28/06/2023, 11:19 How Did Egyptians Build the Pyramids?

Ancient Ramp Find Deepens Mystery | HISTORY

Home / Topics / Ancient Egypt / How Did Egyptians Build the Pyramids? Ancient Ramp Find Deepens
Mystery

How Did Egyptians Build the

Pyramids? Ancient Ramp Find
Deepens Mystery
The discovery of a 4,500-year-old ramp offers clues about Egyptians'
technological knowledge.

BY: BECKY LITTLE

UPDATED: JANUARY 29, 2020 | ORIGINAL: NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Researchers in Egypt discovered a 4,500-year-old ramp system used to haul

alabaster stones out of a quarry, and reports have suggested that it could provide
clues as to how Egyptians built the pyramids. Yet while the ramp system is a
significant technological discovery, the pyramid connection is still a bit of a stretch.

Archaeologists from the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo and the
University of Liverpool discovered the ramp system’s remains in an ancient
alabaster quarry at Hatnub, a site in the Eastern Desert. The ramp system dates at
least as far back as the reign of Pharaoh Khufu, who built the Great Pyramid at
Giza.

“This system is composed of a central ramp flanked by two staircases with

numerous post holes,” Yannis Gourdon, co-director of the joint mission at Hatnub,
told Live Science. “Using a sled which carried a stone block and was attached with
ropes to these wooden posts, ancient Egyptians were able to pull up the alabaster
blocks out of the quarry on very steep slopes of 20 percent or more.”

It’s difficult to tell the significance of this discovery since the archaeologists haven’t
yet published their research on it, says Kara Cooney, a professor of Egyptian art
and architecture at the University of California, L.A., who is not involved in this
research.
https://www.history.com/news/ancient-egypt-pyramid-ramp-discovery 1/3
28/06/2023, 11:19 How Did Egyptians Build the Pyramids? Ancient Ramp Find Deepens Mystery | HISTORY

“It’s a stretch to take an alabaster quarry and say this is how the pyramids were
built, because the pyramids weren’t built out of alabaster,” she says. “The way that
the ancient Egyptians cut and moved stone is still very mysterious.”

Alabaster is a softer mineral, different from the heavy stone blocks with which
Egyptians built the outer structure of the pyramids.

“We actually don’t know [their] mechanism of cutting hard stones like red granite,”
she says. “And we still don’t know how the ancient Egyptians lifted blocks weighing
hundreds of tons up the sides of the pyramids.”

Most Egyptologists already think that Egyptians used ramp systems to build the
pyramids, but there are different theories about what types they used. Cooney
says experts have theorized they could’ve used straight ramps that went up the
pyramid’s outside walls, ramps that curved around these walls or ramping systems
inside the pyramid itself.

So although the ramp system discovery in the alabaster quarry does tell us
something about Egyptians’ technological knowledge, it doesn’t answer the big
questions about how they built the pyramids. And that’s exactly the way the
ancient Egyptians would’ve wanted it.

Just as “any authoritarian regime is going to hide their secrets as long and as best
as they can,” Cooney says, the Egyptians purposefully left no record of how they
built their pyramids.

“The pyramids are there as mountains of stone proving the otherworldly nature of
their god-kings. You stand in front of those pyramids and you feel it’s impossible to
build such a thing.” That means, she says, that “the propaganda is still working.”

Gallery

BY: BECKY LITTLE

Becky Little is a journalist based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at

@MsBeckyLittle.

Citation Information
Article Title How Did Egyptians Build the Pyramids? Ancient Ramp Find Deepens Mystery
https://www.history.com/news/ancient-egypt-pyramid-ramp-discovery 2/3
28/06/2023, 11:19 How Did Egyptians Build the Pyramids? Ancient Ramp Find Deepens Mystery | HISTORY

Author Becky Little

Website Name HISTORY

URL https://www.history.com/news/ancient-egypt-pyramid-ramp-discovery

Date Accessed June 28, 2023

Publisher A&E Television Networks

Last Updated January 29, 2020

Original Published Date November 2, 2018

Fact Check
We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to
contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

Contact Us Copyright Policy Privacy Policy Terms of Use Ad Choices Accessibility Support

© 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

https://www.history.com/news/ancient-egypt-pyramid-ramp-discovery 3/3