Pyramids – Building for Eternity

• The idea of monuments or key structures as reflections of a civilization and its values

• Notions that the Egyptians also constructed other important structures – obelisks and the temple at Luxor, for example

• Monuments that reflect the human spirit of the people who built them

Key Questions Include:

• Who Built the Pyramids?

• Where was the material used in construction obtained?

• Matters of distance measurement, alignment, and geometry

• How were the blocks moved?

• Specific construction techniques and internal passageways

Ancient Egypt Timeline

• 5200 B.C. – Predynastic period begins: Small bands of hunter –gatherers roam the Nile river

• 4600 B.C. – Farming takes over form hunting fishing along the Nile• 3200 B.C. -- Separate political units crystallize – districts called

nomes begin to join forces• 3000 B.C. – Memphis emerges as a capital of unified Egypt• 2800 B.C. – Age of the Pyramids• 2400 B.C. – Pharaohs begin calling themselves “Son of Re” and

build elaborate temples• 2000 B.C. – powerful monarchs undertake large irrigation projects

and build fortresses in the South• 1200 B.C. – Egypt sinks into decline

Typically at Giza, 2.3 million stones, some blocks weighing as

much as 9 tons

Who built the Pyramids?

antennae between which a solitron

field (or "vortex") levitated pyramid stones.

The face on Mars(Viking 1 Orbiter).

How were the blocks moved?

• Mud Ramps with wooden rollers?

• Levers?

• Poured in place?