How the pyramids were built: Part I

Origins of the grandest pyramids date back to the modest pit graves of the predynastic  period, which were covered by simple mounds of sand and gravel. A little later, with the onset of the first dynasty, the graves of the rulers and elite consisted of neat mud brick boxes, sunk in the desert, divided like a house, into several chambers. The tombs of the kings of the first and second dynasties followed this pattern, only with greater added complexity near the high cliffs at Abydos. In the third dynasty, the step pyramid of Djoser heralded the classic pyramid age. As from the 4^th till the 6^th dynasty, the Egyptians built pyramids for their God/kings but on smaller scale and smaller stones. The location of those pyramids lie between Abu roash, north West of Giza to Meidum near the entrance of Fayoum. This trend would soon demise where new kingdom pharaohs built their tombs in a communal royal burial ground mostly at the valley of kings at Thebes.

The pyramids remain the most puzzling of all royal tombs

"How were the pyramids built?" is the question people most often ask when the famous Egyptologist Mark Lehner tells them that he worked at the site of Giza pyramids. For him, it requires a single, simple answer, whereas many theorists claim to offer they have diagrams showing stones hauled up various types of ramps; levered up on the pyramid steps or lifted with counterweights or hydraulic locks. Unfortunately those ideas wilt in the Egyptian sun. Simply because there wasn't any one absolutely standard pyramid, neither was there a standard method of pyramid building.

To build a pyramid is to embark on a huge landscape project, especially in the case of the great pyramids, they must be looked at from their particular topographic context. Apart from the pyramid itself, one must identify other facets that together tell the entire story of the living pyramid, including the evidence of the human elements of the work force and personnel who maintained the pyramid.

Types of stones used in building pyramids

The fine limestone for outer pyramid casing was quarried at Turah and transported across the Nile. That was used for casing the pyramid of Khufu and Djoser.  Also, blocks of granite were quarried at Aswan which were used for encasing Khafre's pyramid temples, Menkaure's pyramid, columns of 5^th & 6^th dynasty pyramids, false doors, offering tables and pyramidions. There was another type of hard stone like black granite not commonly used for pyramids but a more well attested technique for the new kingdom tombs. It was also quarried at Aswan.

Technique of cutting blocks in the quarries

1. Workmen draw cracks in the form of straight lines that determine the shape of the block then dug circular pits on the straightness of the previously defined line that formed the base of the block.

2. Those pits were filled with wood or stone or coal and then the fire was lit on those pits. This fire heats whatever is inside the block reaching very high temperatures where the molecules will become very active because of the excess of energy.

3. Cool water was added to this fire suddenly bottling the molecular activity and resulting in the collapse of the lattice structure holding the stone in this place. This shock cuts the block as desired making the block ready for transport.

Evidence of the limestone encasing can still be seen on the top of the Middle Pyramid as well on the bases of the others

Source:
The complete pyramids by Mark Lenhar