How I Would Build The Great Pyramids 

I made a followup video with answers to common questions from this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SERk73NEtB4.html Please read the website article for ALL of the details: ibuildit.ca/blog/how-i-would-build-the-great-pyramids/

So they had to first build a massive paint can to sand the the big rocks. Seriously though that was a good tip for small parts.

Please make a time machine in your next video.

I don't care if your right or wrong, that was an awesome visual mate, you put the work in for this clip mate, great work

Excellent theory. I personally never bought the ramp idea, because it would have taken another pyramid’s worth of material and it left no traces. Leaving a gap on the faces to make a kind of staircase is much more practical and clever. As you observe, this did leave a trace. They probably didn’t hide the indent because those faces were covered with casing stones later, so no need for perfection.

Imagine creating something so impressive that a far more technologically advanced society thousands of years later bases an alien conspiracy on it

Astonishing how much effort was put into building a landing platform for Goa'Uld motherships!

And on top of this there are multiple chambers, causeways, and entrances. Truly incredible architects.

The way you sanded the "stones" was so clever. We love a time saving hack.

Imagine how beautiful the pyramids must have looked when they were brand new! It must have been incredible. They are truly one of the greatest mysterious feats of ingenuity in human history!

Could you imagine the beauty of the Egyptian capital city at the height of their empires power? I wish I could see it.

Good. Now do one on the precision granite boxes & vases found throughout antiquity.

This video was so interesting I had to watch it again imediately. Thank you for putting in all the work to illustrate your theory.

I've always thought history underestimates humanity before the printed record. Humans have from our dawn been good at doing the best with what we know/got

In my mind I’ve always thought that, like any good magic trick, when we finally find the real answer everyone will go “ Oh yeah, that’s obvious!”

I like to imagine what it looked like the first couple years after it was built. Gold capstone. Painted limestone facade. Torches, statues, adornments, guards, decorations, etc. Think of the ceremonies and how the burial chamber may have been adorned. We just see ancient remnants. But at the time, this thing was the most significant structure in the entire world. The spectacle of it at that time must have been truly amazing.

I like how your method reveals the inner cavities much the way they were designed. It looks pretty accurate in my opinion when I place the chambers and causeways within the central space. They never designed the pyramids with complex rooms it seems they designed them merely with the space available during construction as displayed here. Blocks are still heavy, though.

This method just may also explain why the Aztecs built a stair case on the centres of each face of their pyramids. This may have been their approach to utilizing the gaps created to lift/pivot the stones.

However they were built, they must’ve been absolutely beautiful once they were finished. Imagine the awe they would’ve caused in anyone who saw them. Imagine living in a time before the wheel, before the chariot, before gunpowder, before mass communication. You come up the river Nile and see them finally on the horizon - gleaming white, pearlescent and shining like the sun itself, perfect in symmetry, perfect in alignment , topped in solid gold. People’s hearts must’ve stopped.

What about the granite blocks over the kings chamber and the grand gallery?

This sounds feasible until you find out that the stone blocks were too heavy to have even been rolled on wood let alone tilted, the sheer weight of the stone would have crushed any wood they’d have sat upon. It was entertaining, thank you.

4:40 the pyramid in question here (the great pyramid at Giza, aka the pyramid of Khufu) is actually 8-sided; each cardinal side is divided into two halves that each slope slightly inwards towards the center line.

It's probably the most realistic title on the internet when it comes to the Pyramids - "HOW I WOULD Build The Great Pyramids". Everyone "has" and "gives" the truth in their videos but no one explains actually anything. It's only click bait. You came with your theory of how you would build it, you did some work and you made a great video! My like and appreciation!

A very practical theory with a complete explanation and building plan. Well done.

Wow, your explanation of tilting and "walking" the blocks up sounds possible! I never heard of that theory before, your explanation does make perfect sense with a photo to back up your idea. Awesome job!

^ This is amazing alien technology on full display! Notice how the little blocks move in quick bursts without anyone touching them. Levitation with mind magic!

I got like 1 minute in… and I’m thinking Giza has 8 sides, & your blocks are upscaled massively. As a stone mason of 8-10 years I would conclude the exterior limestone blocks wouldn’t have the structural integrity to roll and flip the way your implementing too (without damaging them, limestone can be difficult to work with, so fragile on corners/edges) Not to take away from any of the effort put in here, you’ve done amazing. Very interesting to see anything & everything people have to offer on the subject anyway so Thanks

John thanks for your explanations. I've followed your RU-vid for years. i always think somewhere there's a clay jar in some cave of the Sketchup plans for theses;)) Seriously, i enjoy all your work. The step ramp is the best idea yet.

"You don't really need to build another ramp when you're already building a ramp". Well, sir, you convinced me. I salute you.

This is a good demonstration and I like the paint can trick. However, there is evidence of an internal spiral tunnel structure that you could maybe incorporate into your model but you'll need a lot more blocks.

They've recently discovered there are cross sectional stones inside the structure in excess of 70 tons.

This was really cool!! Your extremely talented

The aliens have gotten to John. This is clearly alien propaganda.

Perhaps ground-penetrating radar could reveal a different level of sand compaction in areas where ramps may have been, with maximum compaction close to the edge of the pyramid, and a drop in compaction as one moves away. Maybe this could even reveal the mass of the ramp, and slope based on such.

Sounds more feasible than many other ideas. Good job😊

As fun as the explanation of “aliens” is, I find this far more entertaining

Would have loved to see them flipping around those 80 tonne blocks with some tree branches. That would have been awesome to see.

Absolutely brilliant video. Great work

Please include an idea on the 70 tonne blocks within, next time!

I watched another video of a guy moving megalithic stones around his field. I think you and him are dead on right. With the right leverage a single person can move massive stones incredible distances and heights. Very exciting stuff.

You forgot to mention the 70 ton granite single blocks above the pharaohs chamber 🤔🤭

Thank you, this is the most plausible explanation I've heard.

The best explanation I've ever heard an thank you I subscribed

The fact that it is impractical to cut tiny wooden blocks enough to fill in a tiny pyramid really says something about the glory of the pyramid .

Actual title: how to build a pyramid while disregarding all of the complex inner construction.

👏 The most sensible explanation I dig it

Excellent! Actually the first idea I've found credible.

I've been inside two of the pyramids at Giza: Khufu's and Kaphre's. To say they are massive is an understatement. I'm completely fine with the alien theories. :)

When we develop time travel, first order of business will be to send Jonh to Egypt to show them how it's done.

How do you think think they moved the facing stones using the proposed method. Wouldn't it be more difficult to flip them over?

You should get a couple of 2 1/2 ton blocks and some ropes and poles and see if you can lift one on top of the other the way you showed it.

I think you are right. How to build a pyramid. Really small. So much easier

Your idea of sligthly into the back placed steps is great for lifting large blocks without ramps at the edges, which would negatively affect smothness of the sides. So far so good. But how you lift all that megalith stones, beams, chevrons and the sarcophacus of the kings chamber?

One of the best explanations I've seen.

Thank you for diving straight into the video without 5 minutes of useless preamble!

No one in the world: John Heisz: I would build piramids in a different way

Wow i find this so amazing!

This is an awesome idea. One small point about slope though is you can’t just add the same amount each time as each course has a different thickness. That’s a small thing though since it’s easily fixed in plenty of ways, everything else is well thought out and consistent.

The aliens didn't help? Why did you have to destroy Georgio Tsoukalis' work?

"What is this!? A Pyramid for ANTS!."

good work , reasonal approach

Your theory is just as plausible as many others. What I liked about yours is the proof of concept, albeit a little rough around the edges, using your model. Thank you for taking the time to show your idea in explaining one of the great enigmas that exist in our world.

This looks like a good solution. I was thinking they used a lever on top of an a-frame type arrangement. The a-frame would be moved up 1 level at a time until the block was in place. Time consuming, but it did take decades to build the pyramids.

Your idea is great, so don't let what I say detract from that. Egyptologists are actually almost certain they know how the Great Pyramid was built. A while back, they used ground-penetrating sonar imagining from the top down to see the internal structures (I may he using the wrong name for the specific technology they used). What they found was ingenious. They found a ramp that goes along the inside of each pyramid face, then turns 90 degrees at each corner. So they built each level fully, casing stones and all, before moving on to the next level using the internal ramp. They likely used a large pulley system at each corner opposite each ramp, and used oxen on the ground-side to pull the blocked up. The blocks would move across trees that roll beneath them or on a sled, like Egyptian hieroglyphs depict, to reduce friction. However, it's important to note that many Archaeologists believe the Great Pyramid predates the Egyptians. It very well could've been the Sumerians who built it, or Shem's people. Regarding the depressed line we see up the center of the Pyramid that you believe may have been used to help get blocks up the face, that's actually part of the design, not the path for bringing blocks up. The Great Pyramid isn't a four-sided structure, it's an eight-sided structure. Each face is actually two faces, both sloped slightly inward to create the line at the center of each face. Besides the Great Pyramid showing signs of being older than all of the other pyramids, the line in the center of each face is one feature that makes Egyptologists believe the other pyramids copied it...because none of them have it, if I remember correctly. The Egyptians likely couldn't put that feature into it very easily like the original builders or they saw no reason to. Hard to say. The point is that it points to an earlier, possibly more advanced culture like the Sumerians having built it. But who knows if it was actually the Sumerians or if you'd even call them that since they were so far away from the Sumerians. I guess maybe Egyptologists are claiming that an empire with the technological advancement of the Sumerian Empire, or an offshoot of the Sumerian empire, is who built the Great Pyramid. Hard to say. The Sumerians were the ones who attempted to build the Tower of Babel, basically, in Eridu. It's the only site in the world that contains all 10 features mentioned in the Bible about the location of the Tower of Babel, and it has an unfinished tower with a massive base. There's a documentary about the ground penetrating sonar pyramid research. Not sure what it was called, though. Sorry.

A fascinating, ingenious and logical explanation of how the great pyramids were built. That was 7.07 minutes well spent!

this is so cool i have never thought about that before

The most sensible theory I've heard. I think the giant ramp idea is almost as ridiculous as any other. Archaeologists can find just about anything in the dirt, but they're not builders lol. I don't pay attention to the "impossible even for modern machinery" quacks

Indiana Heisz and the Temple of Trolls incoming... ;-)

Best theory I've seen ever! Bravo

The two lines in the middle can’t be unseen anymore. Very nice theory. Thanks for sharing

The smartest explanation for a seemingly complex thing is sometimes simple.

John, you are killing it! The production value, scoring, stop-motion....this is the only channel I've been coming to for years and have always been continually impressed not only by the quality but the continuing innovation.

Right on man youve inspired me to make my own scale model

Best method I’ve seen so far.

Several years ago it was confirmed many methods were used to construct the great pyramid. They really dug/rechanneled the annually flooding Nile river which was unshackled by modern day dams to the site, primarily for the skilled workers and slaves alike to chisel away/haul stones further down the literal assembly line whilst waist to neck deep in cool water during the hot day, with a partial canopy over the trench to shade from the sun. Sticks, water pressure, sewed up goat skins covered in tar and inflated, partially wet sand caked on a ramp, the ancient egyptians exploited it all and beat Ford to the invention of the assembly line by millenia. I'm relieved you're not one of those guys who didnt bother to stop and think for a minute and chalk it up to "aliens". Great video man!

The faces of the pyramids DO have a dihedral angle of almost a couple of degrees. Once a year (or perhaps twice) the Sun is at a position so that half the side is in shadow and the other is illuminated ( I would love to see that with the original alabaster cladding!)

Addressing a deleted comment about the lines being vertices of an 8-sided great pyramid. John points out the lines and says "in MY PYRAMID, this would be where I left out blocks out so that I could move other blocks up." The video is even titled "How I would build the great pyramids." It isn't known why the great pyramid seems to have 8 sides, but 4 sides or 8 sides, that doesn't change the basic construction challenges, which John tries to answer.

Great theory. Best ive heard so far.

Seems you might have something there. But also, one could use each step/level as the base for a lever to lift from one level to the next (only a couple feet) and then slide them inward to fill in the middle. Once done with that level, move the lever up one and start over. You don't need a huge ramp to slide them up, only open steps to lever them each level. Levers were most definitely commonly used in those days and they would have had good working knowledge of how to use them for large stone moves.

Thank you for calling the water elevator idea stupid. The pressure at the bottom of the pipe would be as much as at the bottom of the Hoover Dam, and that has to be hundreds of feet thick. Water pressure doesn't care how thick a column of water is, a 100 meter tall straw will have the same pressure at the bottom as a 100 meter deep lake.

Great example of why actually building something is a fantastic way to think about it, rather than the armchair variety of thought. Great video John.

Although this is a very simplified explanation, it's by far the most intelligent argument I've heard yet. You've got yaself another subscriber 😁

I think it was a very good suggestion, beautifully illustrated. 👌

All good enough until you do the same but adding the interior rooms/Chambers also. Good luck with that 1!

Okay cool. So this is how you'd put it together but can you demonstrate how the Egyptians (with laser precision btw) carved granite boulders with bronze tools? Sheeeeesh that just don't add up!

This is the best video I have ever seen.

Very interesting. Thank you.

This is interesting! And definitely possible. Although, in my experience stones like to break when I topple them over, imagine doing it what, a hundred time to get it to the top? So many broken stones. Anyways, what baffles me is the proposed timeframes these were allegedly built in. In one documentary they said there was a stone being laid every like three minutes for 28 years or something like that. Doing four stones at a time, like in your method makes it like twelve minutes per stone which, while it is more time, still sounds nuts. They've been fixing the road in front of my house for 15 years and still aren't near done with it

Ur doing it wrong. I'm not saying you need aliens, but you need aliens.

Well I'm sold.. This was very interesting

Honestly, this makes more sense to me than any other theory I've ever heard on the subject

Can’t wait til they find a hieroglyphic inside the great pyramid that decodes to “Time traveler from the future named JOHN taught us how to build this pyramid!”

The website article is very interesting. Very good reading, thanks for taking the time John!

Fascinating. . Thank you 👍👍

I thought precisely the same way. From bottom to top, creating stairs, and then from top to bottom, creating the smooth slope. Done!

There's a reason why we do models all the time, it's much easier then the real thing. I would very much like to see a 50 ton block being rolled on a couple of wooden levers tied with linen rope.

I'm waiting for Wandel's Lego response.

Nice content sir thank you 😊

Excellent theory and great explanation

You are the Chef John of Woodworking. Great content 👌 👏