The Pyramids were built using hydraulic lift technology 4,700 years ago, suggests a new study.
The oldest of Egypt’s iconic pyramids may also have been surrounded by a “sophisticated” water treatment facility, say scientists.
They believe the Pyramid of Djoser could have been built with the help of a unique hydraulic lift system.
Their findings, published in the journal PLOS One, suggests that water may have been able to flow into two shafts located inside the pyramid itself, where that water could have been used to help raise and lower a float used to carry the building stones.
The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is believed to have been built around 2680BC as a funerary complex for the Third Dynasty pharaoh Djoser.
However, the exact method of its construction remains unclear almost 5,000 years on.
The new analysis by French scientists suggests that the nearby Gisr el-Mudir enclosure – a previously unexplained structure – may have functioned as a “check dam” to capture water and sediment.
Dr Xavier Landreau, of CEA Paleotechnic Institute, said: “A series of compartments dug into the ground outside of the pyramid may have served as a water treatment facility, allowing sediment to settle as water passed through each subsequent compartment.
“Water may then have been able to flow into the pyramid shafts themselves, where the force of its rise could help carry the building stones.”
The French team say further research is still needed to understand how water might have flowed through the shafts, as well as how much water was available on the landscape at that point in Earth’s history.
But they say that even as other building methods – such as ramps – were probably also used to help build the pyramid, a hydraulic lift system could have been used to support the building process when there was enough water.
Dr Landreau added: “This work opens a new research line for the scientific community: the use of hydraulic power to build the pyramids of Egypt.”