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I always like seeing discoveries about the pyramids, but I don't get the feeling this tells us as much as the article wants the reader to believe. the job of h

I always like seeing discoveries about the pyramids, but I don't get the feeling this tells us as much as the article wants the reader to believe. the job of hauling into place the huge blocks of stone used to build the monuments may have been completed more quickly than previously thought There is no current timeline for how the great pyramid was built. The only frame of reference that we have is the assumption that the pyramid was built in Kufu's lifetime and all other estimates are derived from that. We really have no idea how long it took the original builders to move those stones. Each stone weighs an average of 2.5T (up to 10T) .. and the stones were quarried from hundreds of kilometers away.. With a total of 2.5 million giant stones coming from such extreme distances, I don't get the feeling we're much closer to coming up with an actual timeline for how long this took.

nine_k 8y ago
There are some suggestions that the stones were not quarried, but are ancient concrete. E.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/africa/23iht-pyramid.1.12259608.html https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/africa/23iht-pyrami... This would make the transportation problem much easier to solve.
acqq 8y ago
> With a total of 2.5 million giant stones coming from such extreme distances Afaik most of the stones were quaried very near the pyramids. Most of the stones aren’t the “quality stones” and didn’t have to travel distances: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza “The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks which most believe to have been transported from nearby quarries.”
- 6d6b73 8y ago
  If we assume 40 years (350400) to build the pyramids they had to quarry, deliver and setup 6.5 blocks every hour of every day. Seems doable, especially in a country with population probably below 1mln at that time. /s
  - gameswithgo 8y ago
    distance to quarry would only affect stone latency, not stone throughput, anyway :D
    - sbov 8y ago
      Not really true. In networking throughput vs latency rely on two different things. When it comes to moving huge stone blocks they rely on the same limited resource (humans).
      - cryptonector 8y ago
        They would have used boats on the Nile to carry stones long ways. They probably only did that for the finish blocks (the polished limestone most of which is gone).
    - tcgv 8y ago
      Only if we assume a large enough transportation labor force ;)
  - irrational 8y ago
    Not every day. Studies have shown that the pyramids were built by ordinary people (as opposed to slaves) who mainly worked on it during the parts of the year when they couldn't work in their fields.
  - acqq 8y ago
    I guess you've never seen: the quarries for the most of the stone blocks were effectively immediately by the pyramids: https://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/image/map-Karte/pyramid-quarries.gif https://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/image/map-Karte/pyramid-quarr...

nine_k 8y ago

There are some suggestions that the stones were not quarried, but are ancient concrete. E.g. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/africa/23iht-pyramid.1.12259608.html https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/africa/23iht-pyrami... This would make the transportation problem much easier to solve.

acqq 8y ago

> With a total of 2.5 million giant stones coming from such extreme distances Afaik most of the stones were quaried very near the pyramids. Most of the stones aren’t the “quality stones” and didn’t have to travel distances: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza “The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks which most believe to have been transported from nearby quarries.”

6d6b73 8y ago
If we assume 40 years (350400) to build the pyramids they had to quarry, deliver and setup 6.5 blocks every hour of every day. Seems doable, especially in a country with population probably below 1mln at that time. /s
- gameswithgo 8y ago
  distance to quarry would only affect stone latency, not stone throughput, anyway :D
  - sbov 8y ago
    Not really true. In networking throughput vs latency rely on two different things. When it comes to moving huge stone blocks they rely on the same limited resource (humans).
    - cryptonector 8y ago
      They would have used boats on the Nile to carry stones long ways. They probably only did that for the finish blocks (the polished limestone most of which is gone).
  - tcgv 8y ago
    Only if we assume a large enough transportation labor force ;)
- irrational 8y ago
  Not every day. Studies have shown that the pyramids were built by ordinary people (as opposed to slaves) who mainly worked on it during the parts of the year when they couldn't work in their fields.
- acqq 8y ago
  I guess you've never seen: the quarries for the most of the stone blocks were effectively immediately by the pyramids: https://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/image/map-Karte/pyramid-quarries.gif https://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/image/map-Karte/pyramid-quarr...