Pyramid builders may have used hydraulic lift

The new study suggests that water may have been able to flow into two shafts located inside the Pyramid of Djoser and used to help raise and lower a float used to carry the building stones. The team – from institutions including CEA Paleotechnic and CEDETE – has detailed its findings in PLOS ONE.

(Video courtesy of Wonder World)

The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is believed to have been built around 2680 BCE as a funerary complex for the Third Dynasty pharaoh Djoser, but the method of its construction remains unclear.

In this new interdisciplinary analysis, the researchers suggest that the nearby Gisr el-Mudir enclosure may have functioned as a ‘check dam’ to capture water and sediment.

In addition, a series of compartments dug into the ground outside of the pyramid may have served as a water treatment facility, allowing sediment to settle as water passed through each subsequent compartment. Water may then have been able to flow into the pyramid shafts, where the force of its rise could help carry the building stones.

According to the team, further research is needed to understand how water might have flowed through the shafts, as well as how much water was available in the vicinity at that point in Earth’s history.

The team said other building methods like ramps were probably also used to help build the pyramid, but a hydraulic lift system could have been used to support the building process when there was enough water.

The authors added: “A collaborative effort between the newly established research institute, Paleotechnic, and several national laboratories [INRAE, University of Orléans] has led to the discovery of a dam, a water treatment facility, and a hydraulic elevator, which would have enabled the construction of the Step Pyramid of Saqqara. This work opens a new research line for the scientific community: the use of hydraulic power to build the pyramids of Egypt.”