Mystery Solved: How The Egyptians Moved Pyramid Stones; The Answer Right In Front Of Us All Along

Have you ever wondered how the Ancient Egyptians managed to move those massive statues and pyramid stones weighing 2.5 tons on large sleds across the desert – without any modern mechanical device?

It turns out the secret is plain and clear- literally! According to new research, the Egyptians added a small amount of water to sand, which significantly reduced the sliding friction — a clever trick that allowed the Egyptians to cut the number of workers needed by half.

more…

CrazyNeutrino said:

Mystery Solved: How The Egyptians Moved Pyramid Stones; The Answer Right In Front Of Us All Along

Have you ever wondered how the Ancient Egyptians managed to move those massive statues and pyramid stones weighing 2.5 tons on large sleds across the desert – without any modern mechanical device?

It turns out the secret is plain and clear- literally! According to new research, the Egyptians added a small amount of water to sand, which significantly reduced the sliding friction — a clever trick that allowed the Egyptians to cut the number of workers needed by half.

more…

That is daft and no doubt thought up by someone with little experience of wetting dry sand to the consistency required. It would require vast amounts of water, plus take a considerable amount of time to soak in. More likely at the bottom left where you have the water carriers, just behind them are people carrying what looks to be a wooden beam. If two or more of those were placed in front of the load with the teeth facing backward for stability, then a much smaller amount of water poured over these wooden tracks, would reduce the friction as it was pulled over them.

PermeateFree said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

Mystery Solved: How The Egyptians Moved Pyramid Stones; The Answer Right In Front Of Us All Along

Have you ever wondered how the Ancient Egyptians managed to move those massive statues and pyramid stones weighing 2.5 tons on large sleds across the desert – without any modern mechanical device?

It turns out the secret is plain and clear- literally! According to new research, the Egyptians added a small amount of water to sand, which significantly reduced the sliding friction — a clever trick that allowed the Egyptians to cut the number of workers needed by half.

more…

That is daft and no doubt thought up by someone with little experience of wetting dry sand to the consistency required. It would require vast amounts of water, plus take a considerable amount of time to soak in. More likely at the bottom left where you have the water carriers, just behind them are people carrying what looks to be a wooden beam. If two or more of those were placed in front of the load with the teeth facing backward for stability, then a much smaller amount of water poured over these wooden tracks, would reduce the friction as it was pulled over them.

Correction: The teeth on the beam would need to face forward to stop the beam moving forward as the sled slid over them.

Old news

Some old man proposed a mud slurry mix to move stones, better than sand

PermeateFree said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

Mystery Solved: How The Egyptians Moved Pyramid Stones; The Answer Right In Front Of Us All Along

Have you ever wondered how the Ancient Egyptians managed to move those massive statues and pyramid stones weighing 2.5 tons on large sleds across the desert – without any modern mechanical device?

It turns out the secret is plain and clear- literally! According to new research, the Egyptians added a small amount of water to sand, which significantly reduced the sliding friction — a clever trick that allowed the Egyptians to cut the number of workers needed by half.

more…

That is daft and no doubt thought up by someone with little experience of wetting dry sand to the consistency required. It would require vast amounts of water, plus take a considerable amount of time to soak in. More likely at the bottom left where you have the water carriers, just behind them are people carrying what looks to be a wooden beam. If two or more of those were placed in front of the load with the teeth facing backward for stability, then a much smaller amount of water poured over these wooden tracks, would reduce the friction as it was pulled over them.

> It would require vast amounts of water

Agree. Last I heard it was thought that they floated the stones in from the Nile. We know that ancient Egypt had a much larger rainfall than it has today, as evidenced by observations of water erosion. The drying of the area north of the Sahara is still continuing and is now starting to affect the southern Alps.