4 ms·

The question I have is how did mega projects in ancient times (such as the Pyramids) get enough people to work on them, and still have enough food to feed them?

The question I have is how did mega projects in ancient times (such as the Pyramids) get enough people to work on them, and still have enough food to feed them? Or were the people on those projects (and other city-building projects at that time) only less than 5 percent of the total population? Also, is that 95% that are spending the majority of their time on food production? Or is that including people that spend a lot of time on fall harvest and spring planting, but don't do much else during off seasons?

notahacker 4y ago
Pyramids were built during offseasons. But it wouldn't really have been an option to redeploy that unskilled, uneducated labour towards industrial research instead, at least not without a radical change to ancient societies. Not least because kings and religions tended to want non-agricultural engineering resources focused on monuments and defences, not finding more labour/cost-effective ways of increasing output of craft produce or pursuing science for the sake of science
- isk517 4y ago
  Also wasn't ancient Egypt ridiculously fertile? I imagine being able to consistently produce excess grain means you can divert workers to other projects.
  - lordnacho 4y ago
    Plus don't forget why Egypt was fertile: The farmland got regularly flooded by the river. Can't do much while it's flooded, just go and help out on the pyramid project.
feoren 4y ago
During the fertile season, right after the floodplains were flooded, you needed an enormous amount of labor to take advantage of the huge area of freshly-fertilized soil. Presumably this area needed to be tended and maintained, and then of course the harvest was another time when you needed enormous amounts of labor. And then you've harvested and the plains are briefly fallow, then they get flooded by the Nile for a few weeks, and there's nothing to do. So you have an enormous amount of labor power with nothing to do for a couple months every year. Why not pay them a little to lug massive stones around to build a monument to your awesomeness? Better than having them idling in the streets!

notahacker 4y ago

Pyramids were built during offseasons. But it wouldn't really have been an option to redeploy that unskilled, uneducated labour towards industrial research instead, at least not without a radical change to ancient societies. Not least because kings and religions tended to want non-agricultural engineering resources focused on monuments and defences, not finding more labour/cost-effective ways of increasing output of craft produce or pursuing science for the sake of science

isk517 4y ago
Also wasn't ancient Egypt ridiculously fertile? I imagine being able to consistently produce excess grain means you can divert workers to other projects.
- lordnacho 4y ago
  Plus don't forget why Egypt was fertile: The farmland got regularly flooded by the river. Can't do much while it's flooded, just go and help out on the pyramid project.

feoren 4y ago

During the fertile season, right after the floodplains were flooded, you needed an enormous amount of labor to take advantage of the huge area of freshly-fertilized soil. Presumably this area needed to be tended and maintained, and then of course the harvest was another time when you needed enormous amounts of labor. And then you've harvested and the plains are briefly fallow, then they get flooded by the Nile for a few weeks, and there's nothing to do. So you have an enormous amount of labor power with nothing to do for a couple months every year. Why not pay them a little to lug massive stones around to build a monument to your awesomeness? Better than having them idling in the streets!