There has long been speculation about how the pyramids of Egypt were constructed. While there may be no single answer to this question, a new study provides evidence to suggest that at least one of Egypt’s ancient pyramids was built using a special type of hydraulic lift system.
New Thoughts on Djoser Construction
The structure that is claimed to have been constructed using hydraulics is the steppe Pyramid of Djoser, which is the oldest standing pyramid found in Egypt. It was constructed around 2,680 BC on the orders of the pharaoh Djoser, who ruled during the Third Dynasty of Egypt’s Old Kingdom period.
Included as part of a larger assembly of temples and other sacred spaces, this structure is just under 200 feet (60 meters) tall and was erected around four miles (six kilometers) west of the River Nile. The Pyramid of Djoser is located on the Saqqara Plateau approximately nine miles (15 kilometers) south of Giza, where the Great Pyramids of Egypt were constructed starting about a century after Djoser’s monument was completed.
The Step Pyramid of Djoser is open to the public for interior exploration. (Left; Alicia McDermott, Right; Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
In their paper, a team of French engineers, hydrologists, and material scientists led by Xavier Landreau from the CEA Paleotechnic Institute detail the results of their research, which relied on data obtained from satellite radar imagery and the reports of the dozens of archaeologists who’ve explored Egypt’s most ancient pyramid over the last 100-plus years. The study authors have released their paper on Research Gate, and it is due to be published on PLOS ONE, after certain amendments.
Looking closely at the images and reading through the various reports, they concluded that there was a complex water management system in the area 4,700 years ago, and that it might very well have included a hydraulic lift system that could have been used to float heavy limestone blocks to relatively great heights.
The researchers believe this lift system was located at the center of the Pyramid of Djoser, which would have allowed the builders to float the blocks straight upward before lowering them into place on the steppe pyramid’s face. The blocks would have been raised on rafts confined within shafts that held the water in place as its level rose, lifting the stone building pieces as high as they needed to go before being removed.
What became the ‘burial chamber’, with a huge granite shaft above, was actually constructed way before the age of the remains that were found there, according to radiocarbon dating done in 1994, notes Haaretz. The researchers theorize that it could have originally been used as an elevator shaft, with water used to float a wooden lift.
Looking down at the burial chamber and sarcophagus inside the Djoser pyramid. (Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities)
A Dam in the Desert, and What it Means
What motivated the researchers to draw this remarkable conclusion was the presence of an unusual rectangular stone enclosure found just to the west of the Pyramid of Djoser and the surrounding building complex. Known as Gisr el-Mudir, this huge stone edifice is almost 1.25 miles (two kilometers) long, and is known to have been constructed before any other buildings were erected at the site.
Position of Gisr el Mudir in relation to the Djoser Step Pyramid. (Landreau, X et al./ResearchGate)
In the past, archaeologists were convinced this enclosure had been used to keep cattle, or possibly to function as a protective fortress during times of warfare or invasion. But according to Landreau and his team, this is not correct.
What the satellite imagery shows, they claim, is that the enclosure intentionally intersects the dry bed of the Abusir Wadi, an ancient stream that once flowed from the mountains to the west down to the Saqqara Plateau before ultimately feeding into the Nile. This means Gisr el-Mudir would have been filled with water anytime the Abusir Wadi overflowed its banks, seemingly proving that the enclosure is actually what is known in modern terminology as a “check dam.”
When the flow of the Abusir Wadi was especially heavy, the enclosure would have prevented flooding and captured heavy sediments like boulders and trees that might have crashed into monuments and settlements located downstream.
“Anyone familiar with the hydraulic field, even a first-year student, would recognize the profile of a check dam,” Landreau stated in an interview with Haaretz.
If the French researchers are right, the check dam would have been part of a much larger water management system located on the Saqqara Plateau. Their study of the area identified a series of compartments dug into the ground around the perimeter of the Pyramid of Djoser, which they believe might have been incorporated into a water treatment facility. Water would have been directed to flow through these compartments in sequence, filtering out the sediment and purifying the water in the process.
Infographic of the proposed water management system at the Djoser Complex. (Landreau, X et al./ResearchGate)
From here, the researchers speculate, some of the water could have been directed to flow into the pyramid shafts, feeding the hydraulic lift system that made it possible to construct a towering monument at that site.
The researchers note that conditions were right 4,700 years ago to support a vigorous water management system. The Third Dynasty ruled during the final part of the Green Sahara period, when parts of what are now desert in northern Africa were covered with lush foliage supported by adequate levels of rainfall.
While the region had begun to dry out, there was still a lot more water in the region than there is today. In fact there was enough for the Abusir Valley to experience violent floods, which would have called on settlers in the region to develop a water management system to control the unpredictable flow of the Abusir Wadi.
“Before the Fourth Dynasty it is likely that there were more problems with floods than with lack of water,” Landreau stated.
The Elusive Secrets of the Pyramid Builders Finally Revealed?
The authors of the new study concede that more onsite research will be required, to recreate exactly how water might have flowed through the pyramid shafts and how it might have been directed to lift heavy limestone blocks. They also say it will be necessary to study the history of the now-dry stream known as the Abusir Wadi, to confirm that it did indeed have enough water flow to make their theory viable.
Nevertheless, given the apparent availability of a complex water management system at the site, they believe their hypothesis of how the Djoser Pyramid was constructed currently stands on solid ground.
Top image: The Djoser pyramid during its restoration. Source: bernd_fuelle /Adobe Stock
By Nathan Falde