Concrete
Pyramids
By Isabel R. Harris and Matthew W. A. Bruder V
Over
four thousand years ago, modern man built one of the greatest construction
marvels of all time, the great pyramids of Giza. The awesome technology to create these structures developed in a
few hundred years and disappeared just as fast, never to be duplicated. By about 500 B.C., during Herodotus’ visit
to Egypt, the methods of construction were obscure, even to the Egyptian priests
consulting their records[1]. Conventional wisdom states that the three
great pyramids are made of stone blocks quarried, hauled over the Nile, and
maneuvered up great ramps to their present positions. It is becoming clear, however, that the great pyramids are
actually made of concrete. Even today
with mounting evidence, people still cling to conventional ideas as to their
construction.
The
pyramids were constructed during the reigns of three pharaohs about 2500
BC. The great pyramid was built for a
pharaoh named Khnumu-Khufu during his 20-year reign. The pharaoh ruled over an
essentially agrarian society. This
society was entirely dependent on the fall inundation (flood) of the Nile
annually to fertilize the flood plain, on which they grew their crops. Various major construction tasks were
undertaken only during these three months of the year, starting relatively
small, reaching its zenith with the great pyramids, and dying away by about 500
BC. Although large constructions were
undertaken, after the building of the great pyramids, none equaled them in
magnitude and quality. The Egyptian
priests told Herodotus that the great pyramid was completed during the reign of
the pharaoh, 20 years[2].
To
complete a pyramid within the lifetime of the reigning pharaoh was a monumental
task. Masons designed the structure,
selected and cleared the site, and laid out the orientation. As the site was being prepared, other groups
of masons quarried stone blocks at twenty quarries throughout Egypt[3]. These blocks were then hauled to the Nile,
floated to the construction site, hauled up a ramp, and put in place. The pharaoh, to complete the pyramid being
constructed, drafted one hundred thousand laborers, including slaves for labor,
an impressive mental picture. For most
people, thousands of labors and its associated stone theory are easy to
conceptualize. A child’s blocks can be
used to mimic the operation on a small but deceptive scale.
At the
same time as the pyramids were being constructed, another intriguing
development occurred. Fine alabaster
vases with delicate, narrow throats and other artifacts were created in the
same meticulous precision as the casing stones[4]. How could the Egyptians hollow out the
bottom of the vases through the narrow throat without a highly advanced
technology, which has disappeared in the mist of time? Little if any indication of their
manufacture remains.
There is
evidence, in the quarries, of incomplete stone blocks and stele (obelisks) in
various stages of completion, from later eras, abandoned for one reason or
another. Also, there are chisel marks
left from the era when the pyramid blocks were being extracted from the
quarries. The marks vary considerably
from era to era as the tools used to quarry changed[5]. Clearly, the stone was removed from the
quarry.
Various authors including Herodotus, talking to
Egyptian priests thousands of years after the completion, spoke of machines for
raising the blocks[6]. It stands to reason, if you did not have a
stone block, you would not have to raise it.
Later construction by the Egyptians themselves, Greeks, Romans, the
masons of medieval Europe, and including the masons of today used the same
basic method of cutting the blocks at the quarries and hauling them into
place. The blocks are rough-cut with
tools on site, the rough ashlar (rough cut stone) is removed, finished, and it
is hauled to the structure location and is installed, a simple enough procedure
to understand.
Each of
these arguments support the concept that the blocks were; as is commonly
thought; cut, hauled, floated, hauled, and placed. They are simple and straightforward, but there are certain
problems with this theory.
Another theory has been put
forward periodically since the 18th century. That is the pyramids were constructed of
concrete. Le Chatelier (a French
chemist) did some serious investigation into the matter but failed to answer
all of the questions. His failure to
determine the chemistry being used, coupled with the fact that hieroglyphics
could not be read at the time created gaps, brought the theory into question.
As the
climate changed different construction materials had to be developed. Egypt was fairly moist until historic times
(about 4000 BC). Wood all but disappeared and from pre-dynastic times had to be
imported from Lebanon. Mud brick held
together by straw and baked in the sun fell apart during the infrequent rains
and could not support the weight of very large structures. All of their structures crumbled in a few
years, nothing was permanent
Around
their campfires, Egyptians noticed that the heat caused some of the rocks to
melt and form colorful beads. A small
select group of laborers initially started making the beads and experimented by
mixing and heating various combinations of minerals and ores. They also found that some of the rocks
powered to dust when heated; but when water was spilled on them, they
resolidified. Additionally, they found
the powder could be mixed with water and before it hardened, could be placed in
a container (a mold) and the rock, when hardened, assumed the shape of the
container. The cast rocks, when placed
in water, did not fall apart. Instead
of structures that would fall apart in the periodic rains, buildings of these
materials would last forever.
The Egyptians continued
development of this process next making fine alabaster vases. To this day no one conventionally can figure
out how they were made. They were
molded, using concrete. An inner mold
of wax was made and positioned in a plywood outer mold. (The Egyptians knew how to make plywood from
the earliest times[7].) After the concrete set but before it
hardened, the wax inner mold was melted and removed, the outer mold was
separated, the seams smoothed, and the vase became an enigma.
The
Egyptians, with an eye to the practical and each succeeding pharaoh wanting to
outdo his predecessor, transformed the accidental diminutive beads into
ever-larger blocks and experiments with basic pyramid designs begun.
If the
small beads are kept distinct from the casing stones, another question
arises. How were the stones cut so
precisely without scrap? The era when
the great pyramids were constructed was before the Bronze Age (The Bronze Age
started about 800 B.C. in Egypt). The
Egyptians had only sticks, stones, and copper tools with which to quarry the
blocks[8].
Nevertheless, given enough time, a block could be quarried and finished. The
remaining pyramid casing stones are so precisely shaped that a piece of paper
cannot be slid between the blocks[9]. Incredibly careful cutting or was the wall
of the adjacent block also used as a wall of the mold? A lot of time would be necessary to cut
blocks this precisely, even today. In
1984, Joseph Davidovits measured very precisely thousands of blocks on a
pyramid where the casing stones had been removed 150 years ago. Why are there only ten sizes, within two
thousandths of an inch[10]? Was it careful cutting or only a limited
number of molds to cast the blocks?
Obviously if the blocks, some 30 feet in length, had to be cut and
shaped to within two thousandths of an inch two new dimensions are added to the
problems associated with carving stone blocks, how were they measured and
additional time would be required for the increase in precision. If laborers were cutting the stones, where
is the scrap from the trimming, bad blocks, and the blocks that fractured or
were damaged in transit? There are not
any[11]. With concrete, the rocks were beaten to a
powder, hauled to the site, burned, mixed, and cast. Everything is consumed and can be reused by powdering and heating
it again.
To move
the size of blocks used in the pyramids, some weighing 500 tons[12],
in one piece, ramps with ample foundations would be required. Where are the ramps to transport the blocks
or where are their foundations? There
are not any. The causeway, which
according to Herodotus took 10 years to build and ran from the mortuary temple
at the river’s edge to the pyramid itself, was built of polished stone,
engraved, and covered[13]. The causeway, even when completed, would not
support large blocks, but would support labors carrying buckets of
concrete. It can be simply handed up
the pyramid, a bucket at a time, until the mold is filled. Concrete doesn’t
require ramps.
Herodotus
says the priests told him the great pyramid was completed in 20 years[14]. With 2,500,000 blocks in the pyramid[15]
this is no small undertaking. If you
are cutting discreet blocks and moving them, a focused infrastructure, well
beyond the resources of today let alone the ancient Egyptians, would have been
required. The construction
infrastructure shrinks substantially, to a manageable size of about 1,400
people, if a concrete process is used[16]. Since the work was carried out during the 20
years for only three months of the year (Thirty Egyptian calendar days. The temples were closed and the Egyptians
did not even get the traditional tenth day to rest.[17]). The Egyptians worked only eight hours a day,
therefore a stone block had to be placed every 3.5 minutes. With ten molds, they only had to cast one
block every half-hour.
In a
microscopic study a human hair was found in a piece of a block taken from one
of the pyramids[18]. How did a hair get into a rock? It could have easily fallen from a worker
into the concrete slurry.
Today,
rocks and concrete can be easily distinguished from one another. Concrete contains microscopic air bubbles
from the slurry preparation and pouring.
A certified sample from one of the pyramid blocks was examined and the
bubbles were found[19]. Granite does not contain air bubbles,
concrete formulated similar to granite would.
If the Egyptians came up with this marvelous
process, why did the Egyptians stop making concrete, start carving blocks of
relatively softer stone, and lose the technology? The answer is they simply ran out of known deposits of minerals
and ores to form the high quality concrete.
From hieroglyphs and chemical analysis, the composition of the minerals
and ores required were determined.
Locations of these ores were examined throughout Egypt. It was found that some of the minerals and
ores necessary for the process were completely consumed. In one particular location, in the Sinai
Peninsula were the mineral changed but the color of the rock did not, the
miners stopped extracting the mineral precisely at the point where it changed[20]. After the great pyramids, very soft-core
blocks were mined since they could easily be cut with the tools at hand. The casing blocks were made from destroying
earlier structures and reprocessing them.
Since the Egyptians worshiped the dead and long dead pharaohs continued
to have large numbers of priests, only a limited number of structures could be
consumed. As iron tools developed, it
was easier culturally and practically to cut softer rock than to reprocess the
old and the craft died out.
We have
two theories with significantly different technologies and similar
results. The conventional theory
suggests a fantastic technology, which was lost as fast as it was developed and
even with modern methods, many facts cannot be adequately explained or
duplicated. The concrete theory simply
explains all of the observations and allows the eclectic craftsmen to complete
the job in the time allotted. As their
raw materials were consumed, the workmen adapted and developed different technologies
to carry on their tasks, the old practices disappeared, and their results
became an enigma.
