Ancient Technology that may or may not be Ahead of its Time, or Even True
- Thread starter Will The Serious
- Start date
Was Djoser's pyramid built using a volcano style hydrolic lift?
The Djoser Pyramid today
A computer rendering of the Djoser Pyramid.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hydraulic-lift-egypts-first-pyramid
The landscape surrounding the Djoser Pyramid.
From the online article: https://www.sci.news/archaeology/pyramid-djoser-hydraulic-lift-system-13154.html
"In a new transdisciplinary analysis, Dr. Xavier Landreau from CEA Paleotechnic Institute and colleagues discovered that a hydraulic lift may have been used to build the pyramid.
Based on their mapping of the nearby watersheds, the authors found that one of the unexplained massive Saqqara structures, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, has the features of a check dam with the intent to trap sediment and water.
In addition, a series of compartments dug into the ground outside of the pyramid may have served as a water treatment facility, allowing sediment to settle as water passed through each subsequent compartment.
Water may then have been able to flow into the pyramid shafts themselves, where the force of its rise could help carry the building stones.
Further research is still needed to understand how water might have flowed through the shafts, as well as how much water was available on the landscape at that point in Earth’s history.
But the archaeologists suggest that even as other building methods like ramps were probably also used to help build the pyramid, a hydraulic lift system could have been used to support the building process when there was enough water.
“We identified that the Step Pyramid’s internal architecture is consistent with a hydraulic elevation mechanism never reported before,” they said.
“The ancient architects may have raised the stones from the pyramid center in a volcano fashion using the sediment-free water from the Dry Moat’s south section.”
“Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pioneering and mastery of hydraulics through canals for irrigation purposes and barges to transport huge stones.” "
I'm having trouble with this concept. The Djoser Pyramid was not built with the massive 3000 lb. stones that the Pyramid of Giza used, so floating them up on a lift of water is much more conceivable, but where did the water pressure come from to force the water up the central shaft? Of course, more studies need to be done, it hasn't all been worked out. I'm just thinking a hydrolic lift, while maybe not beyond the engineering abilities of the ancient Egyptians (especially Imhotep, the credited architect).
The biggest problem I have is that, a hydrolic system of that complexity and scope, in a mostly flat landscape would have required a way of pouring the water down the shaft, or, even harder, forcing the water up from the bottom. Either way, a large amount of water would have to be lifted to the height of the shaft, either into the shaft directly, or into a nearby reservoir that could then be used to fill the shaft. That seems like a lot of extra work when there was much more basic and simpler technology for carrying the stones up the growing pyramid directly. Occam's Razor
There is an interesting intelligence experiment done with chimpanzees where water was provided in a water bowl and a peanut was set at the bottom of a clear tube. The chimp couldn't get the peanut, but the poor guy easily figured out that he could bring the peanut to him by filling the tube with water. I wouldn't have thought of that.
-Will
The Djoser Pyramid today
A computer rendering of the Djoser Pyramid.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hydraulic-lift-egypts-first-pyramid
The landscape surrounding the Djoser Pyramid.
From the online article: https://www.sci.news/archaeology/pyramid-djoser-hydraulic-lift-system-13154.html
"In a new transdisciplinary analysis, Dr. Xavier Landreau from CEA Paleotechnic Institute and colleagues discovered that a hydraulic lift may have been used to build the pyramid.
Based on their mapping of the nearby watersheds, the authors found that one of the unexplained massive Saqqara structures, the Gisr el-Mudir enclosure, has the features of a check dam with the intent to trap sediment and water.
In addition, a series of compartments dug into the ground outside of the pyramid may have served as a water treatment facility, allowing sediment to settle as water passed through each subsequent compartment.
Water may then have been able to flow into the pyramid shafts themselves, where the force of its rise could help carry the building stones.
Further research is still needed to understand how water might have flowed through the shafts, as well as how much water was available on the landscape at that point in Earth’s history.
But the archaeologists suggest that even as other building methods like ramps were probably also used to help build the pyramid, a hydraulic lift system could have been used to support the building process when there was enough water.
“We identified that the Step Pyramid’s internal architecture is consistent with a hydraulic elevation mechanism never reported before,” they said.
“The ancient architects may have raised the stones from the pyramid center in a volcano fashion using the sediment-free water from the Dry Moat’s south section.”
“Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pioneering and mastery of hydraulics through canals for irrigation purposes and barges to transport huge stones.” "
I'm having trouble with this concept. The Djoser Pyramid was not built with the massive 3000 lb. stones that the Pyramid of Giza used, so floating them up on a lift of water is much more conceivable, but where did the water pressure come from to force the water up the central shaft? Of course, more studies need to be done, it hasn't all been worked out. I'm just thinking a hydrolic lift, while maybe not beyond the engineering abilities of the ancient Egyptians (especially Imhotep, the credited architect).
The biggest problem I have is that, a hydrolic system of that complexity and scope, in a mostly flat landscape would have required a way of pouring the water down the shaft, or, even harder, forcing the water up from the bottom. Either way, a large amount of water would have to be lifted to the height of the shaft, either into the shaft directly, or into a nearby reservoir that could then be used to fill the shaft. That seems like a lot of extra work when there was much more basic and simpler technology for carrying the stones up the growing pyramid directly. Occam's Razor
There is an interesting intelligence experiment done with chimpanzees where water was provided in a water bowl and a peanut was set at the bottom of a clear tube. The chimp couldn't get the peanut, but the poor guy easily figured out that he could bring the peanut to him by filling the tube with water. I wouldn't have thought of that.
-Will
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