It has always pained me a great deal that so many people all over the world are genuinely fascinated by ancient Egypt and yet they are so woefully misinformed by sensationalist media, so-called documentaries based in pseudoscience, and the fantasy world of Hollywood. No other ancient civilization is so universally recognized and yet so thoroughly misunderstood. Sadly, Egyptologists are often so frustrated by this that they want nothing to do with the situation; it’s not just a matter of educating people, it’s completely reeducating them, trying to reverse the damage caused by ‘The Mummy’ and even the Discovery Channel.
When I tell people that I’m studying Egyptology, people always assume that this means pyramids and mummies, the only things they know about Egypt. In fact these areas are so popular that they are overrun by untrained theorists and most Egyptologists shun them rather than tackling all of the misinformation. Sometimes I can hardly blame them; even as a lowly student, I was once approached at a conference by a man who wanted to show me the home experiments that he’d carried out, pulling miniature pyramid blocks in his backyard! The sad thing though is that many people prefer madcap theories to the truth, especially when genuine research is presented in dry academic speak rather than the exciting Indiana Jones-style of tv.
Once I was actually asked in all seriousness for my professional opinion on whether alien build the pyramids. The man said: ‘There’s so much discussion of the alien theory that there must be something to it, right?’. Well, my short answer would be, ‘No. There isn’t anything to it at all.’ My longer answer will follow, with a thorough dissection of the central arguments of the alien theory and why they are wrong. I think the main reason the theory is so popular is that people like to believe in things, things that are much bigger than themselves, whether it’s god or aliens. But often people also want proof and they seek to find it in the pyramids and other ancient monuments. It’s no wonder that the pyramids are incredible enough that they inspire people to believe the unbelievable. I myself don’t think there’s anything wrong with postulating that there might be other life out there in the universe, but I also don’t believe in robbing humanity of pride in its achievements.
I think it’s rather more inspiring to think that human beings, our own ancestors, created such spectacular monumental achievements. However, some people see the concept of civilization as progressive, that humans only continue to improve upon the past, so they think that just because we are uncertain about how the pyramids were built and we ourselves would struggle to replicate their achievement, it is impossible that humans of the past could have done it.
They say that since the pyramids of Giza were built about 4500 years ago, people back then couldn’t have been skilled enough to do it. However, we’re ignoring that numerous remarkable developments were happening all those millennia ago. There are many things that were discovered in the distant past that still serve us today. The Egyptians made many brilliant innovations (something I will have to write more about in another post): simple things that we still use today, which have barely changed over the millennia since they first conceived, from the earliest forms of paper and ink, to the 24 hour day.
People say that since we wouldn’t be able to build pyramids today, that the Egyptians couldn’t have done it, but it’s not just building of the pyramids that couldn’t be replicated today. It’s 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 couldn’t happen. This isn’t something to be ashamed of though, we simply use different technologies and have different priorities these days. While we couldn’t build another Notre Dame Cathedral or Great Pyramid, modern structures like the Eiffel Tower or the Gherkin wouldn’t 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.
To argue that just because we don’t know every detail about how the pyramids were built would be a logical fallacy (an argument from ignorance) and does not prove that aliens must have built them. We have so much evidence that strongly indicates that the Egyptians themselves were responsible for building the pyramids. We have archaeological evidence of their construction: remains of the quarries, roads, tools, records of the workers and the towns in which they lived. We know why they built them and we can even observe their lengthy and imperfect evolution before they reached their architectural peak with the Great Pyramid.
To properly address the issues out there, I will cite from a number of websites that support the theory that aliens built the pyramids and some of the comments that individuals have posted there, and explain why they are incorrect. I randomly chose a number of sites from the top Google search hits for aliens and pyramids. I don’t want to single anyone out or anything, so I won’t use any names attached to the comments. The various websites from which they derive are listed at the end of this post.
I am no great pyramid expert myself, so I must acknowledge an enormous debt to the work of Mark Lehner and Dieter Arnold, from whom most of my information derives, along with other Egyptological sources, all of which are also listed at the end. I’d recommend Lehner’s ‘The Complete Pyramids’ as the best general book on the subject if you want to learn more. It is very readable with lots of illustrations and diagrams.
Why were the pyramids built?
Referring to the alien theory, someone states: ‘It’s the most sensible theory. Why would ancient Egyptians build such monstrosities just to bury their kings?’ Alien theorists say that it’s a mystery why the Egyptians or other ancient people would build such immense monuments. Therefore, it must have been aliens. But why on earth would the aliens want to build these monuments? And on earth? That makes even less sense. We definitely know the purpose behind the building of the pyramids.
They were used as tombs for the ancient Egyptian kings, but they represented much more than just a grave. They were iconic symbols of the supreme power of the ruler; what better way of showing your subjects who’s boss, than conscripting them to build you a monolith that dominates the entire landscape? Above all, they were monuments to divine Egyptian kingship, the place where the king would be transformed into a god. One of the most important Egyptian myths tells how an ancient king named Osiris was murdered by his evil usurping brother, who in turn was eventually defeated by the rightful heir to the throne, Osiris’ son Horus. In death, Egyptian kings were thought to take on the role of Osiris, the ruler of the underworld, while their son assumed the role of Horus and the kingship. And although deceased, the former king would join the eternal cycle of life to be reborn everyday with the sun god. The pyramid was thought to facilitate this. This also legitimized the rule of the successor to the throne, since the pyramid was a symbol of his father’s new divinity.
There are a number of reasons why these tombs were built in a pyramidal form. First of all, they developed out of an older form of monumental royal tombs called mastabas, which were flat-roofed rectangular buildings, that an enterprising architect named Imhotep then decided to adapt by stacking one on top of the other into a step pyramid form. Also, the pyramid was intended as a place of rebirth. An Egyptian creation myth tells of the birth of the world as a primeval mound rising out of the waters of chaos. The pyramid is a stylized mound.
In a country where the sun is always shining, the sun god Re was the supreme deity, and the king aspired to join him in being reborn every dawn. The pyramid form echoed the rays of the sun and its staircase like form allowed it to serve as an instrument of ascension. Each of the pyramids was capped with a pyramidal stone block, or pyramidion, and the carvings on the one from Amenemhat III’s pyramid at Dashur confirm its celestial role for the king; it is inscribed with a pair of eyes looking up at the sundisk and hieroglyphs that read ‘Amenemhat beholds the perfection of Re’.
The ancient names for the pyramids themselves reveal a great deal about their purpose as royal monuments and symbolic locations for the king’s divine transformation and journey to heaven. The Great Pyramid is called ‘Khufu’s horizon’, and the other two Giza pyramids are called ‘Great is Khafre’ and ‘Menkaure is Divine’. Other pyramid names include ‘Djedefre is a Sehed-Star’ and Sahure’s ‘Rising of the Ba-Spirit’. Just because the Egyptians were interested in the celestial aspect of the afterlife though, doesn’t mean they had to be inspired by aliens. People throughout history have been fascinated by the stars, and I don’t think anyone’s calling Galileo an alien.
The pyramids themselves were clearly part of Egyptian religious tradition, forming the focal point for the worship of the deceased king. Some of the rituals involved cleaning, dressing, and offering food and drink to statues of the king, who was undoubtedly human rather than green or tentacled. We actually have records of the day-to-day activities centred around the pyramids. The Abusir papyri preserve detailed records of the daily activities at the pyramids and of the people who worked there, including schedules of priest and guard duties; inventories of pyramid temple equipment; financial accounts; lists of goods supplied and stored; and records of architectural inspections.
The Egyptians had strong cultural, religious, and political reasons for building the pyramids and there is no reason to question their purpose.
Some internet sites claim that the pyramids were never used as tombs, perhaps because they now lie empty.
This is because they were robbed in antiquity for the treasures that would have been buried with the king. There are still huge stone sarcophagi in many of the pyramids that were clearly used to hold the royal mummy. Funerary texts are also written inside the burial chambers of pyramids built after the Giza ones. The temples attached to the pyramids were used for mortuary rituals at the funeral.
Alien theorists often say that the pyramids couldn’t have been built by such ‘primitive’ ancient people and it’s strange that the pyramids suddenly just appeared out of nowhere
The main idea that most people use to support the theory of alien pyramid builders is, and I quote, ‘that ancient man was ‘primitive’, ‘living in mud huts’, and too ‘stupid’ to build such sophisticated constructions. One website states: ‘In the period 2500 BC man did not have the tools or knowledge necessary to build the pyramids, so only aliens could have done it. The angle of the slope of the sides is so precise only aliens could achieve this. The blocks are so heavy and the pyramid so tall only aliens could achieve this. How the aliens built the pyramids is not known, but they would have employed the use of advanced construction equipment.’
First of all, these ancient peoples were nowhere near as stupid as the people who make such statements. While we may have accumulated knowledge over the centuries, our species’ brains haven’t changed at all in the past few thousand years and ancient people were just as intelligent as we are today.
Before the pyramids were built, the Egyptians had developed agriculture, writing, religion, astronomy, mathematics, metal-working and semi-precious stones, sophisticated artwork and monumental stone architecture, and had managed to unite the various people throughout the country under the rule of one king. This was a true civilization, not a motley band of savages. The pyramids of Giza were incredible achievements for the time: expert Mark Lehner calculates that 9 million tonnes of limestone were quarried between the reigns of Sneferu and Menkaure alone.
When you really learn enough about them, it’s not difficult at all to imagine that the Egyptians were capable of such architectural sophistication. They had a certain expertise in stone working that we lack today. By the time of the pyramids, a corps of craftsmen had been developing their quarrying and building skills since the Early Dynastic Period. We have evidence to support the Egyptians’ responsibility for all the construction stages of the pyramids.
A similar claim for the sudden appearance of the pyramids from nowhere, out of the supposed dark ages that proceeded civilization, is made in a Discovery channel programme about the alien theory (!) in which the voiceover states: ‘For two and a half million years our prehistoric ancestors had been living in caves, passing the time by bashing stones together, when suddenly everything changed and people began to build huge monuments all over the planet. But how? And why?’
They blatantly ignore the fact that we have clear evidence for the evolution of the form and building process of the pyramids. These perfections of architectural engineering did not just appear from nowhere and the Egyptians actually got it wrong in a number of early pyramids before they were able to create the Giza masterpieces.
The first pyramid ever built, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, started off as a completely different style of building. Originally, a traditional mastaba was built for the Third Dynasty king Djoser. The architect Imhotep then began to make innovative changes by enlarging the basic structure to be a square and then building a smaller mastaba-like square on top. But he didn’t stop there; inspired, Imhotep expanded the building once again and added a fourth, fifth, and sixth level to eventually form the Step Pyramid.
A remarkable structure with an extensive surrounding complex and subterranean palace, it was still not a true pyramid with smooth sides. After a few other stepped pyramid projects were abandoned by short-lived kings, the first attempt at a true pyramid finally developed out of the stepped pyramid of King Sneferu at Meidum.
The Meidum pyramid was originally intended to be a 7-step pyramid and was then expanded to 8-steps and completed in the 14th year of Sneferu’s reign. In his 28th or 29th year though, the
workers were sent back again to fill out the rest of it into a true pyramid. Stripped of its outer casing, the remains of the pyramid stand in three large steps. Before he did that though, the ambitious builder Sneferu began building another pyramid at the site of Dashur that was the first pyramid intended to be a true pyramid right from the start. Unaccustomed to building such a structure though, construction began at too steep an angle, a slope of 60°. When severe structural problems were noticed, the architects took emergency measures and altered it to 55°. Still having problems though, they changed it again to a more gradual gradient of 44°, resulting in a rather odd looking pyramid, which has appropriately been dubbed the Bent Pyramid.
Some alien advocates actually try to use this pyramid to support their theory by claiming that the Bent Pyramid was just a shoddy imitation built by humans to copy the aliens who build the Giza pyramids. However, the pyramid is very conclusively dated to years 15-30 of Sneferu’s reign. This first attempt at a true pyramid was so problematic though that Sneferu abandoned it too, and started another pyramid at Meidum. Learning from previous mistakes, the North pyramid continued to build on the developments of Sneferu’s previous efforts, resulting in the first truly successful and magnificent true pyramid.
Pyramids did not suddenly appear out of nowhere, beamed in by alien technology. Only after all of these less successful attempts, and all the experience gained by architects and workers, could the stage be set for the construction of the greatest of world wonders.
How did the ancient Egyptians build the Pyramids?
Pyramid building was a long and complex process that took many different stages and and an amazing amount of resources, but was well within ancient Egyptian capabilities.
The Great Pyramid is composed of roughly 2,300,000 blocks and was likely built in 23 years or less (the length of its builder King Khufu’s reign according to the Turin papyrus). Stadelmann has calculated that to do this, the builders had to lay c. 340 blocks a day. The general figure suggested for the annual workforce is in the range of 20-30,000. Although it needed a great deal of stone, the bulk of it would have been more easily moved as it would have gone into the base of the pyramid, and even though the Great Pyramid was the best constructed, the core itself was also rather sloppier than the exterior, including many irregular stones and debris fill.
I will break down my discussion of the building process into the various stages:
Planning
The Egyptians were careful and precise architectural planners. Even buildings much older than the pyramids were laid out using an exact measuring system based on a unit called a cubit (about 52.5 cm, which could be further divided into smaller units called palms). Representations of foundation ceremonies for temples show this measuring process, called the ‘stretching of the cord’, being done using ropes tied to wooden pegs pounded into the ground. Many round holes that may have been for measuring pegs have been found cut into the bedrock around the foundations of pyramids and their temples.
The angle of inclination (seqed in Egyptian) for the sloped faces of the pyramids was clearly calculated by the Egyptians using a simple and precise method. The Rhind Mathematical Papyrus shows that seqed was defined as the relation between the horizontal setback of the wall and the vertical rise of 1 cubit. Pyramid alignment is further discussed below. There is also evidence that they produced miniature architect’s models, much like is done today, as part of the planning. Rainer Stadlemann found a small limestone architect’s model for the innovative substructure of Amenemhat III’s Hawara pyramid.
Quarrying
We know that local limestone was used for the pyramid cores and the mortuary and valley temples, while finer limestone and granite were brought along river from Tura and Aswan to use for the smooth outer casing.
The quarry used for Khufu’s pyramid is located on the plateau itself, 300m south of the Great Pyramid, a huge horseshoe shaped chunk out of the plateau, dug up to 30m below the original surface. Khafre’s quarry gives a good example of how the blocks were actually quarried. In the open limestone quarry just north of his pyramid, there are still the stumps of 3x3m blocks that were removed thousands of years ago with trenches in between them where the stonecutters would have worked.
Stone tools were used for quarrying. Blocks were cut by pounding channels into the limestone using hammer stones to separate them from bedrock and then detached using large wooden levers. Traces of these channels remain and there are still a number of unfinished quarry blocks that lie almost detached from the bedrock not far from the Sphinx, and in Menkaure’s quarry, where huge lever sockets are also visible.
In an interview with NOVA, Mark Lehner explains the strongly human and flawed side to these monuments: ‘A pyramid is basically, most basically, two separate constructions: it’s an outer shell of very fine polished limestone with great accuracy in its joints and the other construction is the inner core, which filled in this shell. The core was made with a substantial slop factor, as my friend who is a mechanic likes to say about certain automobiles. That is, they didn’t join the stones very accurately. You have great spaces between the stones. And so they’d jam down pebbles and cobbles and some broken stones, and slop big quantities of gypsum mortar in there.
We saw in many places, even on the giant pyramids of Giza, the first pyramid and the second pyramid and the third one, fragments of tools, bits of pottery that are clearly characteristic of the Old Kingdom. So you see the pyramids are very human monuments. And the evidence of the people who built them, their material culture is embedded right into the very fabric of the pyramids. And I think I could take just about any interested person and show them this kind of material embedded in the pyramids as well as tool marks in the stones and say, hey, folks, these weren’t lasers. These were chisels and hammers and you know, people who were really out there.’
Workers
There is actually a lot of evidence left of the ordinary people who performed the strenuous building work, who weren’t aliens, but most definitely Egyptian. While the total number of the workforce is speculative, we do know about the division of the work force and the size of these groups. The work force was organized by crews, each of roughly 2000 conscripted peasants, comprising two gangs of 1000. Each gang was divided into five groups of 200 men called zaa, also known by the Greek name ‘phyle’. Within each phyle were ten divisions of twenty men. The gangs seems to have been competitive and had names relating to the reigning king, for example ‘Friends of Khufu’ or ‘Drunkards of Menkaure’, and they actually graffitied their names on the buildings!
The stones from some of the Middle Kingdom pyramids have rough hieroglyphs inscribed on them as notes for either scribes or controllers. These notes consist of the date of transport, the workmen in charge of the block, and the stage of transport. Some state ‘brought from the quarry’ or ‘removal from the quarry’, delivered at the mereyt (harbour or embankment), ‘brought from the embankment’ and delivered to ‘storage enclosures’. Other notes records that they were ‘brought’ or ‘dragged’ to the pyramid, or ‘delivered to the ramp’. Herdsmen are also mentioned, who may have been responsible for driving oxen pulling the stone.
The stones also have team marks written on them to record the name of the team responsible for them. They may have been written and read by the basically illiterate workmen themselves, since some involve true hieroglyphs and others invented signs. Felix Arnold believes that the signs related to the worker’s hometowns, which weren’t in outer space.
There are also written documents that deal with the pyramid builders. Several of the Lahun papyri from the town associated with the pyramid builders of Senwosret II document the dragging of stone blocks by groups of workers.
Transport
The Nile River was the highway of Egypt and any finer stone that was quarried from further away was transported to the pyramid site by boats. Most of the stone was quarried nearby though, and wooden sledges were probably used to transport the blocks over land. A 4.2m long sledge was found by the pyramid of Senwosret III. At least some of these sledges would have been drawn by oxen. A number of tomb and temple wall paintings depict the transportation of stones by water and by sledges drawn by men or oxen.
Roads and tracks were made to pave the way for these sledges. Worn wooden beams were reused like ‘railway sleepers in tracks’ for dragging heavy stones on sledges overland. Such tracks have been found at Lisht near the Twelfth Dynasty pyramids of Amenemhat I and Senwosret I. Transport roads, which also survive at Lisht, measure up to 36 ft in width. They were made with a foundation consisting of a fill of limestone chips and mortar with wooden beams inserted, over which a layer of limestone chips and white gypsum was used to provide a smooth, solid surface. Water used as a lubricant for the ground to make it easier to pull the sledges.
Transporting immense quantities of stone was not an impossible task that would have required space ships, but well within the ancient Egyptians’ capabilities.
Laying the blocks
When the stone blocks were finally being moved into place, to preserve the precise alignment of the walls, corner blocks would be set first and then other blocks would be brought in on rollers but only lever moved into their precise final placement using levers. For example, one of the casing blocks of Khufu’s pyramid shows a lever hole in the base of the block that was then filled in with plaster. But lacking in ‘alien perfection’, sometimes since there were different teams working to lay blocks from each of the pyramid’s corners, they could end up with a gap in the middle, which would need to be filled with smaller blocks, as is the case with the pyramid of Meidum.
It is generally thought that ramps were used to move the blocks to the higher levels of the pyramids. Certainly some of the proto-pyramids, the step mastabas of the Third Dynasty show evidence of having had building ramps on all sides. For true pyramids, using such ramps blocks could have been towed to a height of 30-50 m, and at least 50% of blocks could have been lifted that way. The Meidum pyramid shows traces that indicate a steep ramp was applied to the outer casing. These ramps would not have been difficult to build or dismantle since they would have been made from an amalgam of limestone chip, tafla, and gypsum, rather than stone blocks.
All sorts of ramps have been proposed, from single or multiple straight ones to ones that would wrap around the structure or zigzag up the face or even internal ramps. Just because we don’t know for certain how the upper reaches of the pyramids were built, doesn’t automatically mean that they couldn’t have been built and are therefore alien constructions. There are a number of different ways it could have been done, but sadly we aren’t just able to ask the Egyptians which one is right. There probably isn’t even one simple answer, a number of different methods could have been used.
But…pyramids would have been really hard to build!
A lot of website comments display a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of pyramids. One states: ‘There is no way that primitive man built the pyramids. Even with modern equipment (i.e. cranes) we could not duplicate that feat, those are megaton (1million ton) rocks. You could surround the entire rock with men and it wouldn’t budge 1″. There’s no way with simple ropes & pulleys that they moved those stones… absolutely NO WAY.’
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 you’d practically need magic to build them! They’re amazing feats of engineering, but they’re certainly not inconceivable as human creations. The blocks were certainly not a million tonnes each! On average, they weighed about 2.5 tonnes. 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. We even have the remains of the smoothed roads that they built to move them. Just think about it…while I can barely lift my suitcase when it’s stuffed to the brim and weighing almost 30 kg, it’s relatively easy to move when it’s on wheels! By surrounding the blocks with teams of men, it wouldn’t have been that difficult to move them, and the Egyptians often used cattle to help as well. The NOVA pyramid-building experiment found that 20 men could easily pull a two-tonne block along lubricated tracks. Building the pyramids would have been difficult, but people can be pretty clever when it comes to making work easier.
What about the pyramids’ extraordinarily accurate alignment?
Precision, according to one website, is only possible if you come from another planet: ‘The pyramids are so accurately aligned with the points of the compass that only aliens could have achieved this all those thousands of years ago.’ It wasn’t visitors from space, but rather the observation of it that allowed for the Egyptians’ great accuracy in orienting the sides of the
pyramids. Amazing precision could be achieved just by watching the stars. There was actually a whole institution within temples with priests devoted to star gazing. The theory suggested by I.E.S. Edwards is that using a horizontal circular wall, a person standing within could mark a star’s rising and setting points on the top of the wall, with North identifiable as the bisection of these. A more recent theory advocated by Kate Spence suggests that the architects of the Great Pyramid sighted on two stars (b-Ursae Minoris and z-Ursae Majoris), rotating around the North Pole, which would have been in alignment when Khufu’s pyramid was constructed. Supporting this theory is the fact that inaccuracies in the orientations of earlier and later pyramids can be closely correlated with the degree to which the alignment of these two stars deviates from true north.
The perfect right angles of the pyramid were likely achieved using either a set square, of which ancient specimens are preserved, or using a ‘Pythagorean’ triangle, which was known to the Egyptians before the Greeks. They also used specialized surveying tools called the merkhet (basically a plumb bob) and the bay, a sighting tool made from the central rib of a palm leaf. Examples of such precision tools have actually been excavated are square levels with plumb bobs, set squares, and vertical plumb rods, and there are depictions of them being used by the Egyptians. After each of the four corners of the building had been plotted, the Egyptians would align the straight sides by stretching a rope between each of the corners in a ceremony called ‘stretching the cord’. This method was in use for decades before the first pyramid was ever built, and was first depicted in the reign of the Second Dynasty king, Khasekhemwy.
But then why don’t we build pyramids?
Again, misinformation makes people assume that since we aren’t building pyramids ourselves, the Egyptians couldn’t 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. I’m sure there have been a number of experiments like these, but the major one that I’m 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 experiment, they weren’t 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 aren’t building them too doesn’t prove that it was humanely impossible.
The pyramids of Giza form the belt of Orion
A theory proposed by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, notes that the pattern formed by the layout of the pyramids is virtually identical to the three belt stars of the constellation Orion. If one considers the details of the Orion correlation it seems likely that it is pure coincidence. Orion’s belt is a famous star formation partly because of the natural simplicity of its layout. The arrangement of the Giza pyramids in that pattern was probably simply because it offered the best sight lines. Basically the pyramids are laid out in a diagonal line, rather than blocking each other. Khafre built his pyramid after his father Khufu built the Great Pyramid and very cleverly situated his smaller pyramid on the higher part of the plateau so as to actually make his appear bigger than his father’s!
Bauval and Gilbert further pressed the Orion comparison by using computer software to pinpoint the date in ancient history when the alignment of the pyramids would have exactly mirrored the constellation Orion in the sky. They claim this conjunction occurred precisely in 10,450 BC and therefore this is the true date of the building of the pyramids by aliens, before the rise of Egyptian civilization. However, there is absolutely no evidence that the pyramids existed before the Egyptians did. There is overwhelming evidence that they are the cultural, religious, and political products of the early Egyptian state. The Giza pyramids were built during the 4th dynasty, which probably dates to around 2575-2450 BC.
Radiocarbon dating, which is unfortunately not always that accurate, was done on the Great Pyramid several times in the 1980s and 90s, (initially funded by the Edgar Cayce Foundation, another group that wanted the pyramids to date to 10,500 BC, believing them to be remnants of Atlantean society!). The radiocarbon dates for the Great Pyramid ranged from 2660 to 3809 BC, slightly older than the historical dates previously assumed. Also, the great cedar boat found buried beside the Great Pyramid was radiocarbon dated to about 2,600 BC. So the pyramids certainly do not date from 10,500 BC!
So yes, the Egyptians, not aliens, built the pyramids!
Pyramid building became a great cultural tradition of the Egyptian and about 30 key pyramids were built, not including all the accompanying satellite or queens’ pyramids, over a span of more than 800 years, remarkable monuments, for which the Egyptians deserve the credit.
The theory that aliens built the pyramids is built on fanciful notions, misinformation, and a wilful ignorance that completely disregards any scholarly research that contradicts the theory. Alien theorists have barely anything to support their idea other than the tactic of attacking the uncertainty of Egyptologists over the details of the building process. They prey on the people who find inspiration in the concepts of the pyramids and alien life and use them to fuel publicity for their sensationalist books and television programmes. Both ‘Is there Life elsewhere in the universe?’ and ‘How were the pyramids built?’ are questions worthy of being asked, but they belong to separate spheres of research and different periods of history, and should be kept that way. Zahi Hawass, the head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt and the Director of the Giza Pyramids Excavation, says of the people who believe in alien theories, ‘People like to dream. If you meet someone who is not an archaeologist, they love to dream, but you have to know a little bit about reality.’ While reality might not involve conspiracy theories or UFOs, it can still be thrilling to learn about the real people behind their creation.
We shouldn’t rob ourselves of feeling pride in the pyramids as a human achievement. In building these monumentally inspiring constructions, our ancestors built the foundations of civilization. We shouldn’t betray their ingenuity with our ignorance, but celebrate it by continuing to build upon the intellectual developments and inventions that made the pyramids possible.
References:
Arnold, Dieter. 1991. Building in Egypt. Pharaonic Stone Masonry. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Aston, B., etc. 2000. ‘Stone’ in Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology, eds. Shaw and Nicholson. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Edwards, I.E.S. 1985. The Pyramids of Egypt. New York & London: Viking Penguin.
Lehner, M. 1985. ‘The Development of the Giza Necropolis: The Khufu Project’. MDAIK 41, 109-143.
Lehner, M. 1997. The Complete Pyramids. London, Thames and Hudson, Ltd.
Quirke, Stephen. 1990. The Administration of Egypt in the Late Middle Kingdom. New Malden: Sia Publishing.
Websites consulted:
http://www.outerworlds.com/likeness/aliens/aliens.html
http://netscientia.com/egypt.html
http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Who%20built%20the%20pyramids.htm
http://www.csicop.org/si/9909/fox.html
“…..people like to believe in things, things that are much bigger than themselves, whether it’s god or aliens.”
It’s true, I think sadly true…..
This is a terrific post. I have a million books on pyramids, but it’s great to find something like this. I take people out on riding tours around pyramids and chat with them about how they were built and what the world around them looked like at the time….things that are somehow easier to get your head around on a horse than stepping out of an airconditioned bus.
yhea.
Makes sense. Like there is no god.
Life is made up of molecules, and it is an accident.
Scientist like you would have made the sky dull grey.
Your view is typical: you just don’t mention stuff that don’t fit in the official theory.
—
Easy one: built-in hidden shafts in the pyramid. Just to spice things up for the builders?
I like this. Great essay. Good points.
Outstanding summary. When people learn I am interested in the early history of Egypt (I am a biologist by training and now work in information technology) they usually assume that I subscribe to the alien intervention myth. Actually what interests me is how, over a few hundred years, Egypt re-invented itself … and I doubt any aliens were involved.
There certainly are mysteries, and I’m sure errors in current explanations. The way to move toward knowledge, however, is not to bring in hypothetical aliens, but to study the humans who accomplished so much so long ago.
-oz
This is a fantastic article-very well written, concise, very nicely summarised and informative. I assume you refer to the pyramid builders as just workers and not slaves-I don’t believe the ‘mids were built by slaves either. I think they were almost like voluntary workers-they wanted to build them and felt proud to do so-even if it was a back breaking and dangerous job!
Another thing to remember is that the Egyptians had a lot more time on their hands than modern civilisation. Life moved at a slower pace back then and they had the patience to put their effort and energy into building pyramids and other monuments. It took time, but they had time. I think I remember reading that the bulk of the building took place during the flood season, which meant farmers were off work, so to keep themselves occupied, they built pyramids.
I can’t wait to see your article about Egyptian innovations that are still around today. We hear so much about the innovations from Greece and Rome, and maybe Mesepotamia and China which are still around today but not much about the legacy of ancient Egypt, other than it’s obvious impact and inspiration on the arts and architecture. I always thought the 24 hour day was a Sumerian invention though, and I also remember reading that the idea that the Pythagorean triangle was first found by ancient Egyptians using a knotted rope triangle is actually a myth, perpetrated by the ancient Greeks, and that there’s no evidence for it otherwise…I saw that on a blog about maths for kids, but I lost the link…
Anyway, I must say that I love your blog! It’s one of the best Egypt blogs out there.
Much of Margaret’s writing here is well reasoned though I was disappointed in her contempuous strawman arguments. I can assure you that Bauval, Hancock and West are NOT arguing that the pyramids were BUILT in 10,500 BC – rather they argue that certain symbology on the Giza plateau points to that time period as a special time. Margaret has mischaracterized the Orion’s belt hypothesis as well as the alignment of the three pyramids – for the fascinating thing is that the third pyramid is offset from the others, just as Orion’s belt is, and just as Orion’s belt runs alongside the Milky Way so too do the pyramids run alongside the Nile – forming, as it were, a Mirror of the Heavens. The ancient Egyptians were deeply religious, astronomical and mytho-poetic in their writing and thinking and practices. It is not unreasonable to investigate the links between their mythology and the constellations and their structures. Bauval etc. may ultimately be incorrect in their theories, but they do not deserve the contemptuous mischaracterization that Margaret saddles them with here. There are still deep mysteries in Egypt, and their understanding calls for those who can engage the complexities of metaphor, symbology and religion to understand how they map onto the dry analysis that so many egyptologists confine themselves to. Bauval should be applauded.
Let me also add: Bauval is definitely NOT arguing that ALIENS built the pyramids. C’mon. Be reasonable. The only really controversial thing that John Anthony West and geologist Schoch argue for is that the Sphinx was built much earlier than the pyramids – that the egyptians *restored* instead of built the Sphinx. There is evidence both scientific (clear water erosion patterns) and circumstantial (why is the sphinx’s head SO much smaller than his body – as though it is a different structure actually – the weathering patterns don’t match, nothing). Show me true evidence that defeats Schoch’s water erosion argument….they aren’t arguing that aliens built the Sphinx…only that they just don’t know….the erosion patterns are a true scientific mystery (and NOT caused by flooding of the Nile, which would put the patterns upwards)…and the symbology arguments..the Sphinx (lion) pointing towards Leo constellation in 10,500 BC etc are circumstantial, but quite fascinating when you take the time to immerse yourself in egyptian and ancient belief.
Izzy, Nate, Rene, Maryanne: Thank you so much for the kind words! I’m glad that you found it interesting and I appreciate your comments!
SkippyJones: I apologize for misrepresenting Bauval, Hancock and West’s arguments- I only looked at a few websites and apparently they were very misleading in their information. As soon as I get a chance, I will do some further research and correct the post. Perhaps I was overly dismissive about Orion’s belt, but I simply wanted to state was that even if there was link between the the constellation and the pyramids, there is no reason to suppose the connection is extraterrestrial based. You put it very well yourself that for the Egyptians, religion and astronomy were deeply interconnected. Believe me, I do appreciate the incredibly rich complexities of Egyptian symbolism, religion, and belief systems, but they were also very practical people too and it’s good to keep both these sides in mind.
Joe: Wow, of course it’s obvious that shafts *must* mean that aliens built the pyramids! We should ignore all of the overwhelming evidence that indicates that the Egyptians made them, just because we aren’t certain what the shafts are! Seriously though, I didn’t see the shafts mentioned in the alien theory websites I looked at, so I didn’t include them in the post. When I have time, I’ll add in a section addressing the issue.
I too agree with there possibly being some astronomical alignments in pyramids and other monuments. Even if the Giza pyramids are not aligned with Orion or that it’s coincidence that the two patterns are similar, it doesn’t mean that the Egyptians were not interested in what was up there, because the stars were very important in Egyptian belief, and that’s got nothing to do with little green men! There are many references to a stellar afterlife in early pyramid texts and Orion was the constellation of Osiris. Sirius was used to mark the year-and was the star of Isis and the flood, and the circumpolars were where the dead pharaohs were said to reside because they never set-they never died.
Which brings me to the shafts-I think they were symbolic shafts aligned to certain constellations (I think the northern shafts aligned with circumpolar stars, the southern ones with Orion and Sirius) so that the ka was able to ascend to the heavens. But it was purely symbolic.
Personally I also think Bauval has some very valid points to make and some interesting theories concerning Egyptian astronomical beliefs, even if they are not very well accepted by general academia. It’s just a shame that some of the more extreme alien theorists hijack these valid astronomical theories, saying that it’s evidence of ‘alien intervention’ when in fact, it’s merely just ancient mankind’s wonder at the sheer enormity and beauty of the night sky. Mankind has always been fascinated and humbled by the universe and continues to be…
As for the sphinx’s erosion…I don’t believe it was caused by rainfall during the old kingdom (because Egypt was definitely in an arid climate by then) or that it was built 10000 years ago. I have my own idea which I’ll comment on another time…
Margaret: What a thoughtful reply. And yes, you are absolutely right that we must keep the Egpytian’s practicality, and the irrefutable strength of scientific method, in mind. The theories of the ‘alternative’ egyptologists and archeaoastronomists are presented by the authors themselves in such a simple, elegant and exciting way, which makes them quite seductive theories. Alas, though, on closer inspection many of their claims are lacking in rigour and the orion correlation is somewhat tenuous, as well as the theory’s extrapolation to other ancient sites such as Angkor Watt (which it is claimed mirrors the constelation of Draco). There *is* a resemblance, but it is not precise, and the builders could certainly have made it precise. Fragments of correlative patterns can be found in almost any data set. The monuments of New York City mirror the heavens also, so long as one is selective as to which monuments and which constellations and at which times. Nonetheless, I think Bauval’s correlation theory is an exciting idea, and so long as it inspires careful investigation, a potentially promising one – what I hope is that the upcoming generation of gifted and dedicated egpytologists like yourself can find themselves as inspired by the unorthodox as they are fierce in guarding the conventional. I would be truly interested in your classical and critical take on the recently termed ‘symbolist’ school of egyptology. I have enjoyed reading through your blog. Best Regards, SkippyJones
with all the babble i see in the comments and answers it’s no wonder people turn to the simple theories of Aliens, it’s much more easy to except in laymens terms. When commentaries by people who think they are lumenaries in the subject. The other day i was helping my three year old grandson with some leggo blocks and helped him build a pyramid so i guess that means i am an alien.
to much babble of the same info i was fed in college , to many unanswerd questions ,to many mysteries which leaves fertile ground for theorist to speculate and formulate fantastic stories and ideas. All that you have shown and explained can be found in texts which by the way are also theories because there are no proven facts to any of them. Many can write about mathamatic figures ,star alignments,haevy stone placements, slaves carrying blocks for i don’t know how many miles for 23 years????? I mean we have got to get back down to Earth.
Eventually some one will come along and give us the real story . Untill then i guess we will have to listen to all the crackpots.
Angel: Why are aliens a simpler explanation? Humans are much easier to understand. What evidence at all do we have of who these aliens were, how they travelled here, what tools they used to build, why they built them? There is nothing. For every mysterious aspect of their building left unexplained by the ‘human theory’, there are twice as many left unexplained by the alien theory. As you said yourself, we have to get back down to Earth! There is lots of evidence here on Earth that humans were responsible- how can you ignore that all? Why do you find it so hard to believe? The world is filled with incredible works of art and architecture made by real people, why should the pyramids be any different? People can achieve utterly amazing things when they really try.
You are right on all accounts indeed you
are Shesa-t Shesau and Steppu
Angel
Thes-usfu
I am fully ready to believe aliens built the pyramids just as soon as someone definitively proves aliens exist and that they have visited the Earth. Until then, I’ll continue to hold that mere humans managed the task.
the real question would be who built the gizah pyramids, not the others.
yeah, great argument… however, summerian texts and tablets mention the 3 pyramids long before khufu or sneferu or imhotep.
carbon dating is irelevant. cannot date the pyramid itself, only some objects related to it.
the discending inner shaft of the great pyramid, that has been closed for thousands of years, was left unduplicated into the smaller pyramids made by egyptians. why? becouse they didn’t know it was there.
wet-mud brute-force pulling of 2,5 tones of stone-blocks may work in theory on plain ground. you tell me how they lifted those blocks to the height of the pyramid. and while you’re at it, explain the water corusion on the sphynx. or the flying vehicles at abydos. or the light-bulb.
good luck with that!
oh, i almost forgot… how about the diorith sarcophagus? or the perfectly polished diorith statues? how did they do them?
personally i think a hell of a lot of this could be resolved by looking into egypts culture properly, as many of the comments mention (both by margaret and others). no-one can really state for certain who built them because ….. we aren’t there now. so everything beyond that is just theory, though obviously some theorys have more actual facts behind them than certain extraterrestrial theories. there are many sites on earth which have been assumed as such, like Tiahuanaco and the Nazca lines. people like to assume we’re better than all our ancestors just because we have electrcity, cars and can get round the world a fair bit quicker than we used to.oh well.
btw, PCH, when u can read those sumerian texts for urself with 100% accuracy, u can comment on them.
Peace out
G
@G
the sumerian texts i was talking about are actually drawings. dont need special education to see 3 pyramids as just exactlly what they are – 3 pyramids.
im not saying that et bult them, but the scientific comunity must accept that there is a problem with this. alien theory, as far-fetched as it is, may be more plausible than endorsing that a mangnificent civilization just popped-up from nowwhere in the middle of the bronze age without any external intervention – whatever external may mean. its not the case with egyptian only, also the akkadian and sumerians. the signs of such intervention from an advanced people are not so rare in ancient history. the fact that there are things made thousands of years ago that we cannot explain nore duplicate yet may change our perspective a little.
PCH, there’s probably no point in arguing since you’ve already made up your mind to ignore all the overwhelming evidence for the Egyptians building the pyramids as opposed to the zero evidence for aliens, but as G accurately points out it’s really wrong to assume that people were primitive back then! If you really learn about the cultures, you know that society was becoming quite complex and accomplished in the lead-up to the building of the pyramids. They had exactly the same brains as we do, so why couldn’t they do it? Here’s an example of sophisticated Egyptian art from before the pyramids; I think it’s pretty impressive: http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permex/egypt/egn-nar2.jpg
And us not being able to duplicate what they built means nothing. Take a look at these early Egyptian stone vessels from before the pyramids: http://tinyurl.com/2d24jt I’d be willing to bet that neither you nor I could reproduce these, but it’s just because we rely different sorts of skills these days!
I’d be interested in knowing exactly what these Sumerian texts are that you mentioned, since I studied ancient Sumeria at university and don’t recall them having anything to do with the pyramids. It wouldn’t be surprising though to have pyramid-like depictions, since they built their own stepped structures called ziggurats.
Yes, carbon dating can’t date the pyramids themselves, but dating the stuff around them gives us yet one more piece of helpful evidence to add to the rest.
I’m not sure what differing shaft layout proves though. All of the pyramids have different layouts for the shafts and chambers, even the two other supposedly ‘alien-built’ ones at Giza but I don’t think it means anything really.
I don’t know exactly how they lifted the blocks but ramps or pulleys would have worked. Doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have done it just because I can’t prove it by going back in a time machine.
As for the Sphinx (spelled with an ‘i’ not a ‘y’) and the supposed water erosion (not corusion as you put it, or even corrosion), I’m not a geologist so I can’t properly comment, but the Sphinx was carved in situ from the existing natural bedrock itself so I don’t see why some of the weathering couldn’t have happened to the rock before the Sphinx was made from it.
I’m not sure what exactly you mean by the ‘flying vehicles at Abydos’ or the ‘lightbulb’ but if you’re talking about the supposed hieroglyphic representations of a helicopter and submarine in Seti I’s temple at Abydos, then I can tell you that I’ve seen them myself and it’s obvious what they are to Egyptologists or anyone actually familiar with hieroglyphs. There’s already a good explanation of it at this site: http://www.ufocom.org/pages/v_us/m_archeo/Abydos/abydos.html
Finally, you mention ‘diorith’ sarcophagi and statues (by the way, I think you mean diorite unless you were using the German word). First of all, it’s entirely possible to cut very hard stone using percussion tools of the exact same stone, so it’s not really rocket science, and while they’re difficult to cut, they polish up better than any other stone. For more information, there’s an excellent chapter on stoneworking in the book Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technologies and some basic info at this UCL website: http://www.digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk/stone/stoneworking.html
I hope that helps answer some of your questions. It sounds like you’re pretty firmly entrenched in your beliefs, but all I can ask is that if you want other people to keep an open mind about who built the pyramids, you shouldn’t just dismiss the Egyptians either!
Margaret
thanks alot for the answer. since i am not a native english speaker please forgive the errors of spelling.
actually, i’m not at all “firmly entranched” – as u put it – in believing that ET built them, however anyone could ask the same from one who believes that egyptian – and no others – built them: not to be firmly entranched in believing above all doubt that a society in the middle of the bronze age managed to build such complex structures that easily dwarfs anything else of that era in terms of technology, management, human and material resources. i’m not dismissing egyptyans on the subject – i am just saying that they had some pretty big help from someone.
i will look up that sumerian tablet and i will come back with an answer. however, the shape of a ziggurat is quite different from a giza piramyd.
i am familiar with the explanation about abydos hieroglyphic representations and just doesn’t make much sense to me. try drawing something on a piece of paper then put somebody else to draw anything over your drawings: how many times do you suppose that the result will be perfectly shaped representations of some things? not only one, but 3 or even 4? that should be an amazing coincidence.
im not sure that ramps or pulleys would have worked. they would be themselves a challenge comparable to the pyramyds.
“zero evidence for aliens” – well, some choose to speak about aliens, i choose to speak about advanced techology intervention. the evidence of this is not at all zero. beginning with the darwinian missing link to extaordinary knowledge of astronomy and more accurate calendars than we use today – even u must admit that things just dont add up in ancient history. its just beyond common sense – at least in my mind – that people that didnt know the wheel just happen to guess all the planets of the solar system with their corect sizes, or built megalitic structures with remacable astronomic features that we cannot duplicate today with our state-of-the-art computers and metal cranes. im not talking about the piramyds only, but about all the megalitic structures around the world.
PS: im not an Egyptologist, i’m an architect. all i know about the subject is from what i learned in college and what i studied for myself – since i’m quite interested in ancient history. i may not know hieroglyphs or cuneiforms, but i know buildings. there is no way the bronze-age man could build the great piramyd in 20 years with bronze, wood, string and sand. not 1 million people in 100 years. the effort would be huge – not only buildind the thing, but designing it and managing all the resources, the workers and everything else connected to such an incredible enterprise. 20 years for the great piramyd is like building the new wembley stadium in 1 month. it just cannot be done.
ur theory of egyptian pyramids is obviously false there is no way any human whether its 10 or 10 million can possibly build a pyramid out of 2,500,000 rocks that weigh tons with out any technology just pullin them with ropes is a ridiculous theory i am not an alien believer myself but i can say there was another force that helped build the egyptian pyramids no matter how u feel on this situation u know there had to be another cause in the production of pyramids in egypt and in your answers to the questions above has plenty of puns in them u used storys to avoid answering the question and if u think u can turn me to a believer of normal humans building these pyramids feel free to message me at the email address above and the discovery channel does not corrupt the mind with pseudoscience it is their theory on the production of pyramids and is far more believable than yours
I seem to remember that the argument to aliens was originally put forward, mainly by Von Däniken (1968), on the basis of Manetho, Fragment 2.4 (Syncellus) which refers to an argument by Panodoros concerning
“οι δΠεγÏήγοÏοι, κατελθόντες επί Ï„Î¿Ï ÎºÎ±Î¸Î¿Î»Î¹ÎºÎ¿Ï ÎºÎ¿ÏƒÎ¼Î¹ÎºÎ¿Ï Ï‡Î¹Î»Î¹Î¿ÏƒÏ„Î¿Ï Îτους, συναναστÏαφÎντες τοίς άνθÏοποις”
However, Panodoros, although Egyptian himself, was here explicitly attempting a synthesis with certain extremely doubtful Jewish sources, such as Genesis 6,4.
It’s fun to delve into ancient texts, but I wouldn’t want to confuse fact and fantasy. The Egyptians were a very proud people. They were not into being pushed around by aliens of any kind; Nubians, Libyans or even Wise Men from the East.
They credited their gods, such as Osiris, with substantial assistance, of course, and if a person as apparently intelligent as particle physicist John Polkinghorne can promote traditionalist Christian theology in the 21st century, then we are all clearly capable of believing anything. When Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass (Ch. 5) laughs and says “one can’t believe impossible things,†the White Queen wisely replies “I dare say you haven’t had much practice. When I was your age I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!â€
The harm of such philosophical Idealism, however, is that it leads to misjudgement in practice. If, for example, you choose to believe, as did the ancient Egyptians, that the brain is a bag of pus which swells up inside the head after death, then you may still be able to mummify corpses, but you won’t be much good at assisting the very impressive and human science of Neurology.
Egyptology, like Neurology, has now evolved into something like an exact science, which may perhaps explain why professional Egyptologists like Margaret are so poorly tolerant of theories such as those of Von Däniken.
Thank you very much for your comments Gerard. The eloquence of your response speaks for itself and I’m sure the Egyptians who valued ‘perfect speech’ so highly would agree.
This is a very accurate and probable way that you have used to describe these so called “misunderstandings”. I truly also do beleive that the pyramids can not be built even with the modern technology we have today, the pyramids would require so much work that after the base feature is done, everyone would be tired. Also a comment to “pch” it is possible that they could have been built using the aged ways of transportations and by having loads of people watching and helping one another. There was many people that helped build this historic and legendary site and many ask “How did they have shelter and food?”. This i beleive is just a question that you can answer using common sense, The egyptians were one of the first to allow slavery but they beleived that these slaves should be treated well and should have the choice to let their children to be free if they wanted. I am very happy for this accurate peice of work and thank you.
-Abdelrahman,24(Egyptologist)
What about pyramids being on mars? There’s conspiracy on that? We can’t possibly know the truth about everything. There’s no such thing as knowing absolute truth especially if you don’t have the power to reach that type of knowledge. Who knows the same people that believe pyramids weren’t made by humans believe that probably humans were once dumb ape ancestors. That’s maybe why one might speculate aliens help or ad with the knowledge. I know humans like to believe there’s something greater than them, but when it comes down to it to think that we are the only intelligent living beings in the universe is just crazy. Believing that humans never had any contact with aliens to help discover the crazy things our ancestors did or the crazy things were doing right now is just irrational, but there’s no such thing as an all around rational person. Well I might be wrong sometimes you have to think maybe we spend too much time looking at the stars, but instead we should be looking at ourselves or others that have conceal themselves on Earth. – Anyways I’m just going by my views my subjective/objective reality and maybe…the aliens are or have been living with us during mankind’s every step…Think about it. =l…=D
Maybe if we were all really intelligent humans well find out why we serve crazy leaders. Maybe they’re more intelligent than us and we are only left to believe were smart. The saying goes “The best slave is the slave who thinks he is free, and the greatest fool is the fool who thinks he is a wise man.” Who knows in order to stay in power you have to keep knowledge away from others as the saying goes…knowledge is power. Maybe aliens are too smart to leave evidence that they exist maybe they don’t want us to know they exist. With the same voice you can say “I believe humans rule the world”. You can say “I believe humans rule the world, but yet I have no proof for that explanation.” Everyone knows the media tells us all “true lies”. You can say that humans might just be too stubborn to believe that something that they can’t even fathom about can exist and rule over them without them even knowing or even guide them. I might just be crazy thinking too much for my own good. I know that our leaders don’t want us to be critical thinks or else all there evil schemes towards us will be reveal. Should certain aphorisms of philosophy be a wake up call to think out of the ordinary. One aphorism I’ve always known was “The truth is stranger than fiction.” Maybe it is and were just not ready for it, not having the guts to embrace it, or were just too weak to realize it…Think about it…Go figure. =P…=D…=l.
I enjoyed reading all this information but what I still cannot get to grips with is, what happened to these creative intellegent Eqyptians as they do not appear to be here buiding such wonderful sites/buildings any longer
I think every civilization rises and falls in strength and creativity- the Romans aren’t building great cities anymore, and the British Empire no longer controls most of the world. It’s rather extraordinary that the ancient Egyptians were as powerful as they were for so many millennia!
Margaret, the eloquence of your response speaks for itself :”I’m not a geologist so I can’t properly comment (!!!), but the Sphinx was carved in situ from the existing natural bedrock itself so… I don’t see why… some of the weathering couldn’t have…”
“I don’t know exactly how they lifted the blocks (!!!) but ramps or pulleys would have worked. Doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have done…”
…Also doesn’t mean that all couldn’t done far more developed civilisation (not necessarily aliens but maybe not Egyptians). Exact science??? Exact science are for example mathematics, physics, chemistry…there it is not even possible to talking in terms like “I don’t know”…or “why not this …They had exactly the same brains as we do (haha, who prove that?), so why couldn’t they do it? (really scientific…)”
BUT I’AM RIGHT (because I’am Egyptologist)! And you are wrong! Medicine (neurology etc.) is applied science, but this theory IS only another probability theory, like others, nothing more (but also nothing less). Naturally, today’s Egypt people want to think (and have economic and nation demands) that it was Egyptians. Also, Egyptologists like Margaret have to earn their (budget?) money.
Perfect comments from Steven and Javance. Sorry for my basic English, but I think that basic message is understand. Do not ignore other approaches and declare it pseudoscientifical (technology, archicture, physics). Our brains (same as ancient Egyptians?) also worth.
Osamu, I fully accept your criticism that I can’t give absolute conclusive proof, though I would point out that we still have a fair bit of evidence in favour of the Egyptians. I’d wager that you don’t have conclusive proof that someone else built them and there’s certainly more proof of Egyptian involvement than of anyone else. I’m happy to keep an open mind concerning any evidence of this ‘far more developed civilization’ of which you speak. It would be very strange though if the only evidence they left were the pyramids themselves.
I wouldn’t claim that archaeology is an exact science- we have limited evidence that survives from almost 5000 years ago, so it’s unsurprising that we have no absolutes.
As for ancient Egyptian brains, they were most certainly modern. Anatomically modern Homo sapiens developed as early as over 160,000 years ago, and sophisticated thought had developed by 100,000 years ago (see for e.g. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article678145.ece ). The Egyptians produced a lot of other wonderful things at the same time as the pyramids were built (for example, this statue of the king ‘supposedly’ responsible for the building of the second pyramid at Giza: http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=46868&rendTypeId=4). If they were so skillful in stoneworking to create such a masterpiece, why is it so unbelievable that they could build a pyramid?
I’m not a paid Egyptologist yet, so I’m not earning any money for my belief that the Egyptians built the pyramids. In fact, I’m sure that I could earn much much more money by writing that aliens did build the pyramids, since it’s a very popular theory and such books sell incredibly well. But while people criticize Egyptologists for not being rigorous enough with their theories and their lack of absolute proof, I would remind other theorists that perhaps they could apply the same criticism to themselves. Thanks for your comments.
‘Exact Sciences’ like Physics and Chemistry are based, at the deepest level, on probability, not any kind of ideal absolute. This is because tiny fundamental ‘particles’ can’t make much of a dent in space-time, so they ‘float round’ on the ‘surface’ of it, without classical attributes like exact position. You can only say what they are ‘probably’ doing at any one point.
The exactitude of Mathematics is open to misuse – for instance, Hooke’s Law (relating the extension of an ‘elastic’ body to the force applied to it) cannot be pictured as a simple straight line on a graph. Lee Smolin (2006), in ‘The Trouble With Physics’ (page 30), rightly says that “…mathematical beauty can be misleading. Simple observations made from the data are often more important.â€
Given, then, that we are operating in a world of necessary inexactness and probability, the next requirement is to calculate accordingly. Now a very low probability, say, of one in a trillion, is actually closer to zero than what most people mean when they say ‘zero’. For example, I may validly predicate of my beer glass that it is ‘completely empty’, but that is only approximately true. There will almost certainly be a few drops of beer left in it, corresponding to a probability of finding beer of perhaps one in a hundred (i.e. about 10 millilitres per litre). Therefore, although my glass is empty, I might just find some more beer in there!
I may however, with much greater assurance, state that I will not find that aliens built the pyramids, though I do accept that some oppressed people wish it to be true. They want to believe that somewhere in the universe, an invincible superhuman power is watching us benevolently, and will eventually liberate us. Some call this power ‘aliens’, others call it ‘God’. Thus they begin with their ideal, and then impose it on the evidence, when they should really begin with the evidence, or (in the case of aliens etc.) the utter absence of it.
I think Margaret is wrong to “keep an open mind†about such low probabilities. The phrases she and her colleagues use in connection with the pyramids, such as “I don’t see why…â€, “could have…â€, “I don’t know exactly…â€, etc. refer to matters which are not “only another probability theory†but whose likelihood is so great as to have serious persuasive force.
Thank you very much Gerard for clarifying the ‘exactness’ of science and the rest of your elegantly logical comments.
To clarify my own words I must admit that I phrased my above statement incorrectly; what I intended to say was that I would be happy to keep an open mind *if* there was actually any evidence to support an alternate theory. However, as far as I can see there is only supposition and a disregard for any actual archaeological evidence.
Thanks, Margaret.
The strongly felt need for superhuman assistance is nowhere better illustrated than in the ‘Tale of the Eloquent Peasant’ itself. Grimal (1992, 1994, p. 149) says
“… the final argument presented by the peasant is the recourse to Anubis, whose influence is already suggested by the peasant’s own name: Khuy-n-inpw (‘one protected by Anubis’). Does this mean that justice on earth is maintained only because the tribunal of the gods fills humans with fear for their lives?â€
Aliens did NOT build the pyramids. It was built by many skilled egyptians who, without machines or technology managed to build great structures like the pyramids! Instead of trying to fantasise aliens building pyramids we should be thinking about not only how great they actually are but also how great the people who built them must have been!! I mean seriously!!!
My own personal belief is that mankind alone did not build the pyramids, if at all, despite the hard sell on this website.
any way, if mankind did build the pyramids then they were built by slaves (you can call them a work force all you want) overseen by a tyrant, in which case there should be no pride in these “human” achievement’s as they are a sick monument to tyranny and slavery. Nothing at all to be proud of!
(I wonder how many slaves er…workers, craftsmen, died in agony building those massive tombs for a few rich kings?)
Some of the replies are based upon a LACK of evidence. Some people are evidently not satisfied with a “I don’t know and I may or may not know in the future” answer. They evidently feel a need to make something up because they MUST have an answer. Humans are quite capable of inventing something completely new. A. Einstein’s theories were incredibly new and decidedly different. So far, the’ve fared pretty well.
Rampage: Tyranny and slavery. You are looking at it from today’s perspective which is historically out of context. I am quite proud that humans were able to make great achievments in the past as well as the present, and future.
No, The actual execution must have been by humans- slaves- isrealites.But I think the concept/idea, Plan and know how must have come from some one extra ordinary – not human.
Perhaps Aliens
how do u exlain drawings of ufos & aliens on egyptian walls?maybe egyptians did build the pyrimids but you cant say aliens didnt help ….theres no proof of aliens helping but alike..theres no proof egyptians did it without help either……its a lose lose situation…..find sumat else to post..you cnt prove it so why post it?..l..
very helpful, I like to have an open mind though, and I wonder if you actually believe in a higher power? Because if you don’t you would have a strong bias against the alien theory, and if you do you shouldn’t be so precoccupied with something so trivial
The major problem I have is How they got the stones to the Pyramid. I have others but will tackle this one first. Everyone who believes in the Egyptians built them, say they used the nile and transported the Stones using some type of boat, barge, raft. But think about that logically. Do you realize the size of the boat or wooden structure would have to be…to float a 20 to 30 ton rock in water! And that the boat would have to have some type of door that was leak proof, since how would they get the stone on the boat? You are definately not going up a ramp and dropping it in! 2nd) Dragging the stones across land using these wooden bases or crates. The weight of the stones would cause so much friction and drag that the wood would either crumble or just dig into the ground. Try pulling a refrigerator across your yard using wood. Wooden pallets crumble if pulled along the floor holding 200 lbs in warehouses. Holding a 20 ton block would destroy it instantly. 3rd) Getting these stones on the higher levels of the pyramid would require ramps. Which most believe they built. Yet these ramps would have to be nearly 2 miles long at the highest peaks, because of the angle. They definately were not pulling 20 ton rocks up a 45 degree angle. And the amount of workers is really moot, because of surface area. A rock that is 10 feet wide and long has only so much space to be occupied. You could only fit a small amount of Egyptians around the block. Even if 40 and I dont think there is room for 40, but if 40 Egyptians were able to get a grip to raise the block…they would not be enough of them to even budge it. 40 x 200 lbs equals 8000 pounds and that is if they could each lift 200 lbs. Levers may help budge the rock but not move it in a useful manner.
Then you state Eqyptians were very smart. This may be true but who is to say where they aquired some of their knowledge. Our Universe is so big and most people believe we are not alone. If Aliens were to land, I am sure landing back then would have been much easier since the people of that day didnt have weapons. Peaceful landing would have been easier. These Aliens could have given them knowledge or devices to make things easier. But just because they were smarter doesn’t make it more likely they built them. The tools and the land around them is what makes the “Building of the Pyramids” so unlogical. Brains alone cannot do it. If Einstein was trapped in a raft with nothing and a fisherman was trapped in another raft with nothing…and they were both placed in the middle of the ocean. Who would survive longer?
This is the worst information ever!
If you only open up your mind, you’ll see that not only the pyramids could have been built by Aliens but many other things which we try to remake and call our own could well be made by Aliens! I’m not saying that your site is stupid, but some of the information is just purely made up! There is no record of how the pyramids were built, nor who built them. People didn’t write their names on the blocks! Why didn’t egyptians credit themselves for creating the pyramids if the actual building process was so long and difficult???
BECAUSE THEY DIDN”T BUILD THEM ALONE!!!
after reading your argument i realize that maybe iv type an entire ten pages of bull shit on how aliens built the pyramids but awnser these two questions. Whats with all the pictures if aliens and everything in the tombs? and what about that fungus never seen before on earth they found in tuts chamber? NO ALIEN RELEVANCE STILL?
 well thankyou for your insight anyways
back in ’75 when I was visiting Greece, Crete island, I met a group of students who were investigating some ruins on the south side of the island. A few day later I had the chance to talk with the man in charge of the group, after a while, the discussion drifted toward egypt and the pre- pharaonian dynasties. Is that true that many of the monuments, stelas, pyramids and temples were erected before the first dynasty? And that a few site are as old as 12,500 years? wich is about 7,000 years older than the egyptologist believed. And according to what that man told us, that the “writing” used at that time, was not based on alphabetical icons but rather it was a mathematical inspired scheme of désignating objects?
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Regards, J P Tanguay
Thank for your suggestions, but what do you think of the natrium-calcar process (calcare was dissoluted from sodium nitrate and then used as we do with cement),I watch a consisten video from an industrial chemist that show the entire process but I forget the name.
Hoever the big blocks was undistingueable from the carved ones.
On the estern layer is possible to see “dents”like some was flow out of a stamp.
Thank,
Alessandro
Hello.
I’m new there
Nice forum!