Week 4 Assignment 1 Essay
James E. Buckley
World Humanities I
April 29, 2012
Strayer University
Professor Steven Klein

The Great Pyramids at Giza, one of 110 pyramids built in Egypt; it is the only famous "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" (Krystek, 2011) that still stands. There have been many theories regarding how the pyramids at Giza were constructed. Most experts agree that they were constructed as burial monuments for pharaohs, but “how” these ancient people constructed monuments of such great size without modern machinery is a mystery which is still being debated. It is no mystery who built the Great Pyramids, the pharaoh Khufu, but how he accomplished this has been debated over and over. There are several theories to how they were constructed. They range from cranes, ramps, to today’s theory of space aliens, held by some. However, of the many theories offered, the most logical of them are the use of cranes or ramps.
One earliest recorded theory put forward by Herodotus, the Greek historian, mentioned the use of "machines" used to raise the blocks, which has been taken to mean cranes. Supporters of this theory believe that cranes were used in the construction. “Egyptians farmers have long used wooden crane-like devices called a shadoufs to raise water from the Nile for irrigation” (Brier, 2007). It is believed that hundreds of these cranes at different levels on the pyramid were used to lift the blocks. The problem with this theory is that Egypt did not have forests to provide the large amount of timber need to accomplish the constructions and importing it would have been too costly and impractical. The second theory is that a ramp was built on one side of the pyramid which allowed workers to haul the blocks to the top of the pyramid. However, the problem with this theory is that, if the ramp was position only on one side, it would have to be