Er wordt redelijk wat over gezegd in het artikel dat CvE aanhaalde:
People say that since we wouldnt be able to build pyramids today, that the Egyptians couldnt have done it, but its not just building of the pyramids that couldnt be replicated today. Its hard to imagine ever being able to pull together the resources, power, money, skilled craftsmen, and architects needed to build one of the great gothic cathedrals in this day and age. It just couldnt happen. This isnt something to be ashamed of though, we simply use different technologies and have different priorities these days. While we couldnt build another Notre Dame Cathedral or Great Pyramid, modern structures like the Eiffel Tower or the Gherkin wouldnt have been possible back then either. Pyramids were possible simply because the entire economy, resources, and population of the Egyptian civilization was under the control of a single omnipotent ruler, who could mobilize them all into a monumental building project.
While, yes, the pyramids would have been incredibly difficult to build and required incredible expertise, they are not miracle structures. People seem to think that youd practically need magic to build them! Theyre amazing feats of engineering, but theyre certainly not inconceivable as human creations.
And the suggestion of lifting the entire weight of the blocks with cranes would probably actually be more difficult than the Egyptian approach, which was to drag the stones over wooden rollers or slippery mud lined surfaces.
But then why dont we build pyramids?
Again, misinformation makes people assume that since we arent building pyramids ourselves, the Egyptians couldnt possibly have. As one person states: How about the fact that a group of modern scientists attempted to build a pyramid out next to the real one using modern technologies, and after something like 100 days, succeeded in building one about 1/40 of the size of the real one????
Well, again a classic example of wilful ignorance. Im sure there have been a number of experiments like these, but the major one that Im aware of, the NOVA pyramid-building experiment took 40 days to build a pyramid measuring 20ft high. However, they attempted to use mainly ancient technologies, they only had a team of 44 workmen, a short time period, and a total lack of experience in pyramid building. And it was just an experimentthey werent trying to build a real pyramid! Egypt had a state-controlled system capable of acquiring and organizing the necessary people and resources. The Egyptians would have used thousands of workers and taken many years to build a proper pyramid, and just because we arent building them too doesnt prove that it was humanely impossible.