Against the background of modern skyscrapers with a height of half a kilometer or more, the pyramids do not look as impressive as in ancient times.

For example, the pyramid of Cheops – originally a little over 140 meters, and today – 137. If before 1300 AD. It was the largest building on the planet, today there are several dozen buildings in front of it.

Of course, the uniqueness of the pyramids is not in one dimension. And the fact that people were able to erect these buildings by hand in the 3rd millennium BC. And they survived among all the wonders of the ancient world.

And if we approach the pyramids from the point of view of modern economics?

How expensive would it be compared to current prices?

How much would it cost to build the Cheops Pyramid today?

Herodotus’s fantasies and real facts

The pyramid is an almost entirely stone structure with an area of ​​53 thousand square meters. m. The hollow chambers under it are few, they make up only a few percent of the total mass.

Therefore, the main costs were set in stone. Blocks of 35 tons and less were stacked in 203 floors.

The main part of the pyramid was made of cheap ordinary limestone blocks, which were probably mined nearby. But the exterior decoration was expensive – granite and rare white limestone. They had to be guided by a distant river.

The task of resting the pyramid on a natural stone hill has been simplified, that is, a deep foundation is not required.

It is not known how many years the building was built. Probably – not less than 20, 25-27 years.

The ancient historian Herodotus mentioned that 100,000 people worked on the construction site. But he lived much later and had a tendency to exaggerate.

How many people are needed to build a pyramid?

never a slave

Archaeological excavations where the ruins of the Worker town were found and deciphering the sources allowed us to learn more about the people who built the pyramids.

Egyptian workers were not slaves.

These were mostly relatively free peasants doing public service. They came to the construction site for 3 months a year, then they returned to their farms. Others took their place in the construction of the pyramid. This ancient Egyptian clock was uniform – some months collected more for people who worked hard, others less.

The smallest of them were qualified architects and managers.

It proved that the builders were fed and not bad – meat, bread and other products were included in the menu.

According to archaeologists, there can always be from 10 to 20 thousand people on the construction site.

In the time of the pharaoh, it was not possible to calculate the cost in money. The quarries belonged to the monarch, and products could come as taxes or barter.

And what would the largest pyramid cost today?

Fast…

Architect Jean-Pierre Urden, who spent many years researching alternative theories to explain the technique of building pyramids, decided to calculate what resources would be needed today to build them.

For comparison, he took the Hoover Dam, because in volume it is almost the Cheops Pyramid – 3.3 million cubic meters.

The architect proved that today a similar building will take only 5 years and about 1.5-2 thousand people.

If you replace stone blocks with concrete, the time is reduced by three times.

… And cheap!

At current prices, $0.5 billion will be spent on foundation blocks with delivery.

A stone for exterior decoration costs no more than 1.5 million dollars.

If you take the salaries of builders and not in the wealthiest countries, they get about $10k on today’s average.

Thus, the cost to the workers will be approximately 75 million dollars.

That is, the construction of a pyramid even from similar materials today will require savings of less than a billion dollars, high transportation costs and high salaries – no more than 5. For modern buildings – this is a very small budget.