Archaeologica.org

Frank Harrist wrote:

where would even 10 million tons of that go?

Scattered to the four winds.

You still have to break it up and these people would not have been immune to the effects of all that dust in their lungs.

Minimalist wrote:

Beagle wrote:Could well be Min. It's just something that I haven't seen brought into consideration here. If they did move 50 ton stones though, I'd think they would have to have some serious slick surface.

No argument but I suspect it would end up looking like a Keystone Kops routine.

You'd have a track in the middle which was lubricated and paths along the sides of it to walk on.

You still have to break it up and these people would not have been immune to the effects of all that dust in their lungs.

They could strap a rag over their face. The pharaoh didn't give a shit anyway. They got it done.

Maybe they just put their space helmets back on?

[img][img]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/LL3850/th_mpl_2move1.gif[/img]
[/img]

Just click to enlarge the image. My computer skills aren't what they should be so I don't know how to post a larger picture. This is from the url that I posted back on page 5.

In this heiroglyph, notice the little fellow right in front of the sledge, and behind the guys with the ropes. He is supposedly pouring lubricant in front of the sledge skids.

It's hard to make out what the other guys are doing.

It looks like 8 of them are carrying it.

Congratulations. If there are any hard core Egyptology lovers reading this, you've caused them to have a stroke.

And what would be wrong with that?

The lubricant was probably water.
Some experimental work was done showing that
wetting the sand or ground decreased the friction quite a bit.
After the sledge passed over it, I suppose it just dried up.
THis was in the pages I cited a few days ago, I think.

You mean it was done with just water? That wouldn't seem to do much on desert sand. I was thinking of olive oil or oil from figs, or anything with some grease action. But I'm just guessing.

Water on sand would seem to make mud...at least as I recall the recipe from childhood.

Besides, Zahi says the ramps were built of his gypsum stuff....not sand...and you've got two 'lifts' involved. First, up a ramp out of the quarry and second, up a ramp onto the pyramid. Any dragging on a non-inclined surface would be the easy part.

Well, whatever Zahi says.....

Anyway, I'm not an engineer. Neither are archaeologists by the way. It's hard for me to get into the subject.

I'd rather deal with the why rather than the how. And the when.

Think about the sand on a beach just above the surf....wet, but firm. Not mud. At least here along the Atlantic coast.

But wouldn't a thin layer of mud be a great lubricant, too...for this purpose, I mean.?

Think about the sand on a beach just above the surf....wet, but firm. Not mud. At least here along the Atlantic coast.

Yeah but I lived on Long Island for 55 years and my foot always sunk into that wet sand. I couldn't imagine dragging a sled with a 2.5 ton stone on it.

Gypsum is a very fine white substance when ground. It's mud is very slippery and dries almost to concrete consistency, only much easier to break up. Wallboard is made from it. It's like chalk. A good hard surface with a smooth track in the middle, kept wet, would be ideal for dragging a sledge. Another plus is that it is fairly light-weight when dry.

Yeah but I lived on Long Island for 55 years and my foot always sunk into that wet sand.

I'm sorry. We have better sand down in NC and SC. People drive in the surf a lot and don't get bogged down.



Like, you know, when you beach a boat, it usually rides right up out of the water. Doesn't sink into the mud.
The sledge distributed the weight when moving the big stones.
Like snow tires or snow shoes, or skis on soft snow.
....
As frank suggests, talking about gypsum, there are different kinds of "sand"..Quicksand, for instance. I don't know about the desert sand
around Egypt, but it seems they were able to do a lot on top of it.