Answers to the 3 greatest mysteries of the Pyramids of Giza

During the Fourth Dynasty, around 2600 BCE, Pharaoh Khufu, who reigned from approximately 2589 to 2566 BCE, ordered the construction of a tomb that would surpass anything built before him.

Known as the Great Pyramid, it originally stood 146.6 metres high and contained approximately 2.3 million limestone blocks, each of which weighed an average of 2.5 tonnes. Its base measured 230.4 metres on each side.

Over several decades, this single monument helped trigger the gradual development of a very large ceremonial and funerary zone that developed around the pyramids.

Shortly after Khufu’s death, Khafre (c. 2558–2532 BCE) built a slightly smaller pyramid nearby, on higher ground, along with the Great Sphinx and a fully integrated temple centre.

Menkaure (c. 2532–2503 BCE) added a third pyramid to the group, smaller in scale but partially finished with granite facing stones on the lower courses. 

Altogether, the site gradually expanded into what can be described as a large royal necropolis.

Nearby, smaller pyramids housed Khufu’s queens, while mastaba tombs held the bodies of high officials, priests, and craftsmen.

The causeways that connected the pyramids to their valley temples reached toward the Nile, and this connection anchored the sacred spaces to the river and its trade routes.

As Giza became the dynastic burial ground of the Fourth Dynasty, the surrounding region gradually developed into what was effectively a ceremonial centre that drew resources from across Egypt. 

Over the next thousand years, the site had kept its importance. During the Eighteenth Dynasty, New Kingdom officials made religious journeys to Giza, and they recorded their visits in graffiti carved inside the monuments.

Their presence strongly suggests that, even then, the pyramids had already become objects of historical interest.

Much later, Greek writers such as Herodotus travelled to the site and described what they saw.

However, their accounts often relied heavily on local stories, some of which contained exaggerations or speculation, as Egyptian priestly knowledge had broken apart over time.

Roman visitors, one of whom was Emperor Hadrian, had appeared among the graffiti carved into the stone by those who toured the site.

In spite of looting, erosion, and shifting religious beliefs, the pyramids continued to dominate both the physical setting and cultural life of the Nile Valley.

For many centuries, writers had assumed that slaves built the pyramids under cruel and inhuman conditions.

However, excavations near the plateau have disproved this idea. Evidence from the workers’ village at Heit el-Ghurab included dormitories, bakeries, copper workshops, and cemeteries, which strongly suggested that it was a planned settlement for a large, rotating labour force.

Archaeologists also uncovered thousands of animal bones, such as those from cattle and sheep, which suggested that workers regularly received meat rations.

Bread and beer seem to have been staples of their diet, while inscriptions recorded their team names and official assignments. 

Importantly, the builders came from across Egypt and worked on the pyramids for limited periods.

Most likely, they worked under a system of labour taxation during the annual Nile inundation, when farmers could not tend their fields.

Each team typically included stonecutters, haulers, masons, and toolmakers, supported by record keepers and other officials who recorded deliveries and food consumption, along with work quotas.

Crew names such as a group whose name can be translated as “Persevering Gang of Khufu,” along with “Friends of Khufu” and others, appear on stone blocks and quarry marks, which suggests pride and team spirit among the workforce.

Scholars estimate that the workforce may have numbered between 10,000 and 30,000 during peak construction periods. 

This interpretation is supported by several high-status tombs near Khufu’s pyramid, which belonged to officials who oversaw construction.

One of them was Hemiunu, and he held the title of “Overseer of All Construction Projects of the King,” and his large mastaba contained reliefs of engineering tools and architectural plans.

Elsewhere, the discovery of the Wadi el-Jarf papyri near the Red Sea uncovered administrative records written by an official named Merer.

These papyri had been written in Year 27 of Khufu’s reign and were uncovered by Pierre Tallet’s team in 2013, and they described how crews transported limestone from Tura by boat and unloaded it near the Giza harbour.

His detailed logs of timing and crew movements together with stone deliveries provided the first record written at the time that described pyramid construction activities.

Altogether, the evidence strongly points to a project that was directed by the royal government and staffed by Egyptians who laboured for short stints under state control and religious motivation.

No single blueprint survives from the Fourth Dynasty that explains the full method of pyramid construction.

Even so, archaeological discoveries and engineering models have helped explain how the builders completed such very large tasks.

At the Giza Plateau, workers quarried limestone on site for the bulk of the pyramid, while the fine casing stones came from the quarries at Tura.

To transport the stones, they relied on boats to move materials during the flood season, and they used wooden sledges once on land.

Reliefs from Old Kingdom tombs show men who dragged heavy statues on sledges over wetted sand, which reduced friction and allowed smoother movement. 

Next, the challenge became raising the blocks to increasing heights. Scholars have proposed various ramp systems to explain this.

A straight ramp at the front may have led directly up one face of the pyramid in the early stages.

However, as the structure grew taller, a zig-zagging or spiral ramp may have allowed continued access.

Some researchers, including French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin, argue for a hidden internal ramp built into the body of the pyramid itself.

In each case, blocks would have been dragged upward by teams who used ropes and wooden rollers together with simple levers.

Significantly, the accuracy of the pyramid’s alignment with true north, within a fraction of a degree, required astronomical observations.

One theory suggests that architects used stars such as Mizar and Kochab in the night sky to orient the base.

Once construction began, masons maintained consistent angles and dimensions by using plumb bobs and levels and by following carefully established sight lines.

Within the pyramid, the builders formed chambers such as the Grand Gallery and the King’s Chamber with massive granite blocks that were brought from Aswan.

To relieve pressure on these rooms, they inserted layers of corbelled ceilings and support beams, which showed that they understood how to spread out weight in the structure.

Later, archaeologists discovered unfinished pyramid sites and tool marks left in the bedrock, which gave historians clues about which physical techniques they had used.

Chisel marks, dolerite hammerstones, and copper saw blades showed that the materials were worked with tools that were available in the period.

Copper chisels had to be frequently re-annealed to retain their cutting edge when working limestone or granite.

Historians have examined the evidence left behind, such as survey lines, discarded tools, damaged blocks, and worker graffiti, and have reconstructed a likely system of labour and transport combined with architectural knowledge that made the pyramids possible.

According to Old Kingdom religious beliefs, the pharaoh held a sacred role as the go-between for gods and humans.

At death, his soul needed to ascend to the heavens and join the company of the gods, particularly Ra.

The pyramid form represented both the sun’s rays and the primordial mound that, according to Egyptian belief, came into existence at creation.

Its upward-sloping sides allowed the king’s ka and ba to rise to the sky, continuing his power in eternity.

The layout of the pyramid site showed this sacred purpose. Each pyramid was flanked by a mortuary temple where priests conducted daily offerings, and a causeway that connected it to a valley temple, where the embalming and burial rituals began. 

Daily offerings of food, drink, incense, and chants were believed to keep the king spiritually nourished, and royal grants provided land and labourers along with other resources for these rituals, while temple priests managed the flow of offerings.

Hieroglyphic inscriptions from later tombs list the names of specific priests and the offerings they delivered, which confirms that these rites were genuine and ongoing.

Officials and relatives who buried themselves near the pyramid hoped to benefit from the king’s eternal presence.

Pyramid Texts, among the oldest known religious writings, later appeared in Fifth and Sixth Dynasty pyramids.

Although they do not appear at Giza, they likely drew on theological traditions developed during the Fourth Dynasty.

To protect the burial chamber, builders created a network of false passageways and sliding granite blocks combined with heavy sealing stones.

The King's Chamber in Khufu’s pyramid was constructed with granite beams that weighed over 50 tonnes and sat deep within the pyramid and was sealed by large granite blocks.

A series of five relieving chambers above the burial chamber distributed the weight, rather than using a portcullis system.

Despite these efforts, most royal tombs had been looted by the end of the First Intermediate Period, when political break-up made such sites vulnerable.

Later pharaohs of the New Kingdom abandoned pyramid construction and instead built hidden tombs in the Valley of the Kings.

Nevertheless, the symbolism of the pyramid continued to be important, and later funerary architecture often echoed pyramid forms in miniature. 

At the political level, the pyramids likely helped strengthen the pharaoh’s control over the Egyptian state.

Their construction required central planning and large use of resources, supported by coordination across hundreds of kilometres.

The practical work of feeding the labour force, which required thousands of loaves of bread and jugs of beer each day, added to the project’s complexity.

The king’s ability to order such projects, feed thousands of workers, and organise shipping fleets would have demonstrated his supremacy.

The very act of pyramid-building displayed royal authority over death as well as over the land and the people under a sacred cosmic order recognised in Egyptian religion.