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 ...
Wow, all that, and they say WE have progressed. I don't think they fed the Jews real well, in the land of Goshen, so I wonder how much of that food was given to the slaves. Now, if they needed help getting aircraft up and down, I could have helped them out :-)
At the end of the Napoleonic wars, the winners executed by firing squad a couple of his field marshals, who were themselves allowed to give the order to fire. I though that was kind of neat. (Not that they were executed, though.)
:’) The Israelites built with brick; if they built pyramids (and there are rabbinical sources that say they did) then they were in the Fayoum where the Middle Kingdom pharaohs had their brick pyramids constructed. They are still there, but they aren’t as well preserved as the Giza pyramids. Lake Fayoum has risen and fallen over the millennia, but is still reliant for its water on the Canal of Joseph, which dates from the Middle Kingdom, and still attributed to Joseph.
It’s times like this I wish I were Moe Howard. ;’)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3151875/posts?page=2#2
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3151875/posts?page=4#4
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3151875/posts?page=8#8
Egyptian beer, while mildly alcoholic, was thick. Not like Guinness thick... we're talking actual chunks, like grandma's boiled coffee.
I've made some. Once. The pig got most of it.
I have since eaten the pig. Scholarship is hungry work.
/johnny
All of those blocks would leave one he!! of a hole somewhere nearby. Has anyone found where they were quarried? Very impressive feat given the construction methods of the time.
Too late. I put on my glasses.
Infestation emanating from K street. They are already over-run.
/johnny
Food justice.
You feed the pig.
The pig feeds you.
“At this point, what difference does it make?”
When I read that they moved these stones use ‘dampened sand’ I just laughed.....Once again the folks trying to explain what they have no way of explaining just decide to go off on their own and come up with a theory they have no way of proving.
It is almost as much fun as listening to astronomers telling me about the light they have just seen that is evidence of something that happened 15 billion years ago.......
:’) Yeah, the Egyptians (and I think the Sumerians as well) made beer that was eaten more or less like soup, or rather gazpacho. :’(
They made it out of Tilapia.
I think they did. They claim the ancient Egyptians as their ancestors. The white devils stole all their technology.
you can be just like Moe Howard (Moses Harry Horwitz)...
he very kindly gave away some of his best acting secrets when he got older...
see...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_METTgPnSWY
They used standard grav plates. Sheesh...
They used lots of Slaves they captured!!
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