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How were the pyramids built?
by soperj 10y ago
How were the pyramids built?
- true_religion 10y agoLots of technology is non obvious, even simple tech. The wheel wasn't widely known in the Americas. Large wheel wagons like you see in rickshaws were not widely known in the West.
- Retric 10y agoIt really does not matter as we could build them today with a lot less effort. It would cost something like $5 billion today and would take ~2,000 people ~5 years. Which is relatively speaking a lot less expensive. Put another way, Bill G could build ~17 of them in his lifetime and not be broke.
- kbenson 10y agoBut that's besides the point. We are thousands of years in the future from that point, with thousands of years of technological advancements. What would a civilization relatively recently after the loss of that knowledge do? Could they even do it? The point is that technology can be lost. Sure, we may have re-learned the technology in the intervening millennia, but we wouldn't have to re-learn it if it wasn't lost in the first place.
- Retric 10y agoYou are assuming it was lost in the same time period. Instead, there was ever refined stone construction techniques through medieval Cathedral's. So, sure 4500 years ago making a giant stone hill was hard, but the 1311 Lincoln Cathedral @ 524 ft was actually significantly taller structure and far more difficult.
- soperj 10y agoIt's not a stone hill. It was completely smooth before the limestone casing was removed. Also I don't know how 524ft is _significantly_ taller than 481 feet.
- Retric 10y agoIf the pyramid was 524ft tall it would have taken at 29+% more stone which is kind of a large difference assuming they did not need to change the slope. Anyway, scaling buildings is a lot more complex as every extra foot get's harder than the last. In design you don't really build up, you keep adding layers under your existing structure that need to hold it up.
- stcredzero 10y agoIt would cost something like $5 billion today and would take ~2,000 people ~5 years. Which is relatively speaking a lot less expensive. Put another way, Bill G could build ~17 of them in his lifetime and not be broke. Awesome! What's at one time only the province of the greatest empire on the planet could become just one of many of a billionaire's projects. Let's scale this out from the present day with something of seemingly unattainable current value: How about The United States of America? Maybe several decades hence, a billionaire will have made himself the equivalent? Colonization of Mars, anyone?
- soperj 10y agoIt was estimated they took 14 years to build.
- hobofan 10y agoAre you looking for the answer "slave labor"?
- edw 10y agoSorry, the Egyptian pyramids were build with tax labor, not slave labor.
- jfoutz 10y agoI think i get your point, but tech losses seem to be associated with cultural collapse or exhaustion of a special resource. Roman concrete, Greek fire, and vanadium steel might be more illustrative choices. I don't think the Egyptians used magic, perhaps they knew a trick or two we don't know about, i don't think there's any writing left about the construction techniques.
- adwn 10y ago> I don't think the Egyptians used magic, perhaps they knew a trick or two we don't know about, i don't think there's any writing left about the construction techniques. The Egyptians' "trick" was massive amounts of human labor over a long timespan. Nothing you couldn't do a lot faster today if you were willing to spend the money (and manage to get the permits). The construction of the pyramids is not impressive from a technological point of view, but perhaps from a logistical point of view.
- edw 10y agoOr, more recently: I've read that we have collectively lost the knowledge and skill necessary to build a piano with a quality comparable to the best ever made. (Wish I had a citation…)