The scientists’ work is not yet complete, but they have published initial results in a peer-reviewed journal. According to this account, the ancient Egyptians may have used it. complex hydraulic system to build the first pyramid.

Detail

Djoser’s pyramid structure contains 330,400 cubic meters of stone and clay. And that was before the advent of large equipment such as bulldozers and lifting cranes. Since it is located near a long-lost branch of the Nile, researchers suggest that: Ancient Egyptians used this water source for construction..

To do this, they may have designed a “modern hydraulic system” consisting of a dam, a water treatment plant and a hydraulic freight elevator powered by the river. The researchers behind the idea say that the mysterious Hisr al-Mudir shelter near the pyramid worked as a structure to trap sediment and water.

This is a groundbreaking discovery because for many years there was no real consensus on the purpose of this structure, and one of the main theories was that it was used as a burial site.

• For the water-powered system to work, water had to flow from the Nile to a dam with walls 2 kilometers long and 15 meters wide, located between the sides of two valleys to the west of the pyramid.
• The dam will filter out any sediment before the water reaches a treatment plant known as the Deep Ditch, which will be 400 metres long and 27 metres deep and will be dug into the existing bedrock.
• Treatment plants will contain several basins where sediment or particles will settle to the bottom to prevent clogging of the system.
• From here, a series of underground pipes will direct water 28 metres below the pyramid to a water-powered elevator.
• The power of the water collected in the central shaft would be used to “float” stones up and down the mine, delivering heavy construction materials to workers building the “volcano” pyramid.

Xavier Landreau, CEO of Paleotechnic, said the elevator “would have played a very important role in the filling of the main shaft with water. It’s a truly massive structure, and it shows that water was the fuel used to build the pyramid. The elevator would have had cycles of filling and emptying, allowing the stones to rise volcanically to the level of the building.”

This drawing was added by the authors of the theory to show how a hydraulic elevator might work / Photo: Xavier Landreau

It already happened

It is worth noting that this is not the first such theory, as other scientists have previously suggested that the dried-up branch of the Nile River, which once flowed near more than 30 pyramids, could have been used to move the huge blocks.

Because this branch of the Nile had long since dried up, the pyramids stood relatively far from the river, forcing scientists to look for clues as to how the Egyptians transported their building materials.

Critics

But not everyone is convinced that the Egyptians used hydraulics to build the pyramid. First of all, it remains unclear how the heavy stones “floated” in water and did not sink in the mine. Second, other scholars have noted that there were no Egyptologists or archaeologists involved in the study. Furthermore, the authors actually question the use of the pyramid of Djoser as a burial site.