Aliens and the Creation of the Pyramids
The idea that aliens created the Pyramids brings us to the author Erich von Däniken. He believed that the “sudden” appearance of the pyramids in Egypt was due to aliens. “Sudden” appearance? I don’t think that the pyramids just fell out of the sky in an instant by aliens. In fact, there was a process of building small earthen pyramids over graves that led to the making of the monument pyramids; they did not just pop up like whack-a-moles.
After the unification of all the villages on the Nile that led to the creation of ancient Egyptian civilization, the practice of making a bedrock tomb with an earthen pyramid on top was “deemed insufficient for pharaohs” (1). So the Egyptians started building bigger ones. This is a logical advance.
The earthen pyramids gave way to the mastabas, or a square block structure, that was instead placed on the tombs. The mastaba was eventually made larger and larger, and “pharaohs began to build stepped mastabas, with one block on top of another, culminating in a stepped pyramid for the pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara” (1).
After the pyramid at Saqqara, the first pyramid (as we would think of it) was attempted approximately 4,600 years ago at a place called Meidum, but it ended up being a failure due to the steep angle of the incline (54 degrees). It wasn’t until they worked out the logistical problems that they came to realization that a 42 degree angle would be the optimum angle. From that point on, the Egyptians continued making pyramid shaped monuments that became tombs to their pharaohs (1).
The logical advancement of funeral architecture from the earthen pyramids was the mastaba, and the mastaba led to the famous pyramids (like the trio at Giza) that are iconic of Egypt today. The ancient Egyptians didn’t need aliens’ help in order to build the pyramids: they did it with human ingenuity.
On another note, the Egyptians made pyramids for approximately a thousand years; that is not “sudden” in my book. According to Donald Redford, professor of Classics and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State, "The Egyptians began using the pyramid from shortly after 2700 B.C., and the great heyday of constructing them for royalty extended for about a thousand years, until about 1700 B.C." (2).
Though making the pyramids was not an easy feat, they were in time completed. Many scholars and scientists estimate that it took approximately 20,000 to 30,000 laborers in order to construct the Great Pyramid at Giza over a period of 23 years (2). It seems hard to believe, but human beings are amazing beings. We didn’t need the help of aliens to create one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Why else would there be pictorial depictions of the pyramid building process on wall panels in ancient Egyptian buildings? Obviously Erich von Däniken thought the ancient Egyptians were trying to trip us up in the future.
Sources:
(1) Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology, Second Edition. London and Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1996. Print.
(2) ScienceDaily. "How were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?" ScienceDaily.com, 28 Mar. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. <website>
After the unification of all the villages on the Nile that led to the creation of ancient Egyptian civilization, the practice of making a bedrock tomb with an earthen pyramid on top was “deemed insufficient for pharaohs” (1). So the Egyptians started building bigger ones. This is a logical advance.
The earthen pyramids gave way to the mastabas, or a square block structure, that was instead placed on the tombs. The mastaba was eventually made larger and larger, and “pharaohs began to build stepped mastabas, with one block on top of another, culminating in a stepped pyramid for the pharaoh Djoser at Saqqara” (1).
After the pyramid at Saqqara, the first pyramid (as we would think of it) was attempted approximately 4,600 years ago at a place called Meidum, but it ended up being a failure due to the steep angle of the incline (54 degrees). It wasn’t until they worked out the logistical problems that they came to realization that a 42 degree angle would be the optimum angle. From that point on, the Egyptians continued making pyramid shaped monuments that became tombs to their pharaohs (1).
The logical advancement of funeral architecture from the earthen pyramids was the mastaba, and the mastaba led to the famous pyramids (like the trio at Giza) that are iconic of Egypt today. The ancient Egyptians didn’t need aliens’ help in order to build the pyramids: they did it with human ingenuity.
On another note, the Egyptians made pyramids for approximately a thousand years; that is not “sudden” in my book. According to Donald Redford, professor of Classics and ancient Mediterranean studies at Penn State, "The Egyptians began using the pyramid from shortly after 2700 B.C., and the great heyday of constructing them for royalty extended for about a thousand years, until about 1700 B.C." (2).
Though making the pyramids was not an easy feat, they were in time completed. Many scholars and scientists estimate that it took approximately 20,000 to 30,000 laborers in order to construct the Great Pyramid at Giza over a period of 23 years (2). It seems hard to believe, but human beings are amazing beings. We didn’t need the help of aliens to create one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Why else would there be pictorial depictions of the pyramid building process on wall panels in ancient Egyptian buildings? Obviously Erich von Däniken thought the ancient Egyptians were trying to trip us up in the future.
Sources:
(1) Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology, Second Edition. London and Toronto: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1996. Print.
(2) ScienceDaily. "How were the Egyptian Pyramids Built?" ScienceDaily.com, 28 Mar. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2012. <website>