Interesting news about the construction of the pyramids in Giza. For many years, the hypothesis of a giant ramp, along which the blocks for the pyramid were fed from the plateau, and then delivered there on rollers or runners, dominated. And this was the official Egyptian version of the construction technology. It is told to everyone who has been to Cairo and Giza. And I was there, and I heard it, I saw colorful illustrations on the Island of the Pharaohs. However, people with a natural-scientific or technical mindset have always been confused by the fact that the ramp itself had to exceed the Cheops pyramid itself in volume. And such logistics greatly limits the delivery of blocks to essentially one route, and there are millions of these blocks. This is where all sorts of exotic and conspiracy theories arose. But “necessity is the mother of invention”: it was discovered that limestone blocks were delivered directly to the foot of the pyramid under construction through special water channels cut into the Giza plateau. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4913550/How-Great-Pyramid-Giza-built.html, https://newsone.ua/ru/arxeologi-nakonec-to-vyyasnili-kak-egiptyanam-udalos-postroit-piramidu-xeopsa/. And there were many channels – therefore blocks were supplied from all sides, which sharply accelerated the construction of the pyramid. After all, an elegant correct technology is better than a scientific, but implausible theory, provoking unscientific versions.
By the way, Herodotus directly wrote about the supply of water to the pyramid and the technique of lifting blocks that does not require ramps: “The construction of this road and underground chambers on the hill where the pyramids stand lasted ten years. In these chambers, Cheops arranged his tomb on the island, having led a Nile canal to the mountain. The construction of the pyramid itself lasted twenty years. It has a facet of eight plethra on each side, square and equal to the height. It is built of hewn and fitted stones, each stone at least thirty cubic feet. This pyramid is built like this. At first it goes in the form of a staircase in ledges, which others call platforms or steps. After the first stones were laid, the rest were raised with the help of platforms knocked together from short beams. In this way, stones were raised from the ground to the first step of the staircase. There they placed a stone on another platform; from the first step they dragged it to the second platform, with the help of which they raised it to the second step. How many There were rows of steps, and there were so many lifting devices.
Perhaps, however, there was only one lifting device, which after lifting the stone was easily transferred to the next step. I was told about both methods – that is why I am citing them. Thus, first the upper part of the pyramid was finished, then the middle one was built and finally the lowest steps on the ground” (“History”, Book II).
As far as I know, and I inquired on the spot – no remains/traces of any ramps were found. This simply speaks of a very clever technology of block feeding and construction, which is not yet understood. If the Egyptians had circular saws for cutting granite, traces of which simply scream (see above) – then technologies unknown to us could have been used for the construction of large pyramids. For example, it has long been believed that most of the blocks were “cast” on site from powdered limestone using a thickener. And the neighboring blocks played the role of formwork for the hardening block. I do not know how reliable it is that hair was found inside such a block, and on some blocks there are imprints of a mat. In any case, from an engineering point of view, this would be very technological. In this regard, I have long remembered a phrase from a later pharaoh, mentioned in a school textbook, that the bricks for his pyramid were made from river/lake silt, which was mined with poles (i.e. not from cut limestone blocks (!).
Of course, other options are possible. It may well be that these great pyramids were not built by local architects. This would explain the short period of construction of such perfect structures, followed by their degradation on local soil. With the help of a local driver, Mohammed from Giza, we somehow drove around almost all the known pyramids in Egypt. The pyramids of Sneferu in Dashshur are earlier and also impressive. Evolution can still be traced. I even found a piece of Lebanese cedar timber (it was torn off the upper beam) when I climbed up to the ceiling of the Bent (Southern) Pyramid.