They landed, said “let’s build some huge triangles for shits and giggles” and then they fucked off.

    • Carvex@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Skilled paid stonemasons were required to build the tight fitting surface stones of this one, so some of the laborers were definitely not slaves, howeveri believe you’re correct I doubt the sled drag team was salary.

        • RaineV1@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          By all accounts the builders of the pyramids actually had nice places to live, and a higher quality of life than most Egyptians. In truth there is literally no evidence they were slaves outside of the story of Moses.

          • stebo02
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            1 year ago

            In truth there is literally no evidence they were slaves outside of the story of Moses.

            Of course there’s no evidence. It happened more than 4000 years ago and there aren’t many writings left. No evidence doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

            • RaineV1@kbin.social
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              1 year ago

              Ah, going the George Bush route that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence. So, let me tell you about the unicorns on Mars. What, you can’t prove they’re not there.

              Seriously though, we do have quite a few records from then since the Egyptian kings really wanted people to know about them. We also have archeological finds of where the workers lived. Also in them being given lavish tombs that regular Egyptians at the time didn’t. This stuff is really not hard to look up.

        • unnecessarygoat@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          maybe it wasn’t worth teaching slaves how to properly build the pyramids and it was easier to get already educated citizens to build them

            • trailing9@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              All those unfinished pyramids around Egypt from people who were robbed of their chance to make their place in history.

            • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It’s not like any other country was that keen on building pyramids, like ever. Which of the cultures and/or races they enslaved would have experienced pyramid builders to boot?

              Even in Egypt, building pyramids was a very niche hobby.

              • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                I dunno, I wasn’t around. We have records of different “levels” of slaves in Rome (2000 years later) so it’s possible.

                Then again, I think the Nile was the only river providing so much bounty that all the labour could go into such large projects. Obviously Mesopotamia was doing well at the same time, but I don’t think they were doing the same level of megaprojects. BUT, my view is biased I’m that I’m not really aware of sources before about 500BC, so there could have been other megaprojects that didn’t survive.

                Regardless, I would estimate a hierarchy of builders and labourers is highly probable for the pryamids. The level of compensation and agency for each of those levels is something I don’t think we know (though this may be my personal blind spot).

                I would be surprised if pyramid engineers/architects were allowed to leave their project sites or find other work. But that’s me placing my modern state and strategic lens on a important ressource.

                • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  True. I also went from the assumption that slaves way back then = slaves in recent history.

                  I like to think that being the pyramid engineer/architect for the current pharaoh at the time would have been even a lifetime job.

                  If they were allowed to decide themselves what project to work on… I would really like to know that.

                  Maybe they handed out pamphlets, promoting their skills.

  • ekZepp@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Life is fair somehow. I’m sure that future Alien archeologists will imply our extinction to some unclear natural phenomenon, because

    " No civilization would be so stupid to do all of that to themselves"

  • kamenLady.@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    aaah - she’s taking a photo. I was wondering what she was shoving in her face. The bottom part is already an ancient pic in itself.

  • Sagrotan@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Sooo … How did they do it? Not with ramps. Not with triangular cranes. Not with aliens, so much is for sure, but how? Tell me.

      • Sagrotan@lemmy.world
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        They actually don’t really know how they did it, there are the voices that say ramps would’ve been so enormous that they wouldn’t have been practical in a realistic sense: https://www.cheops-pyramide.ch/khufu-pyramid/pyramid-theories.html There are supporters of the lever theory, even several different methods depending on the progress of the construction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_pyramid_construction_techniques?wprov=sfla1 But as I understand it as a complete layman ( my only qualification would be that my ex girlfriend was an egyptoligist) that the more they examine it, the more voices raise against a solely ramp method. The old egyptian were highly pragmatic & efficient, so I’ve heard, and the stones were gigantic, sand ramps are at least partly unpredictable & sand is not the stiffest construction material - sooo, I don’t really know & as far as I know, science doesn’t either, at least no exhaustive answer. So far

    • jandar_fett@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Wet sand, along with pulleys and lots and lots of man power, and using the Nile to float stones from upstream to the building site. More complicated than that, but yeah.