(CNN) – Egyptologists have been hotly debating for years how the massive pyramids of ancient Egypt were built more than 4,000 years ago. Now, a team of engineers and geologists puts a new theory on the table: a hydraulic lifting device that would have floated heavy stones through the center of Egypt’s oldest pyramid using stored water.
The ancient Egyptians built the Step Pyramid for Pharaoh Djoser in the 27th century BC, and it was the tallest structure of the time, standing at about 62 meters high. But how exactly the monument, with a series of stones weighing 300 kilograms (about 661 pounds), was erected has remained a mystery for centuries, according to the study published Monday in the scientific journal PLOS One.
“Many detailed publications have discussed pyramid construction procedures and provided tangible elements, but these tend to focus on more recent, better-documented, and smaller pyramids of the Middle and New Kingdoms (1980 to 1075 BC),” said lead author Dr. Xavier Landreau, CEO of Paleotechnica private research institute in Paris that studies ancient technologies.
“Techniques involved could include ramps, cranes, cranks, lever lifts, hoists, pivots, or a combination of these methods,” he added in an email. “But what about the pyramids of the Old Kingdom (2675 to 2130 BC), which are much larger? While human power and ramps may be the only building force for small structures, other techniques may have been used for large pyramids.”
The new work, which uses an interdisciplinary approach, is the first to report a system consistent with the internal architecture of the Step Pyramid, the authors wrote.
A complex water treatment system based on local resources would have allowed the existence of a water-powered elevator within the internal vertical axis of the pyramid. According to the study, some type of float would have lifted the heavy stones through the center of the pyramid.
Although the theory is an “ingenious solution,” some Egyptologists are not convinced, as a more widespread theory is that the ancient Egyptians used ramps and transport devices to lift the heavy blocks into place, says Egyptologist Dr. David Jeffreys. , retired senior lecturer in Egyptian Archeology at University College London, who was not involved in the study. Here’s what experts say about the new theory.
Analyzing available data, such as paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climates, and archaeological data, the study team suggested that water from ancient streams flowed from the west of the Saqqâra plateau into a system of deep-water ditches and tunnels that surrounded the Step Pyramid.
The water would also have flowed into the Gisr el-Mudir, a rectangular limestone structure measuring 650 by 350 metres, which would have acted as a containment dam. This device, once believed to be a fortress, celebration arena or livestock enclosure, would control and store water from large floods, as well as filter sediment and dirt so that it did not block water passages.
The theorized water treatment system would not only allow water control during floods, but would also “ensure adequate quality and quantity of water for both consumption and irrigation as well as for transportation or construction,” says the study’s co-author. , he Dr. Guillaume Piton, researcher from the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE) of France, based at the Institute of Environmental Geosciences of the University of Grenoble Alpes.
The authors cited several previous studies according to which the Sahara Desert recorded more regular rainfall thousands of years ago than today. Instead, the landscape would resemble a savanna, which could support more plant life than arid desert conditions. However, when exactly climatic conditions were wetter is debated.
According to Judith Bunbury, a geoarchaeologist at the University of Cambridge, London, who was not involved in the new study, there could have been enough water for a system like the hydraulic lift. Bunbury pointed out previous research in which it was discovered that rainwater gutters were built and used in the Old Kingdom, as well as previous studies that analyzed the diet of birds of the time, which consisted of wetland species such as frogs.
“I think the belief is quite widespread that it was rainier in the Old Kingdom, especially at the beginning of the Old Kingdom, when the Step Pyramid was being built,” he added.
On the other hand, experts debate whether there was enough constant rainfall to fill the structures that would have supported the hydraulic lift, such as the “Dry Pit,” a giant canal surrounding the Step Pyramid and nearby structures, which the authors believe collected the water that helped power the elevator when it was in use.
According to Jeffreys, the Sahara’s greenest period most likely ended at the beginning of the third millennium BC. Low rainfall would not be able to fill the structures to the extent needed for a hydraulic lift and would also not be able to keep up with the rate of water loss within the structure’s limestone, added Dr. Fabian Welc, director of the Institute of Archaeology. from Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Poland. Welc was not involved in the new study.
“The climate became more humid (seasonal – winter rains) in northern Egypt (also in Saqqāra) during the 3rd Dynasty (2670-2613 BC), but its intensity was relatively low. These rains, even filling the wadis (a dry valley except in the rainy seasons) with water, would not have been able to fill the dry moat even to a small extent… these waters would have been immediately drained by gravity into the depths of the rock mass. , which there is no doubt about (unless it was a biblical flood),” Welc said in an email.
The study’s authors agreed that it is highly unlikely that the system was permanently filled with water and maintain that it is more likely that the flash floods of the time could have supplied enough water to support the hydraulic lift during the pyramid’s construction. However, the authors point out in the study that more research is still needed to know exactly how much rainfall and flooding probably occurred during this time.
It is not the first time that it has been investigated whether the Nile played a role in the construction of the pyramids. In a study published in May, a dry branch of the massive river was discovered and theorized that it was probably used to transport huge blocks of limestone to the construction sites of several pyramids. According to Jeffreys, there are also indications that the ancient Egyptians used hydraulics on a smaller scale.
Until now, researchers had not determined a clear purpose for the vertical axis within Djoser’s pyramid. Some later pyramids, such as the Great Pyramid of Giza, have shafts thought to have been used for ventilation, and it is possible that the inner shaft may also have been intended for lighting or to relieve pressure in the chamber below, he said. Jeffreys. But as the first of its kind, the step pyramid was an experimental structure believed to have started as a mastaba (a flat tomb) and was built, so it is unclear exactly what its internal features were intended for, he added.
The shaft inside the step pyramid is connected to a 200 meter long underground tunnel that connects to another vertical shaft outside the pyramid. The outer shaft could then connect to a hypothetical water transport section of the Dry Trench, known as the Deep Trench, but more research is needed, the authors wrote in the study.
The inner well begins directly below the pyramid, near the center, where there is a granite box with a plug at its base. This box is believed to be King Djoser’s burial chamber, but the authors suggest that it was built for the purpose of opening and closing the hydraulic lift, allowing water to fill the pit when in use.
As to whether other pyramids were built using this method, Landreau said more research is needed. “It may be the key to unlocking the mystery of how the largest monoliths, found in pyramids like Cheops or (Khephren). These monoliths weigh tens of tons, making it seem impossible to transport them using only (human labor). In contrast, a moderate-sized hydraulic lift can lift 50 to 100 tons. Exploring hidden wells within these pyramids could be a promising avenue for research,” he added.
Despite the more than 4,000-year-old mysteries surrounding the pyramids and their features, there is sufficient documentation that the ancient Egyptians used certain technologies such as scaffolding and adobe ramps to assist in the construction of various structures, explained the geoarchaeologist of the University of Cambridge Bunbury, while there is no documentation or renderings of a water-powered lifting device that she is aware of.
“I think people, even since ancient times, have been inspired by the pyramids as a giant construction project,” Bunbury said. “And they find it quite difficult to believe that they were built by ordinary people at that time, partly because they see it as something from a long time ago. … It’s disconcerting that there were so many proposals for what could be some kind of technological innovation that were then discarded, when we know they had technical solutions for these things anyway.”
“It doesn’t mean (the hydraulic lifting device) hasn’t been used,” he said. “But there is a kind of razor Occam “what is the simplest based on what we already know.”
