these, you know, they use what they had.
I think they had a lot of himbo with muscle and probably 20.
Really?
What I would do to those symbols.
That’s all I’m thinking of.
You know, that’s what Megan’s over here.
She’s like, these men are fit.
15 really smart mathematicians and like 300,000 hot fit men.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I’m sure there’s data out there, but they probably had like a baby boomer generation specifically for building the pyramids.
They probably popped babies out on purpose.
No, those women were like, these men can get it.
But then there’s no birth control back then.
No, that’s what I’m saying, like a boom in population specifically related to the fitness of these men.
Yeah.
Fitness in my mind.
Yeah.
What ended ancient Egypt?
Rome?
Ancient Rome?
Cleopatra?
Because Cleopatra was at the very end.
I don’t know.
What ended ancient Egypt?
Alexander the Great and his Greek army conquered ancient Egypt.
I thought Alexander the Great was Greek.
In 332 BC., Alexander the Great and his Greek army.
Yeah.
I thought he was Rome.
That’s what I literally said.
Julius Caesar was Rome and he dated.
No, he was Greek, too, right?
No, Caesar.
Caesar and Cleopatra.
30 BC., 300 years later, the Romans invaded ancient Egypt.
Oh, OK.
Boom.
They defeated the Pharaoh Cleopatra and Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.
How did you know that?
So because Julius movie.
Well, there is a Cleopatra movie.
Yeah, but that’s not what I was with with the lady from Breakfast from Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Taylor played.
That’s what I’m.
Didn’t she play?
No, Elizabeth Taylor.
Oh, diamonds are forever.
That’s what she was in.
But you guys were both right then.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Greek.
The Greeks took over that and today in Egypt, and then the Romans took over after that.
Yeah.
And they stabbed Caesar in the back.
So what?
OK, so we’re all on board that this is all on board.
Very uncommon for us all to agree that there’s nothing.
Yeah.
Sus happening.
Yeah.
There had to have been so many people.
Yeah, I think so.
So many people.
There was a ton of people.
I just like that’s why I’m like, they they should have been writing that shit down.
I don’t care about the Pharaoh.
I care about the man who built the rock.
That’s what I want to know more about now.
Well, they’re still uncovering text.
I know.
There’s just going to be continual information.
This is this is evolving information.
And again, I blame a lot of our missing info on the British.
Yeah.
Freaking British.
Eaten mummies.
Yeah.
Weirdos.
Although the return that statue.
You guys know what I’m talking about?
Is that a vine?
No, it’s like it’s like a famous thing that like the British Ancient History Museum has a famous Egyptian statue that is like one of six and five of them are together in an Egyptian museum.
And they send the six.
England won’t give one of them away.
That’s that’s rude.
They’re like finders keepers.
And they’re like, she’s lonely.
Oh, and in the museum with the five of them, they have her spot empty, ready to be filled when England gives it up.
Oh, that is sad.
She is lonely.
Anti-alien, pro-mis-reported numbers.
That’s my result for the Pyramids.
Yeah, yeah, I tend to agree.
Yeah, this is my theory.
But I do think, I mean, power to the humans, you know?
Asian Egypt.
Yeah.
I mean, the visuals are.
How long do you think these people actually lived?
That’s going to add to the numbers, because like.
I mean, they can’t have lived that long, right?
Malnourished, overworked.
Well, they were they were fed very well.
There’s no OSHA.
So like they’re.
Yeah.
They probably worked from sun up to sun down.
Yeah.
Ten hours, I give them.
They probably died when they were like 40.
Oh.
That’s my thought.
Well, I’m thinking pharaohs didn’t live long because there’s a lot of incest with them.
What?
Looking at several cemeteries from ancient Egypt in time, right?
The average life expectancy for males was only 25.
Oh, you said that.
But the females?
36.
37.
Wow.
I’m really good.
Didn’t hear you say it.
It’s recorded.
No, I believe you.
I believe you.
I just didn’t hear you.
All right, Kait, one more time.
What should the people do?
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And yeah, thank you for listening to number two from Kait.
Hope you guys liked it.
Number one, sound quality is off.
We took it off.
Nevermind.
We’re ending with audio.
Under construction.
All right, well, thank you.
Much like the pyramids for the next 20 years.
Crazy.
The tip of the Pyramid of Giza was gold.
Yeah, Kufu really had some, he was very-
Some shmoney.
An ego.
Yeah, he had an ego and he wanted to be, he wanted to build the biggest one.
And I think his dad built three, but they were all small.
And then Kufu was like, hold on.
You know what they say about ancient pharaohs?
I’m gonna build a pyramid.
You know what they say about ancient pharaohs?
Small pyramid.
Big pyramid.
Oh, yeah.
Compensating for something, you know?
Whatever.
He’s like, I’m gonna be living the good life and the afterlife.
Those hieroglyphics of him.
They depicted a little exaggerated.
You think?
Probably.
All right.
Well, thank you guys for joining us.
And we’ll see you.
See you next Tuesday.
See you next Tuesday.