Comment Re: Do not (Score 1) 133
> I know, right? It wasn't aliens that built the pyramids, or anything supernatural. It's stupid to think that.
Exactly. A civil engineer wanted to figure out how the pyramids were built, so he went around asking the experts - Egyptian stonemasons (modern ones). The most plausible answer they came up with is the "shadouf" - the lever and water bag device for raising water from the Nile to irrigate fields. Pretty much everyone at the time would have been familiar with it. To raise stones for the pyramids, just build a bigger, sturdier version. A 5:1 leverage ratio makes a 2 ton block an 800 lb lift. A bunch of workers hanging their body weight on the lever end would raise the stone a foot or two. You prop the stone with some timbers, shorten the lifting rope, and repeat. When the stone gets to the next level of the pyramid, you rotate the lever arm horizontally and pivot the stone to the next step. A series of shadoufs like this could raise a stream of stones step by step up the pyramid.
In comparison to dragging the stones up a giant dirt ramp (which there is no evidence for), levering the stones up is immensely easier. You merely climb up one step, put your foot in a rope loop, and let gravity do the rest.