Ancient hydraulic elevator systems may have helped build pyramids

The ingenuity of ancient Egyptian engineers may have been even further back than we thought. A new study suggests that a currently unexplained ancient structure may have been part of a water purification system that fed a hydraulic elevator to lift massive stone blocks to build a pyramid.

From our vantage point thousands of years later, the specific steps of how the ancient wonders were built have been lost to time, leaving us with vast, mysterious monuments that we can’t always explain. Alien help is often suggested, but this explanation really doesn’t do justice to the ancient people, who had a much more advanced understanding of engineering and geometry than we can ever realize. New evidence suggests that the ancient Egyptians used a unique hydraulic lifting system to build their early pyramids.

The Step Pyramid of Djoser, built around 2680 BC, is the oldest surviving pyramid in Egypt and appears to have been a kind of practice study for many of the techniques used in later, larger structures. A few hundred metres away is a square enclosure called Gisr el-Mudir, the exact purpose of which has been unknown since its rediscovery around 200 years ago.

In the new study, the scientists suggest that Gisr al-Mudir was a check dam designed to retain water and sediment. The area around it shows signs of being a former floodplain, and Gisr al-Mudir appears to have been built directly across from the long-dried Abusir River.

As the water flowed from west to east, it would have first hit the west wall of the structure. Once over this wall, the water would have reached a large basin about 400 m (1,310 ft) wide. On the opposite side, the east wall would have reached a much lower elevation, and the water would have poured over this wall into another lake, which would then flow into a series of ditches and tanks around and below the Step Pyramid.

A drawing of the area around the Step Pyramid showing where water may have flowed at that time
A drawing of the area around the Step Pyramid showing where water may have flowed at that time

The team suggests that this system would not only have helped protect structures downstream from flooding, but would also have purified the water. A reservoir in front of the western wall would have held the denser gravel, while the basin created by Gisr el-Mudir would have allowed the coarser sand to settle to the bottom. Finally, the ditches and tanks are consistent with other ancient water purification techniques.

But it wasn’t just for drinking and farming; the team also found evidence that this water was used for something previously unheard of. The Step Pyramid contains a vertical shaft, approximately 28 m (92 ft) high, connected to the moat by a long pipe. The team hypothesizes that this shaft could be filled and emptied on demand, and that it was used to raise and lower a wooden float. Essentially, blocks of stone would have been brought from ground level and placed on top of the float, the shaft would be filled with water to raise the platform to the desired height, and workers would then remove the block and use it to build the pyramid.

After the Step Pyramid was built, this shaft was closed and left empty, while the moats could have continued to be used to purify water. The team says it's an intriguing idea, but more research is needed to better understand it.

A diagram showing how a hydraulic system might have helped the ancient Egyptians build the Step Pyramid of Djoser
A diagram showing how a hydraulic system might have helped the ancient Egyptians build the Step Pyramid of Djoser

“The collaboration between the newly established research institute Paleotechnic and several national laboratories (INRAE, University of Orléans) led to the invention of a dam, a water treatment plant and a hydraulic elevator that will make possible the construction of the Step Pyramid of Sakkara,” the authors said. “This work opens a new line of research for the scientific community: the use of hydraulic power to build the Egyptian pyramids.”

The research was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Source: PLOS via Scimex

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