TRANSPORTATION OF HEAVY BODIES BY THE ANCIENTS. 617 



to the general level of the soil. Here was a clue to a very simple 

 explanation of what had often puzzled rae — how the prehistoric people 

 without tools could have raised such heavy weights as the roofing slabs 

 of the dolmens to the positions in which we find them. It was evident 

 that cords and rollers, with a sufficient number of sturdy savages, 

 would have been amply sufficient for the purpose in the case before 

 me. The thorough manner in which the clay of the inclined plane had 

 been consolidated was evident when it was considered that the denu- 

 dation of it by the elements during unknown centuries had been insuf- 

 ficient to noticeably reduce its level or conceal its evident purpose." 



The construction of the Egyptian pyramids, for centuries a matter 

 of wonder, could have been performed by similar methods. Let us 

 suppose that each of the stone blocks used had a rectangular base, 

 being half as thick as wide, and that they were moved from the quarry 

 to the pyramid in the direction indicated by the arrow in figure 1, block 

 No. 1 being first placed on rollers and moved into position. The stone 

 blocks numbered 2, 3, 4, and 5 could then have been transported along 

 the surface of the ground in the same manner, and so could the other 

 stones in the same tier, which are not shown in this view. An embank- 

 ment at a 20 or 30 per cent grade (see section A) could then have been 

 constructed by 

 carrying earth 

 from pits be- 

 yond the con- 

 tinuation of the 

 boundary lines 

 of the base of 

 the pyramid. 

 Over the sur- 

 face of this plane, extended toward the quarry, the second tier of stones, 

 of which blocks numbered 6, 7, 8, and 9 are visible, could then have 

 been put in place; embankment B could then have been constructed, 

 blocks numbered 10, 11, 12, and those behind them being put in place; 

 and so on, by the aid of the additions to the embankments, G, D, and 

 _£J, the remaining stones could have been put in position. 



When the pyramid was complete the earth could have been removed 

 from in front of it, the pits filled up, restoring the original condition of 

 the surface of the ground, leaving no hint to gratify the explorer forty 

 centuries after the work was done. 



Let us see what labor this method would have involved in the con- 

 struction of the pyramid of Gizeh, the largest of its kind, which is 

 approximately 150 yards high and 250 yards square at the base. As 

 is well known, in building this pyramid, which is located 3 miles south 

 of Cairo, two kinds of stone were used — limestone and red granite. The 

 limestone was quarried at El Massarah, 45 or 50 miles from Gizeh, while 

 the red granite was brought from Assouan, near the first Cataract, 

 over 500 miles. Both of these quarries were located on the Eiver Nile. 



Fig. 1. 



