Exploring Ancient Mysteries - Assignment Example

Exploring Ancient Mysteries: Pyramids at Giza Exploring Ancient Mysteries: Pyramids at Giza It has been observed to be almost impossible to construct a structure 30 feet high without the aid of modern machinery. Thus unanswered questions have been asked concerning how ancient people, especially the Egyptians, managed to supersede these obstacles. It is a mystery how the ancient people of Egypt constructed the pyramids at Giza of astonishingly great size without the intervention of the modern technology.

With regard to this, theories have been raised in the pursuit to explain the purpose of and how these megastructures were constructed. A theory by Mark Lehner explains how the pyramids at Giza were constructed. This is referred to as the theory of Tafla (Lacovara, 2004). The characteristics of Tafla to a significant extent make the Tafla Theory logical. Without the intervention of machinery, the pyramids could have been built using the clay which is slippery when wet and relatively very strong when dry (Lacovara, 2004).

The theory suggests that Tafla could have been used to move two ton blocks with ease. Thus, in the construction of the pyramids, a huge crew could have managed to move two ton blocks up the side of pyramids made of Tafla ramp. It could be easy to shape the corners of the pyramids by swinging a pole placed at each corner of the pyramids. Alternatively, due to the massiveness of the pyramids, they may have been built founded on four ramps originating from each corner of the pyramids (Lacovara, 2004).

In a lesser scale, the NOVA experiment has been used to display the construction of the pyramids with regard to the Tafla theory (Lacovara, 2004). Another account regarding the mystery of the erection of the pyramids at Giza is by a Greek historian, Herodotus. Herodotus says that the construction of such massive monuments required a profoundly large crew to provide labour (Petrie, 2003). Cheops and Chephren, with their great oppression to their subjects, managed to the labor providers using power.

The financing of the labour and all the other requirements of the completion of the construction of the pyramids also came from their subjects. Since ruling was hereditary in Egypt, oppression of subjects probably never changed from Cheops regime to Chephren’s. One hundred thousand laborers worked in either the eastern or the Arabian Desert as well as ferried the stones mined to the western side for three months at a time (Petrie, 2003). Beside this activity, there was also the construction of the cause way and the subterranean chambers in the preparation for the actual construction of the pyramid and it extended to a period of ten years (Quibell, 1910).

Afterwards the construction of the pyramid followed and extended for a period of twenty years. Skilled workmen earned permanently employment of specialized areas such as dressing the fine stones, raising the stones to their places as well as constructing and decorating the temple. Stone and limestone were mined not so far away from the pyramids construction sites and Herodotus has observed these places to be Batnel Baqara and Moqattam Hills consecutively (Petrie, 2003). Granite was mined from Aswan which is also close to the construction site.

Herodotus theory is significantly logical. Considering the nearness to the truth that he gets in describing the activities which were involved with association to the time, materials and workmen required, it is most probable that the construction took place this way. For instance, there are three months during which there is no farming work in the fields in high Nile and strategically this is the three months that laborers worked in the quarries and the pyramid constructions (Petrie, 2003). Secondly, permanent workers must have contributed to the success in the construction of the complex pyramids with precision.

Evidently, workmen’s barracks with a capacity big enough to accommodate approximately five thousand people are located near the second pyramid at Giza (Petrie, 2003). ReferencesLacovara, P. (2004). The pyramids, the Sphinx: Tombs and temples of Giza. Boston: Bunker Hill.Petrie, W. M. (2003). Pyramids and temples of Gizeh. London: Kegan Paul.Quibell, A. A. (1910). The pyramids of Giza. Cairo: C.M.S. Bookshop.