How to Build an Ancient Pyramid

An architect and researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) says he has discovered how ancient Egyptians made the pyramids.

Ever wondered 'how on Earth did the Egyptians built the pyramids thousands of years ago' when you saw a documentary about Egypt?

The same question has been in scientists' minds for thousands of years and until now, no one had the answer.

Well, this may be caused by the fact that most of them were so impressed by the weight of the stones that they did not ask themselves the right questions.

Ole J. Bryn, an architect and associate professor in NTNU’s Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art asked himself two questions: “How did the Egyptians know exactly where to put the enormously heavy building blocks?” and “How was the master architect able to communicate detailed, highly precise plans to a workforce of 10,000 illiterate men?”.

He studied Khufu’s Great Pyramid in Giza, better known as the Pyramid of Cheops, which consists of 2.3 million limestone blocks weighing roughly 7 million tons, and which, at 146.6 meters high, held the record as the tallest structure ever built for nearly 4000 years.

While he was analyzing it, Bryn discovered that the Egyptians invented the modern building grid, by separating the structure’s measuring system from the physical building itself, this way introducing tolerance (the term used today by engineers and architects).

He found out that the apex point – the highest point or the tip of a pyramid, was the key, as Egyptians found an extremely accurate and precise way of reaching it.

Bryn studied the plans from the thirty oldest Egyptian pyramids, and concluded that it could be possible to prepare modern project documentation of not just one, but all pyramids from any given period.

The condition 'sine qua non' is for the architect to know the main dimensions of a pyramid, and he can project it just like it was a modern building, only with building methods and measurements known from the ancient Egypt.

Bryn published an article in May 2010 - “Retracing Khufu’s Great Pyramid in the Nordic Journal of Architectural Research” (vol 22, no. 1/2, 2010), in which he explained that the construction of many of the Egyptian pyramids should be started by considering the building grid first.

If Bryn is right, then archaeologists will have a new “map” that shows that the pyramids are not a "bunch of heavy rocks with unknown structures”, on the contrary, they are incredibly precise structures.

Ole J. Bryn will present and explain his findings at the exhibition The Apex Point in Trondheim from September 13th to October 1st.