Hidden ramp “may explain secret of how Great Pyramid was built”

The ramp was found at Hatnub by researchers from the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo

 

It’s a question which has perplexed architects, scientists and conspiracy theorists alike – how was the Great Pyramid built?

But we may be one step closer to understanding how people moved the huge blocks of the Great Pyramid, which was finished in around 2560BC, after a construction lasting 20 years.

A 4,500-year-old ramp system unearthed in a quarry in the Eastern Desert seems to have been built to drag huge alabaster stones up a ramp, using sleds and rope, Live Science reports.

The ramp was found at Hatnub by researchers from the French Institute for Oriental Archaeology in Cairo – and has two staircases lined with post holes.

Co-director of the project Yannis Gourdon says, ‘‘This system is composed of a central ramp flanked by two staircases with numerous post holes.’

‘Using a sled which carried a stone block and was attached with ropes to these wooden posts, ancient Egyptians were able to pull up the alabaster blocks out of the quarry on very steep slopes of 20 percent or more.’

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