The Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza is almost unfathomably old, but new information about its construction gets published with such regularity that it’s worthy of a post to review what some of the most recent studies have postulated.

A great mind-bender is that Egypt’s largest pyramid was built about 2,600 BCE, and the last Egyptian Pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, died in 30 BCE, which means that there is a longer time-span between the Great Pyramid and Cleopatra than there is between Cleopatra and us. Giza’s famed monument is the only remaining Wonder of the World, as figured by Ancient Greeks.

Originally standing 147 meters/482 feet, it was the world’s tallest human-made structure for over 3,500 years. It required countless hours of human labor to quarry and assemble the 2.3 million stone blocks, and it took about 20 years to build. The workers were not enslaved people, but men who were paid and probably worked mostly in the agricultural off-season.

I chose this image (obviously a modern artist’s recreation) to showcase the fact that the Giza pyramids would have looked different in their original form: their walls would have been covered in smooth casings of white limestone, which would have made them gleam in the sun. Also, a study published in 2022 demonstrated that a branch of the Nile was closer to these pyramids back in the day, which would have played a big role in transporting the stone.

Archeologists are still debating how the stones were moved into the pyramid shape — most believe that workers used ramps, but scholars disagree about whether they spiraled the outside of the building or went up each different side.

The Great Pyramid is only one of about 100 known pyramids from Ancient Egypt.