Egyptian Pyramids are among the world's top tourist attractions, and the subject of both serious study and wild speculation. Credit: sxc.hu View full size image

Egypt's Great Pyramids at Giza are one of the world's most amazing achievements. Built during the reign of Cheops, around 2530 B.C., the largest pyramid towers nearly 500 feet (150 meters) high and covers 13 acres (5.2 hectares). They are among the world's top tourist attractions, and the subject of both serious study and wild speculation.
Many people, misled by mystery-mongering books , Web sites, and TV shows, believe that the pyramids are a classic unexplained mystery.

Among archaeologists, historians, and Egyptologists, however, there's no real mystery. The methods by which the pyramids were constructed are pretty well understood and documented, and have appeared in many places including Mark Lehner's book, The Complete Pyramids: Solving the Ancient Mysteries (Thames & Hudson, 1997).
Rocks were quarried from as far as 600 miles (960 kilometers) away in Aswan and transported to Giza, probably on rafts down the Nile during the rainy season. A level surface was prepared (again, using Nile floodwater for accuracy), and a causeway was built from the Nile toward Giza. The stones were pulled on sleds or over rolling logs near the pyramid, where stonemasons prepared the slabs. Once the four sides of the foundation of the pyramids were set, each successive layer was addedsmaller in area but higher off the ground.
There are several ways that the heavy blocks could have been added to the top. Side ramps made of either earth or wood could have been built along the sides of the pyramids, or the workers might have simply built an earthen ramp against one side and dragged the blocks up on logs. It was an incredible amount of work, and required tens of thousands of workers over decades.
Of course there are no photographs of the pyramid being built, and the engineers didn't leave detailed blueprints. Much of the evidence comes from archaeology, and there is about as much evidence for how the pyramids were built as there is for any other large-scale construction dating back 5,000 years.
The tombs of workers who constructed the pyramids were recently found, and Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass noted that they demonstrated that the pyramids were built by paid laborers instead of slaves. This debunks many of the wild theories by writers such as Erich von Daniken, who has written that the pyramids were not made by humans but instead by aliens. 

The idea that ancient peoples were not intelligent enough to build the pyramids is an insult, as the pyramid shape is one of the most obvious, basic and stable forms of construction there is. If you wanted to build something large in ancient times that would last for millennia, a pyramid would actually be the easiest and best design.
The only real mystery surrounding the pyramids is why people still believe their origin is a mystery
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The pyramids were constructed as tombs for kings and queens, as parts of funerary complexes, where there would also be shrines and temples. The priests would summon the spirits of the deceased royalty and make offerings to ensure their immortality would be realized.

Many pyramids were built between 2700 and 1640 BC and there are still plenty surviving today, although many were reduced to rubble.

An architect with the name of Imhotep was the first master pyramid builder. He began by making a tomb in the shape of a mastaba, which is a long, flat, rectangular building, made of sun-baked mud bricks. The walls stood about 12 feet high.

Imhotep used stone to build with and kept adding to the tomb until he had made a six layered, stepped pyramid, which stood 200 feet high. This was the Step Pyramid and Saggara, the first Egyptian monument to be made completely from hewn stone.

Imhotep was greatly respected and worshipped, after his death, as a god. His incredible achievement is still standing today at Memphis, south of Cairo.

Between 2600 and 2500 BC, the time of the fourth dynasty, the Egyptians had honed their great architectural abilities to allow them to build the most famous and spectacular pyramids, the ones at Giza.

These pyramids, known as Mycerinus, Khufu and Khafre, were of a true pyramidal form and originally were built with smooth, white, limestone faces. They went on to become one of the Seven Wonders of the World because of the awe they inspired.

The biggest Egyptian pyramid at Giza, built for and named after the pharaoh Khufu, is 481 feet tall. It contains about two and a half million stone blocks and the average weight of the blocks is two and a half tons. Some weight up to fifteen tons. 

Most of the stone used to build these monuments was quarried limestone. A much harder stone, granite, was also used for building the internal passages and burial chambers. This was brought a distance of over five hundred miles by river from the quarries in Aswan, in the south. Ramps were then used to drag the stones into place.

The later Egyptian pyramids of Mycerinus (204 feet high) and Khafre (471 feet) stand next to Khufu.

Within the Khafre funerary complex is also the famous limestone statue of the Sphinx, which is the biggest and oldest image of a man-headed lion.

The Sphinx is a lot smaller than the huge pyramids but is still large. It stands 66 feet high and is 240 feet long. The statue was meant to represent a divine guardian and its head is thought to be Khafre himself.

There is an inscribed granite slab between the paws of the Sphinx. This slab describes a dream which a prince called Tuthmosis had while resting in its shade during a hunt for gazelle.

He dreamt the Sphinx approached him and promised him the whole kingdom if he would clear the sand from his body which made breathing very hard. Tuthmosis did this to oblige the Sphinx and even ordered the construction of mud brick walls around the monument to discourage further encroachment.

That the Sphinx kept his word is demonstrated by the 3000 year old slab placed by Tuthmosis IV, who was the new pharaoh of the land.

Why were the Pyramids built?

© Photo copyright Larry Orcutt

In about 450 B.C. the ancient historian Herodotus reported that there were underground chambers beneath the Great Pyramid at Giza. "These chambers," he wrote, "King Cheops [Khufu] made as burial chambers for himself ..." (History, 2:124). Diodorus (c.80-20 B.C.) added more detail:

And though the two kings [i.e. Khufu and Khafre] built the pyramids to serve as their tombs, in the event neither of them was buried in them; for the multitudes, because of the hardships which they had endured in the building of them and the many cruel and violent acts of these kings, were filled with anger against those who had caused their sufferings and openly threatened to tear their bodies asunder and cast them in despite out of their tombs. Consequently each ruler when dying enjoined upon his kinsmen to bury his body secretly in an unmarked place. [Library of History, 1:64]

Strabo also wrote that the pyramids served as "tombs of kings" (Geography, 17.1.33). After the Arab conquest, knowledge that royal burials were accompanied by a wealth of gold and jewels motivated treasure-hunters to invade the pyramids using any measure necessary. Apocryphal tales of pyramid riches abound, such as Masoudi's description of early plunderers of the Great Pyramid: "They also discovered, in a large hall, a quantity of golden coins put up in columns, every piece of which was of the weight of 1,000 dinars [c. 9 lbs. or 4 kg.]. They tried to take the money, but were unable to move it." (In Vyse, Operations Carried On at the Pyramids of Gizeh in 1837, Vol. II, p. 329)
Most Egyptologists also believe that the pyramids were meant to serve as tombs for the pharaohs. There are many reasons why they hold this to be true. One is that the pyramid structure represents just one point in the long continuum of the evolution of tomb design. Long before dynastic kings ruled Egypt, tombs were little more than open pit graves. In time, modifications were made. The pit was lined with crude brick and roofed with wood, and the number of chambers increased. The tomb was surmounted by a modest superstructure: a mound of gravel with an outer layer of mud, probably in imitation of the Primal Mound, the epitome of creation and regeneration. By the 2nd Dynasty, brick corbel roofs had been introduced as building technique advanced. Such a roof took the appearance of a dome or vault. At this time, the "mastaba" superstructure (so called because of its bench-like shape) was common. These were rectangular in plan, with flat roofs and walls that slope outward to the ground. By the end of the 2nd Dynasty, royal tombs were subterranean chambers cut deeply into the stone, accessed by stairways, with mastaba structures above them. The 3rd Dynasty saw the true pyramid-shaped superstructure take form, first as a stepped pyramid (successive tiers of mastabas built upon one another and descending in size to the top; see photo above) and then as a true pyramid with smooth sides. The "Pyramid Age" reached its apex at the beginning of the 4th Dynasty with the construction of the pyramids at Dashur and Giza, but by the end of that dynasty, pyramids had become smaller until its last pharaoh, Shepseskaf, reverted to the mastaba shape for his tomb. Though pyramids would again be built in the 5th Dynasty, they would be of inferior quality and materials. Pyramid tombs remained popular through the 13th Dynasty, though none would rival those of the Pyramid Age in size or endurance. By the 18th Dynasty and on, following several pyramid revivals, royal tombs had largely become underground tombs with no superstructure.
The pyramid did not exist as an isolated structure. It represented only one element, though a primary one, of the pyramid complex. Other elements commonly included a satellite pyramid, other small pyramids for queens, a mortuary temple, a valley temple, and a causeway between them, and also offering shrines, funerary boat pits, and mastaba tombs for other family members and nobles. The main complex was surrounded by a temenos wall and was frequently a part of a larger necropolis, or "city of the dead." Thus, its location was another indication that the pyramid was intended as a tomb.
In the 5th Dynasty, beginning with perhaps Unas, the walls of pyramid chambers were decorated with the Pyramid Texts, a collection of utterances that served as spells with certain functions for the dead (such as protection from harm, various rituals performed at the royal funeral, etc.) These text would later become the Coffin Texts and finally the Book of the Dead that was placed with the deceased. The purpose of these utterances, wrote W. Stevenson Smith, were "to aid the king in the transition between his earthly functions and the position which he was to assume amongst the gods after death." (The Art and Architecture of Ancient Egypt, p. 440 n. 31). Such texts are clear indications of the pyramid's funerary function. Smith added that "the function of the pyramid temple, on the basis of its architecture, wall reliefs, statuary, and relevant inscriptions, is the promotion of the corporeal afterlife of the dead king through the funerary cult, his continued victories over his enemies in the hereafter, the continuance of his kingship, and his deification, all achieved through the building and decoration programme of the pyramid complex." (P. 440, n. 31)
Another reason why Egyptologists believe that pyramids were tombs is because the ancient Egyptian record explicitly states as much. For example, the Papyrus Abbott describes the inspection of "sepulchers of former kings" under Ramesses IX. The pyramid of 17th Dynasty Sobekemsaf II was inspected:

It was found, that the thieves had broken into it by mining work through the base of its pyramid, from the outer chamber of the tomb of the overseer of the granary of King Menkheperre (Thutmose III), L.P.H., Nebamon. The burial-place of the king was found void of its lord, L.P.H., as well as the burial-place of the great king's-wife, Nubkhas, L.P.H., his royal wife; the thieves having laid their hand upon them. The vizier, the nobles, and the inspectors made an examination of it, and the manner in which the thieves had laid their hands upon this king and his royal wife, was ascertained. [Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, IV.517]

Much has been made of the fact that of all the pyramids of Egypt that have ever been explored, never once has the mummy of a pharaoh been found within. Mummy parts have been found in pyramids. Such discoveries include part of a mummified foot in the pyramid of Djoser; a right arm, skull fragments, and various other bones in the pyramid of Unas; an arm and shoulder in the pyramid of Teti; fragments of a mummy in the pyramid of Pepi I; mummy wrappings in the pyramid of Pepy II, and charred bones in the pyramid of Amenemhet III. In the center satellite pyramid of Menkaure, Perring and Vyse found a skeleton of a young woman in the sarcophagus within. They also found, in the main pyramid, part of a wooden coffin believed to be Menkaure's along with some mummy fragments. But never has an extant mummy been found in any pyramid, nor have any parts of a mummy been identified with certainty as those of a king. Critics of the pyramid-as-tomb theory claim that such mummy parts, rather than being detritus left after the robbers hacked away the mummies for jewels and gold, represent parts left from intrusive burials made long after the pyramid was built. Burials of this type are common in areas and tombs around the various pyramids.
The absence of mummies has invited all manner of odd theories about the pyramids' function. It has been claimed that they served as power plants, water pumps, astronomical observatories, sources of ill-defined "pyramid power" energy vortices, guidance beacons for alien spacecraft, and sites of mystery initiation ceremonies. In order to hold such a view, however, it is necessary to ignore the provenance of the pyramid and its place in the context of the overall pyramid complex and necropolis.
"To suppose that the pyramid's only function in ancient Egypt was as a royal tomb," wrote Miroslav Verner, "would be an oversimplification." (The Pyramids, p. 45) Alexander Badawy observed that "The main incentive in the evolution of the tomb was the fear from plunderers." (A History of Egyptian Architecture, p. 37) It is notable that some kings had more than one tomb; indeed, some had more than one pyramid. Amenemhet III, for example, had two pyramids built for himself, one at Dahshur (containing his granite sarcophagus) and one at Hawara (containing his quartzite sarcophagus). There is a type of tomb called a cenotaph (from the Greek kenotaphion, or literally, "empty tomb"), a symbolic false tomb never intended to be a repository for the king's actual material body. The cenotaph served every function as a real tomb, and also provided an additional location for the perpetuity of the king's funerary cult. Taking all these factors into consideration, one might be tempted to conclude that, if the pyramids were not meant to be the literal tombs of the pharaohs, they were meant to be cenotaphs, and the king's mummy was buried elsewhere.
In any case, that the pyramids were tombs is clear, and to deny this observation is to ignore a substantial body of corroborating evidence.
Catchpenny Mysteries © copyright 2000 by Larry Orcutt.