The Pyramids at Giza Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

The Pyramids at Giza - Research Paper Example Despite the closer locale of the building materials, the construction of the Great Pyramid and the other pyramids located in and around the Giza plain indicate a level of mechanical knowledge unequaled in their time and suggest a level of creativity not typically associated with the ancients.   Some of the other materials used in the pyramids were pre-existing on the site as the base of the Great Pyramid is a natural rock outcropping and several chambers are filled with sand.   However, there is also some truth to the concept that rock was brought in from elsewhere.   â€Å"The fine white limestone came from Tura, about 8 miles away on the other side of the Nile.   The granite came from quarries at Aswan, around 600 miles upstream. In some of these sites, there are clear marks left in the rock.† One of the amazing aspects of the pyramids is the precision with which they’re built and the crude tools with which the Bronze Age Egyptians had to work.   â€Å"The most plausible answer is that the Egyptians, who lacked tackle and pulley for lifting heavy weights, employed a sloping embankment of brick, earth, and sand, which was increased in height and in length as the pyramid rose and up which the stone blocks were hauled by means of sleds, rollers, and levers.† While it has been widely believed that the construction of the pyramid was carried out by slaves, Andrew Millmore indicates that this is not true.   â€Å"One hundred thousand people worked on it for three months of each year.   This was the time of the Nile’s annual flood which made it impossible to farm the land and most of the population was unemployed.† A great deal of information about the workers themselves has been provided through excavation and study of the worker’s village found near the pyramid site in 1999.   â€Å"We do know much more about the work activities, particularly at Giza, than ever before.   Archaeologists have carefully studied the worker’s villages, the craft shops, the bakeries, and other related structures.