The document provides details on the three main pyramids located at Giza, Egypt: the Great Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaure. It discusses their dimensions, construction materials which included limestone, granite, basalt, and diorite. Over 2.3 million blocks were used to build the pyramids, weighing between 2-30 tons each. Precise planning and surveying techniques were employed to achieve high accuracy in building the pyramids. Theories for transporting and placing the heavy stones include using ramps, water shafts, and rope and pulley systems. Masonry work involved precisely cutting and fitting the blocks together

1. CASE STUDY ON
STONE
STRUCTURE

2. 1 2 3
3 PYRAMIDS
 DIMENSIONS:-HEIGHT: 146.5m
-BASE: 230.4m
 SLOPE:- 51° 50' 24''
PYRAMID OF
KHUFU
 DIMENSIONS:-HEIGHT: 136.4m
-BASE: 215.28m
 SLOPE:- 53° 08'
PYRAMID OF
KHAFRE
 DIMENSIONS:-HEIGHT: 65m
-BASE: 102.2x104.6m
SLOPE:-51° 20' 25''
PYRAMID OF
MENKAURE
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CONSTRUCTED: 2687-2667 BC COORDINATES: 29° 58' 34''N 11° 7' 58' E

3. MATERIALS
 Coarse Lime stones ,used for the core masonry, appears to have been quarried from the
immediate vicinity of each Pyramid. Fine lime stones ,used for the exterior casing stones, and for
lining the passages and chambers.
 Granite was used in the interiors of all three of the pyramids of Giza, most notably in the King`s
Chamber in the Great Pyramid. Red granite also lines the north corridor of the Pyramid Temple
of Menkaure.
 Basalt was used for the paving stones, still visible, in the Pyramid Temple of Khufu. Diorite, an
extremely hard, greenish brown stone, was mainly used for statues. The statue of Khafre, found
in a shaft in the Valley Temple of Khafre, is of diorite.
 2.3 million blocks are used in Giza pyramid, that weight from 2 to 30 tons each.
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4.  It was very important to choose the right building ground. The Giza plateau is very stable ground,
mostly bedrock which consists of nummulite limestone from the so called Mokattam formation. A
disadvantage is, that digging shafts and chambers in kind of hard stone is much more difficult.
Secondly, it was very important to choose a place as close as possible to harbor of the Nile
channel and to the quarries on the Giza plateau.
 The Great Pyramid's north-south axis is nearly aligned to true north, the deviation is only 2' 28''.
The tombs are aligned north-south with an accuracy of up to 0.05 degrees.
 Observing the shadow that a post fixed upright produces , it is easy to see that upon dawn it is
directed approximately to the West. When the day advances, this shadow is shortened and moves
to the North.
 On a leveled area, dig a hole that will serve to house the post to employ. Trace a semicircle
directed visually approx. to the North. This is of easy accomplishment, using a cord and a sharp
pointed element.
PLANNING AND SURVEYING 3

5. PLANNING AND SURVEYING 4

6. PLANNING AND SURVEYING
 The radius of this semicircle has a direct proportional to the height of the post to be installed
and it must be somewhat bigger than the shortest shadow of same (noon).
 While the morning advances, the shadow will be shortening and moving towards the semicircle
until it ‘‘cuts” it, subsequently ‘‘traveling” the interior of same and returning to ‘‘cut it” upon
leaving, some time in the afternoon. Once the entry and exit points of the shadow are marked ,
a straight line between both is traced.
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7. PLANNING AND SURVEYING 6

8.  An orientation reference line was set up in a larger square by measuring off
the established square ground plan. This was done by digging post holes at
measured distances from the inner square in the bedrock and inserting small
posts through which a rope or string ran. These holes were dug at about 10
cubit intervals. This outer reference line was needed because the original
orientation lines would be erased by building work.
PLANNING AND SURVEYING 7

9. PLANNING AND SURVEYING
 Even using current technology, the precision construction of a structure of this size is
impossible. The base is level to within 15 millimeters and the sides of the base are exact to
within 58 millimeters of each other. It is aligned to true north with a 3/60 degree error
margin.
 Major problems had developed earlier at other building sites, because the strength of the
ground was overestimated when erecting a pyramid. Another outer layer of casing had to
be added, changing the angle of inclination from 60° to 51° 50' 24'‘ . But again structural
problems with the subsidence developed, the casing slipped and more damage occurred.
In the end the angle of inclination had to be drastically lowered to 43.99°. Now this pyramid
is called the Bent Pyramid, because of its shape.
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52°

10. QUARRYING OF STONES
 The workers may have done this by building low mud walls all round the base and cutting
channels in a grid pattern over the surface. Then they would have filled the channels with water
and marked the level it reached. After the water had drained away, protruding rock would have
been cut back to the level indicate, and any depressions filled with stones to make a perfectly
level surface.
 In fact, all researcher have doubts any water related theories of leveling, mostly because
evaporation might cause considerable variations in the measurements.
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11. CONSTRUCTION
TRANSPORTATION AND PLACING OF
STONES
The granite Stone from Aswan had to be ferried down the
river on large barges about 934 km. To transport the
heavy stone blocks they use combining two barges with
a raft between ,where stones lies on the top .The large
granite blocks arrived in the harbor of Giza (the Nile
channel lies on approx. 17m above sea level) and had to
be transported over a distance of 500-600 meters and
overcome 40 meters difference in height to the foot of
the pyramid. Most of the route is not very steep - the
average angle of inclination is about 4° - but there are
some stretches with 8° to 24° inclination, that have to be
negotiated, until you reach the rock plateau at the base
of the pyramid.
Egyptians used canal as the route. They use boat to
transport the stone to the harbor. They built a causeway
to connect the site of pyramid and harbor .
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12. TRANSPORTATION THEORIES
WATER SHAFT THEORY
In the ancient times, the process of lifting of
stone was very hard. To reduce the man
power and labour work Chriss Massey has
proposed the theory that known as water
shaft theory.
In this theory, the stones were covered by
reed mat with the materials like animals
skin and soft wood etc. are placed in
harbor.
Then the water released from the canal to
the harbour and all the stones starts
floating in that area.
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13. WATER SHAFT THEORY
Then they shifted the stone blocks to the
causeway area with the help of animals.
Now, the height difference between the
canal bed and the pyramid base is 30 to
40 m. And the distance between pyramid
site and harbour is nearly 500-600m.
It is a major problem to shift the stone
blocks to pyramid site .To solve this
problem Egyptians made a water tide
causeway connecting pyramid base and
canal, having a depth 3m and width 2.5 m
at the elevation angle of 4°.
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14. WATER SHAFT THEORY
13

15. 14

16. MASONRY WORK (WATER SHAFT THEORY) 15

17. TRANSPORTATION THEORIES
( ii ) EARTHEN RAMP THEORY
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18. TRANSPORTATION THEORIES 17

19. TRANSPORTATION THEORIES
( ii ) ROPE ROLL THEORY
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20. TRANSPORTATION THEORIES
( ii ) ROPE ROLL THEORY
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21. MASONRY WORK
 The stone masonry had done very precisely that the joints are less than a one fifth part of
inch. In the joints, two variations of mortar were used in the pyramid of Khufu. The outer
stones were joined with an extremely thin gypsum mortar which hardens cement-like. For
the inner core stones a mixture of gypsum, lime and sand was used. For polishing fine
quartz sand mixed with water was used.
 Special stones for the foundation were layed down, their function was to anchor the
pyramid body to the bedrock. The foundation slabs had a slight gradient of 2-3° inwards .
 The builders paid special attention to the corner stones. The corner stone foundation of
the pyramid have ball and socket construction capable for dealing with heat expansion
and earthquake.
 They have to interlock with the stones laying on top of them and below them.Now a
second course was layed on top. Each joint had to be overlapped by the stone on top but
by the one underneath as well.
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22. 21

23. Up to 7 meters height:
 The blocks of the lowest 10 layers are the largest - 1m by
2.5m and 1-1.5m high, weighting 6.5 - 10 tons. They were
build up around the rock outcropping until at least 7 meters
height.
Up to 10 meters height:
 Franz Lohner thinks, that at the latest when building the 7th
or 8th stone layer (height :-8-9m) it would be worthwhile to
dismantle those auxiliary ramps and haul the sledge directly
up the pyramid flank.
 At the beginning, when the largest volume of stones (30% of
the total volume in the first 15 meters ) and very massive
stones have to be transported, it is economical to work on all
4 sides of the pyramid.
MASONRY WORK 22

24. Up to 35 meters height:
 The construction of the first 30 meters of the pyramid is the most labor-
intensive time, because over 50% of the total volume was built, over 3
million tons of stone were used. Most of these blocks weight 2.5 to 3
tons .
 The entrance is built and the construction of the Grand Gallery has
started and at the same time the outer casing stones are polished. For
the huge granite beams which weight up to 50 tons, a special track
system is installed at the east or north of the pyramid - a heavy duty
track system with stone blocks serving as counter weights.
Finishing the King's chamber:
 On this height much less workers are necessary, so the track systems
are reduced to 3 pieces. Each track system has a rope roll station every
30-37m and another one up at the very edge of the pyramid plateau.
 On 50m already 82% of the total volume is built. The King's chamber
and the Grand Gallery are nearly finished (the floor of the chamber lies
on 43.03m [3]).
 On 70m the stress-relieving chambers are finished and the last granite
beam is brought up. Now the heavy duty track system can be
dismantled.
MASONRY WORK 23

25. On 100 meters height:
 Now the construction of the temple and the causeway can begin and
also probably the building of the satellite pyramids. On 100m already
97% of the total volume is built . Now smaller and lighter stone blocks
are used, about 1m by 1m and 0.5m high and weighting about 1.3 tons.
MASONRY WORK 24

26. 25

27. INSIDE PYRAMID 26

28. T H A N K Y O U !
 A N Y Q U E S T I O N S ?