Scientists may have solved mystery behind Egypt's pyramids | BBC News

Scientists believe they may have solved the mystery of how 31 pyramids, including the world-famous Giza complex, were built in Egypt more than 4,000 years ago.

A research team from the University of North Carolina Wilmington has discovered that the pyramids are likely to have been built along a long-lost, ancient branch of the River Nile - which is now hidden.

For many years, archaeologists have thought that ancient Egyptians must have used a nearby waterway to transport materials such as the stone blocks needed to build the pyramids on the river.

But up until now, "nobody was certain of the location, the shape, the size or proximity of this mega waterway to the actual pyramids site".

#AncientEgypt #Pyramids #BBCNews

[japple]

Wasn’t this always common knowledge? There’s photos of the banks of the Nile right up against the pyramids in the late 1800’s?

[linimcfc]

Im just amazed the shed i put up last summer is still standing

[CoffeeFiend]

About 6 decades late to the party but okay BBC.

[StephenGoodfellow]

No pictures, illustrations, diagrams, explanations? Guess we'll just have to take him at his word.

[Ayanda]

So they also used the water to stack the rocks on top of each other?

[Dutchgo]

This doesn’t solve “how” they were built.

[mpfligs]

Water was always known to be close to the pyramids….

[aaa]

I’ve seen this title a million times already

[johnmitchell]

That's not new information...
The nile like all rivers moves over Time and the sahara was green at the time of construction

[Stuntman]

Doesn’t explain how they lifted 70 Ton granite blocks over 200ft.

[thedude-ednn]

How were the blocks of granite lifted 350ft to the kings Absolutely bs this clickbate is!!

[NulKyaut-zehu]

It's a mystery how everyday a pyramid mystery is solved.

[llewellynfisher]

What a stupid theory I hope these people are not giving Governments advice

[yyhkodu]

There was an ancient port right next to Giza that they used to transport heavy stones.

[outerjeff]

Oh yeah, you really solved it there, pal

[tomazvibe]

That means nothing. The question is how were the 70 ton stones lifted up to more than 200 ft. How were 2.3 million stones made to fit in so precisely with each other to make the whole thing align perfectly with the true north.

[pencilmen]

The pyramids are interconnected by deep underground aquifiers (maybe required for their function). These aquifiers were fed by the Nile. I have seen old photographs of water by way of either a canal or river branch close to the great pyramid.
Of interest is that the largest stone in the complex is estimated to weigh 600 tons. They moved it somehow.

[Piyushkuma-em]

So the river flowed much closer to the pyramids and helped in the transportation of mammoth stones. Of course, the landscape is vastly different today

[DavidBain-mhoz]

"We're gonna need a bigger boat"
( to lift the 50 tonne granite block)

[HAL-vuef]

2.3 million blocks just for the Great Pyramid… do the math….designed, site levelled, blocks cut, transported, lifted, positioned and finished in apparently around 25 years. That would be one block from quarry to placement every few minutes, 24 hours a day. Even with a speedboat and a modern overhead crane that’s not realistic.