Posted on 05/03/2014 6:46:48 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids may have been able to move massive stone blocks across the desert by wetting the sand in front of a contraption built to pull the heavy objects, according to a new study.
Physicists at the University of Amsterdam investigated the forces needed to pull weighty objects on a giant sled over desert sand, and discovered that dampening the sand in front of the primitive device reduces friction on the sled, making it easier to operate. The findings help answer one of the most enduring historical mysteries: how the Egyptians were able to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of constructing the famous pyramids.
To make their discovery, the researchers picked up on clues from the ancient Egyptians themselves. A wall painting discovered in the ancient tomb of Djehutihotep, which dates back to about 1900 B.C., depicts 172 men hauling an immense statue using ropes attached to a sledge. In the drawing, a person can be seen standing on the front of the sledge, pouring water over the sand, said study lead author Daniel Bonn, a physics professor at the University of Amsterdam...
But, there is a delicate balance, the researchers found... The amount of water necessary depends on the type of sand, he added, but typically the optimal amount falls between 2 percent and 5 percent of the volume of sand.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I don't recall the Egyptian women being particularly bitchy. The bazaar is a zoo, but then third world bazaars usually are. I've seen'em all.
Egypt produces fabulous cottons, I do know. But an entire nation can't live off of one product. With that glorious river they can grow all they need to feed their people. But, more employment is needed, I think.
I remember one Christmas in Cairo. We were living in Saudi Arabia and the time, working for ARAMCO. My husband stayed at the hotel and saw "Miracle on 34th Street" on television (with a very young Natalie Wood) and my mother and I went to Midnight Mass.
The taxi driver took us there. I didn't think it would last until 2:00 A.M. and was worried about getting a taxi back to the hotel.
Well, the taxi driver had waited for us! It was a pretty wonderful Christmas.
Who made this suggestion?
====================================
Where would you find a tropical rainforest Brazil or Egypt?
from Answers.com
Brazil, you need to use common sense. Rain forests grow in hot areas near the equator that have no dry season. Egypt is always dry so that can't be it but Brazil is near the equator and barely ever is dry so Brazil must be the answer.
Just boggles the mind!!
In the Middle Ages English ale could be eaten with a spoon.
That is the most convincing part.
I was wondering why no one had mentioned this!
You could maybe make that claim for the 2 1/2 ton limestone blocks, but what about the 25 - 80 ton granite blocks above the King's chamber that were transported from Aswan, 500 miles away? The Egyptians were also cutting and transporting 100 - 450 ton, 70 ft. long granite obelisks with regularity. The little limestone blocks may have been the least of the challenges they faced when building the pyramids.
Nalgenes.
Nalgenes.
The granite blocks were probably carved but they didn’t need 1,000,000+ of them...
Not even close
It is in fact a fact that the area was a rain forest at one time, it was about 10,000 - 12,000 years ago....
the wind currents changed and dried the area out..
“Lecture 6 - Ancient Egypt c. 3100-1069 BC
SECTIONS: climate, chronology, political organization, religion, world empire
Developments in the Nile Valley of Egypt took a different form than those in Mesopotamia. During the final stages of the Pleistocene era (the Younger Dryas, 16000-11000 BC), the region now occupied by the Sahara Desert furnished a lush rain forest to sustain scattered human settlement. With gradual global warming the Sahara Desert came into being. Widespread desiccation caused human occupants of the Sahara to follow their food sources to the north African coast as well as to the narrow basin of the Nile. A vast, lifeless desert closed them off from the east, similarly barren mountains from the west, the narrow gorges, desert borders, and complicated watersheds of the Nile itself from the south and the deep waters of the Mediterranean Sea to the north. The formidable nature of these barriers caused the Egyptian population to remain highly isolated, secure in one respect from the threat of outside invasion but technologically backward and slow to change in another. Evidence suggests that they had adapted to animal husbandry by 8000 BC and agriculture by 5000; however, they did not acquire bronze technology until 2000 BC. The inhabitants along the extremely narrow basin of the Nile forged one of the earliest and greatest world empires – the united “kingdoms” of ancient Egypt.”
from an article a the link...
10,000-12,000 years ago? Well that is EVEN before the Egyptian civilization.
There is nowhere on the Internet that says that. You must have read that in a book. [A WHAT?!?!--oh yeah, a book! :o)]
"Wind currents" wouldn't have dried up an area that large anyway. I believe your book had some other place in mind. That area has been desert forever.
The Egyptians don't seem to have been too concerned with getting things done quickly, and since they clearly had the ability to work with vastly heavier blocks, stacking 2-ton blocks was just a matter of time and repetition.
Is that why the Sahara has the bones of prehistoric sharks and whales?
There are lots of places on the net that covers what I mentioned.....
There is also a belief that the blocks used were concrete and were poured in place.
We better not even mention Gobekli Tepe......
Amazing.
One of the world's best preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales has been recently discovered in the same corner of the Atacama Desert in Chile. The fossils were discovered in June last year during a highway widening project. The Atacama Desert Deserts by definition do not receive any rain. The Atacama Desert of Chile and Peru stretches almost parallel along the Pacific Coast for about 600 miles (1,000km). The average elevation (height) is 13,000 feet (4km) making it the highest desert in the world. It is also one of the coldest deserts with temperatures averaging between 0 and 25 degree Celsius.
The Atacama Desert
Deserts by definition do not receive any rain. The Atacama Desert of Chile and Peru stretches almost parallel along the Pacific Coast for about 600 miles (1,000km). The average elevation (height) is 13,000 feet (4km) making it the highest desert in the world. It is also one of the coldest deserts with temperatures averaging between 0 and 25 degree Celsius.
Map of Chile cc:wikipedia
Climatologists refer to the center of the Atacama as an "absolute desert,". There has been no record of rain in certain parts of the desert for over 400 years since humans began keeping records, making it the driest desert on Earth. The peculiar topography of South America - elevation and location - is responsible for this. Explore the notes to learn how topography creates deserts.
=========================================
Also from the Internet:
Archaeologists have uncovered 20 Stone-Age skeletons in and around a rock shelter in Libya's Sahara desert, according to a new study.
The skeletons date between 8,000 and 4,200 years ago, meaning the burial place was used for millennia. "It must have been a place of memory," said study co-author Mary Anne Tafuri, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge. "People throughout time have kept it, and they have buried their people, over and over, generation after generation."
About 15 women and children were buried in the rock shelter, while five men and juveniles were buried under giant stone heaps called tumuli outside the shelter during a later period, when the region turned to desert.
The findings, which are detailed in the March issue of the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, suggest the culture changed with the climate.
===============================
Millennia of burials
From about 8,000 to 6,000 years ago, the Sahara desert region, called Wadi (Wadi means valley or riverbed) Takarkori, was filled with scrubby vegetation and seasonal green patches. Stunning rock art depicts ancient herding animals, such as cows, which require much more water to graze than the current environment could support, Tafuri said.
Stone Age Painters Were Realists
Tafuri and her colleague Savino di Lernia began excavating the archaeological site between 2003 and 2006. At the same site, archaeologists also uncovered huts, animal bones and pots with traces of the earliest fermented dairy products in Africa. (See Images of the Stone-Age Skeletons)
To date the skeletons, Tafuri measured the remains for concentrations of isotopes, or molecules of the same element with different weights.
The team concluded that the skeletons were buried over four millennia, with most of the remains in the rock shelter buried between 7,300 and 5,600 years ago.
The males and juveniles under the stone heaps were buried starting 4,500 years ago, when the region became more arid. Rock art confirms the dry up, as the cave paintings began to depict goats, which need much less water to graze than cows, Tafuri said.
The ancient people also grew up not far from the area where they were buried, based on a comparison of isotopes in tooth enamel, which forms early in childhood, with elements in the nearby environment.
Shift in culture?
The findings suggest the burial place was used for millennia by the same group of people. It also revealed a divided society.
====================================
Whales in Chile, South America, yes, but none mentioned in the Sahara. No mention of whale bones in the Sahara, just people and herd animal bones.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.