Challenges and Rebuttals

There is a commonly held belief that the Great Pyramid was built using ropes, ramps, and the strength of men. My theory proposes that it was not physical strength but ingenuity and resourceful manipulation of water that built the Great Pyramid. In sharing my theory with the world, I have been asked to defend certain aspects and prove false what is commonly believed. Instead of challenging the adopted premise, I want to point out how some aspects of the assumed method of pyramid construction not only fit into my theory but support it. We will use this section to address such concepts.

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  1. Dr. Mark Lehner discovered the remains of a ramp's foundation in the Giza Plateau adjacent to a high tomb. He stated that the Egyptians used the ramp to build this large stone tomb located 70 meters from the base of the Khufu Pyramid's southwest corner, and a similar ramp was used to build the Great Pyramid. As the height of the ramp increases, a side slope becomes necessary, resulting in a narrower top surface at the tomb ramp’s highest point.  To analyze the purpose of this ramp, we must consider the following factors:

a)     The width of the remains of the ramp.

b)     The height of the tomb.

c)     The side slope of the ramp.

d)     The size of the stones on the top of the tomb.

Based on this information, the top surface of the ramp would be too narrow to drag the huge stones required for constructing this tomb. 

The discovery of this ramp contradicts the notion that men built the pyramids by dragging stones on ramps and supports the idea that ramps served an alternative function in pyramid construction than commonly believed.

2. The Grand Egyptian Museum has a wooden sled on display, assumed to have been used to drag stones for pyramid construction. While I agree with the museum's position that this sled was used to drag stones across the sand, I have a different theory regarding what those stones were used for. The stones were likely used to build canals and sluices to support and facilitate a more efficient means of transporting large quantities of heavier stones for pyramid construction.

3. Archaeologist Adel Kelany experimented with dragging one 2.5-ton stone across sand using ropes, a wooden sled, rollers, and wooden railings. The sled carrying the stone was pulled by ropes and pushed with crowbars across the sandy terrain. Assuming hardwood rollers (tree branches?) were available in ancient Egypt, they would have to be perfectly straight and perfectly round, with exactly the same diameter. The Egyptians could have used this method to move stones short distances, but it is unlikely that this is how stones were moved to build the pyramid. I suggest this method could have been used to build canals and sluices.

4. Dr. Mark Lehner excavated an area close to the Great Pyramid, just south of the Wall of Crow, uncovering a Lost City. Within this Lost City, a section called Eastern Town (not fully excavated) would have had the capacity to house and feed a great number of workers within the Giza Plateau itself. As my calculations outline, a workers' city of this size near the pyramid site, supplying a steady stream of labor, is in line with the number of workers required for constructing the Great Pyramid.

5. The first Greek historian, Herodotus, traveled to Egypt around 450 BC. Herodotus recorded stories shared by locals that told of machines used to help build the pyramids. His writings describe a machine used to lift stones, similar in design to a shaduf. This machine may have been used to lift water, which in turn lifted the stones, aligning with my theory on the role of shadufs and sluices in pyramid construction.

6. According to Greek historians Herodotus and Siculus, King Darius (522-486 BC) opened the Canal of Pharaohs in Wadi Tumilat, connecting the Nile with the Red Sea. Ptolemy II (283-246 BC) later improved the canal by adding water locks. Siculus is responsible for the earliest documentation identifying the use of water locks in Egypt. These historical records indicate that the ancient Egyptians utilized water locks, which supports my theory that water sluices could have been used to construct the Great Pyramid.

7. I believe that the Egyptians used sluices to raise heavy stones because the principle of sluices was presented to the first people living adjacent to the Nile many thousands of years ago. Every year, with the season of Akhet (inundation), Egyptian boats (and the cargo inside) were raised to a new, higher water level when the Nile flooded. If the boat floated on the water's surface, even boats carrying the heaviest cargo would rise to the new higher water level. Observing this change inspired the idea that water levels with boats floating on the surface could be controlled in smaller enclosures. With this, the Egyptians realized they could harness water's power. The Nile showed the first Egyptian people how to lift stones. The small enclosures used to control water levels are now known as SLUICES, and the boats carrying stones we named BARGES.

8. Without sharing calculations supporting the claim, some Egyptologists suggest that within Khufu’s lifetime, it was possible to drag 2,300,000 stone blocks, weighing on average 2.5 tons, up ramps to 147 meters elevation (the height of the Great Pyramid).

  • The people making these claims avoid discussing the length and mass of the ramps required to achieve this. The total mass of the ramp needed to drag stones for pyramid construction would be equal to or greater than the Great Pyramid's mass and at least 1 mile (1.6 k) long. Debris from this ramp would be visible today and look like another pyramid on the Giza Plateau, which is not the case. Most of the blocks were quarried just south of the pyramid, and there was no room for a long ramp.

  • If the Egyptians used a straight ramp to build the lower portion of the Great Pyramid and a spiral ramp to build the top of the Great Pyramid, I see two problems. First, debris would be abundant, which is not the case. Second, keeping a precise pyramid slope of 51° 50' 40" would be impossible when using a spiral ramp.    

  • The Giza Plateau consists of two limestone formations, Mokattam and Maadi. Gravel on the Giza Plateau is from the degradation of the limestone, a result of nature, time, and men. There is insufficient gravel on the Giza Plateau to build those ramps today, and 4,500 years ago, there was even less of it.

  • Dragging the weight of a 60,000 kg stone block (heaviest pyramid stone) on a gravel ramp would destroy that ramp. A gravel ramp does not have the physical strength to cancel 588,600 N force (60,000 x 9.81 = 588,600).

  • We can calculate the force required to drag an average 2,500 kg stone up a 0°, 2°, 4°, and 8° incline ramp, but I'm a big fan of demonstrations that show what is possible. Anybody suggesting they could drag an average-sized pyramid stone up ramps should attempt to demonstrate that. Please do four demonstrations (0°, 2°, 4°, and 8°). After the third demonstration, 4°, please tell the hauling crew that you will double the ramp's incline to 8° and watch how fast they run away.

  • Sneferu (Khufu's father) built three giant pyramids during his lifetime, and Khufu built the Great Pyramid, two temples, a satellite pyramid, three queens' pyramids, and officials' mastabas during his lifetime. Perhaps one small pyramid could have been built by dragging stones during the 94-year-long reign of Pharaoh Pepi II, but that would not have been possible during Khufu's lifetime or that of Sneferu.

My theory proposes that very short and narrow ramps (with limestone blocks core) were used to support lines of sluices along the ramp's top. The angle of these ramps (also the angle of the line of sluices) would be steep, and the total mass would be a very small fraction of the long ramps that would have been required for dragging stones.


9. I have built models to illustrate the core elements of my theory, including a shaduf and sluices. There are demonstrative video clips currently available on the video page of this website and incorporated in my video - Water & Sand: Construction of the Great Pyramid, which combines all aspects of my theory. These video clips demonstrate how barges could have been used to transport stones, how a shaduf could have been used to lift water to the top of the pyramid, and how sluices could have been used to lift massive stones to the top of the Great Pyramid.

With this website, I’m presenting how the Great Pyramid of Khufu COULD be built. Regarding physical evidence from Egypt, I’ll wait for archaeologists to validate my theory.

For centuries, humans have conquered seemingly impossible obstacles to push society to new heights. Creativity, ingenuity, and experimentation have born incredible innovation. The Egyptians responsible for the pyramids were among the greatest innovators of all time, and we currently underestimate them. Building a marvel like the pyramids would have taken more than the common theory suggests. The ancient Egyptians would have harnessed the most powerful resources available to build the pyramids. They would have used water, a much more efficient method of moving 2.3 million stones to a height of 147 meters (the height of the Great Pyramid). Math and Physics say it is possible.


Water sluices in ancient Egypt were the equivalent of cranes in 21st-century construction. They lifted weight efficiently and effectively.


Many Egyptologists state that only a fraction of ancient Egyptian artifacts have been discovered; most remain buried under the sand. The proof of my theory lies in a papyrus describing pyramid construction, in a painting, or a carving on a tomb wall waiting to be unearthed. I hope that in my lifetime, we find proof that water sluices were responsible for the heavy lifting needed to build the pyramids and temples of Egypt. In the meantime, I stand behind the calculations in my theory and what physics, logic, ancient technologies, and scientific demonstrations have proven possible. Water most likely built the Egyptian pyramids…