A groundbreaking new study suggests that the 4,500-year-old Step Pyramid of Djoser in Egypt, one of the world's oldest monumental structures, was constructed using a sophisticated hydraulic lifting system. This hypothesis has been put forward by researchers from the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA).
Previously, it was widely believed that the pyramid was most likely built using a network of ramps and levers. However,this new research proposes a far more complex engineering feat.
Led by Xavier Landreau, a team of researchers suggests that ancient Egyptians constructed nearby canals to power the lifting mechanisms. They theorize that water could have been channeled into two shafts within the pyramid itself, creating a buoyant force that would have been used to raise and lower a platform carrying heavy stone blocks.
"The ancient Egyptians were renowned for their ingenuity and mastery of hydraulics, using canals for irrigation and barges to transport huge stones," the researchers wrote. "This work opens a new avenue of research: the use of hydraulic power to build the immense structures erected by the pharaohs."
The Step Pyramid, constructed around 2680 BC, was a funerary complex for the Third Dynasty Pharaoh Djoser. However,the exact method of its construction has long been a mystery.
Landreau and his colleagues argue that a nearby, previously unexplained structure known as the enclosure of Gisr al-Mudir was in fact a "check dam" used to capture water and sediment.
They also propose that a series of chambers dug into the ground just outside the pyramid could have served as a water purification system. This would have allowed sediment to settle as the water passed through each successive chamber.From there, the water would have entered the pyramid's shafts, where it would have pressurized and moved the building blocks up to higher levels of the structure through a process known as "volcanic" construction.
While the authors are confident that "the internal architecture of the step pyramid corresponds to a previously unreported hydraulic lifting device," they acknowledge that further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.
The scientists aim to determine how the water could have flowed through the shafts, and how much water was available in the surrounding area thousands of years ago. Their research, conducted in collaboration with "several national laboratories," has led to the "discovery of a dam, a water purification structure, and a hydraulic lift that would have made it possible to build the step pyramid at Saqqara."
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