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I really like the idea of revisiting old content with a fresh view, new skills and in general, a better bearing. Definitely going to watch all of them again! Wouldnt mind for more "refreshers" 😉
There a RUclips Video "I asked AI how they built the pyramids" It's under 10 minutes. I'd like to get your thought on it... (Edit: changed 'the' to 'they')
There are modern versions of these that we in the military called saddle blocks used to change the angle of a rope. Notice that the tendon (with the pinhole) is tapered which allows it to be placed in a simple socket that can be pinned in place. As soon as I saw it in the thumbnail I knew what it was. At the top of pretty much every suspension bridge in the world sits a saddle block where the suspension cable passes over (or bent).
I believe they had some kind of conveyer system to transport those stones up the causeway to the worksite. You can float an anvil in liquid Mercury.🤔 Also, ropes were their main working material besides water and a few rocks.
I worry about the friction - but perhaps this could be the point. In your illustration of the block going up the ramp, perhaps the folk pulling the ropes via the pully aren't there primarily to help raise the block, but to arrest the block from sliding down if the primary pullers lose grip. In normal operation, they just need to keep sufficient tension on their ropes that there is minimal slack and the ropes stay in their grooves. Then if the primary pullers mess up, the pulley rope workers need only support a fraction of the stone's weight, as the rest of the force comes from friction. (Probably each rope goes through several pulleys, if friction is your friend.) It might not be an emergency response, but part of standard operations: it would allow the primary pullers to use a 'heave and rest' technique instead of a 'continuous force' technique.
There are ways to lubricate a pulley like this without needing it to roll (pour water on it, use more ropes, use a lower angle of deflection). A rolling pulley is necessarily limited by material science (limited by the strength and toughness of the axle and the block, which is difficult if all you have is copper and/or early bronze). Ultimately you'd want a lot of ropes anyway, since rope tech was also similarly limited by material science (hence the triple format). I suspect that these objects fit into a slot in the side or end of a beam and the wood on the sides would prevent the rope from riding out. I also suspect based on the shape that these were rarely used to deflect a rope more than 90 degrees, and that the image at (9:30 is probably a way steeper deflection than was typical). With a lower deflection angle, the friction decreases massively.
I doubt that your suggestion is true regarding using friction to arrest backwards movement... in that case they wouldn't bother with these blocks, they'd just throw the rope over a wooden log. You'd only carve an object like this to reduce friction.
Yeah, those ropes wouldn't last a day with the friction. It seems more likely they had something like a capstan, where the log spins and the rope spins with it. That picture is also not very realistic. It looks like that block is around 20 tons, that would require at least 3-400 people to pull up a gradient.
That tool to me, looks like a part from a locking cam mechanism that might be used for mountain climbing gear. It allows rope to pass one-way freely, but the opposite direction causes the two cams to push together and locks it, preventing it from sliding further.
I thought the same thing lol. And I don’t climb - the grooves especially look like modern catamarans or whatever and prob use simple tool force multiplication like gears in a car (rock and pulley)
It would be interesting to know if chemical analysis of the grooves in these proto-pulleys shows that a lubricant was used. Without lubricant, the friction of rope against stone would be prohibitively high, IMHO.
The contact area would be relatively small with no sharp edges to grab the rope and the forces acting along the "pulley block" would be directly into the peak of the curve and very nearly parallel to the begining or end of those curves. As long as it's a polished surface rope should slip very easily even without lubrication.
My thoughts: the device is a braking mechanism. When workers pull the stone upward from above, the tension on the ropes rapped around the stone devices is reduced, and workers pulling from below can take up the slack in the ropes they are pulling on. When workers pulling from above stop pulling, and the stone starts to slide back, tension on the ropes increases, and friction between the stone and the ropes prevents the ropes from moving, thus locking the stone into place. This allows the workers above to stone to heave together in one strong pull, and then relax, while workers pulling from below lock the stone into place. Or perhaps the mechanism serves solely as a safety mechanism to stop the stones from accidentally running away down the slope.
similar to my thought, too. the hole is a pivot point , basically making this a ratcheting rope lock/ pulley. the only thing that makes me think otherwise is that it would have been just as easy to make the clamping surface ribbed to really bite into the ropes and lock down. With the surface being slotted, the ropes could , over time, erode the slots and make the catch mechanism no longer viable. though the grooves are indeed very shallow. They do appear to be shallower than the the cross diameter of the groove itself, so maybe the ropes never got a chance to erode the slots enough.
A pulley, or a device to change the angle of ropes-just because they haven't found round ones, doesn't mean they didn't exist. It has a hole in it. In what would be the center. It's also possible that this is one of several, attached to long poles, attached to an axle, making a very large pulley, which would make it fairly easy for a small crew to lift or move a very big object. They had such things to build castles with in Europe, put 2 people in a ferris wheel like object, it becomes a crane. This type of thing was handed down through the ages by very tightly controlled groups for centuries.
I have seen things like these used in old style sailing ships. Makes sense for the Egyptians to have developed this tech prior to these big building projects.
Better not mention this to Brien Forester, he's still telling people that Edward Leedskalnin built coral castle with some magnetic levitation ancient turbo technology, even though all the photos and even videos of him using his huge tripod and pulley system to list the blocks into place. I even sent Brien a video via email of my son at the age of 12 lifting a 2-ton block of limestone with a basic rope and pulley system using little to no effort, he never replied, I also tried to explain to him that the MOHs scale is not used when using tools such as chisels and a downward force which concentrates the energy from the striking the chisel to its point or blade.... there is a scale specific to this called the Rockwell scale. Unfortunately, his entire grift is based on the MOHs scratch test scale, where he even tells everyone that 2 of the same minerals can't be used on the other you always have to have at least a mineral that is 1 higher on the scale to use it as a tool. Yet in the same sentence, he can say that the Egyptians probably had gigantic 30-meter diameter circular saws to the black granite, and would have needed to have diamond-coated blades to do so... so I asked him what they used to grind down the diamonds for the coating on the blade if you can't use a diamond on the diamond... he never got back to me, strange bloke con merchant.
Apparently aliens built the pyramids. After somehow figuring out how to travel the vastness of space, they decided the best thing to do was build some stone pyramids, using proto pulleys.
I think calling it a pulley is the right classification. Correct me if I'm wrong Matt, but aren't those very same grooves found above the portcullis blocks of the kings chamber in the Great Pyramid? Maybe not a pulley per say, but certainly a tool used with cordage to heft heavy loads. It's fascinating when you really think about the technology at play there.. it's a rounded edge! Basically a channel that will not damage the ropes as they're pulled through. But that small adaptation changed the entire trajectory of man kinds capabilities. Gotta love history!
It's entirely possible to use a series of these that would functionally amount to a compound pulley or block and tackle. Fun fact but in your example of the weight being lowered down a shaft, suspending that load from ropes running through one of these "pulley blocks" wouldn't just change direction it would give a 2:1 mechanical advantage to the labor.
Did the pulley those 60 ton blocks from Aswan too? Ive always believed if we can figure out how they moved the largest stones from aswan that the rest will kinda fall in place. The colossi of memnon
@gschaub9 original kemites(Egyptians) didn't even have the wheel. So no way pulleys were used to build the pyramids. We're missing some thing on a larger scale.
Yep, more pulleys and larger ones. Why don't you think we can scale things up for the larger stones? Go look at the Greeks and Roman's and there building techniques. It's all there showing how the moved and positioned large megalithic stones.
Hi Matt: you use the term "the ancient Egyptian construction sites" (which no-one could really argue against) and "the Ancient Egyptian builders" in contrast to "the Pyramid builders". I'm pretty certain different cultures were engaged in building across the various sites, over millennia. So it does seem to matter which label is applied.
If you put 4 of those proto pulleys on a circular cut wood log at 12,3,6,9 oClock with a center hollowed out on the log you effectively get a circular pulley system. different diameter tree trunks provides you with different wheel sizes.
Fun Facts: Volume of the top 3/4 of the Great Pyramid (172.5 meters base by 110.25 meters high) is ≈ 1mio cubic meters which is 42.2% of its total volume. 1/4 of the way up, the Great Pyramid was 57.8% complete. The top half of the pyramid (115 meter base and 73.5 meter height) is only 12.5% of the total volume of the pyramid.
I'd be interested in the point at which half of the work, in the physics sense, was done. At what point did the blocks of the pyramid hold half of its final gravitational potential energy?
@@aotmr1604 Did the maths, 38.57% of the way up. Also, interestingly, the individual layer that takes the most work to lift is exactly 1/3 up from the base.
Thanks for that! The rope was hemp? That material would shred long before making any 'grooves" in the {granite} portcullis stones, likewise the block at the top of the GG, even if greased IMHO. If it was used for bringing up those huge blocks of the same material over that KC, why not make a wider, smooth floor in the GG, like all those in the other corridors? Obviously, knowing little about architecture, I still think it is possible (even likely) those 5 granite "relieving" chambers over the KC wouldn't be to relieve the overhead weight, but for "relieving" whatever might make a force outwardly from the KC, and having plenty of reinforcement at the sides of that chamber by many yards of limestone blocks forming the upper 1/5? of the pyramid. As far as trying to figure out anything at all about the use, construction of the GG, it's portcullis system, or how the entire structure was made, a more thorough look at that way over done, outside main entrance (weights/measures, pressures,# of and configuration of the slabs of rock) at 16+levels up, would be a place to start? And before that unexamined lateral(multi-angled?) granite portcullis system at the top of the AC and before the entrance to the GG. But only after the reason for the also overdone AC, a much more complicated corridor than any other in the pyramid, with the upper section better reinforced, and having much more damage/stress?than the lower section? It's a guess, but the answers to those enigmas would be where to begin the why? And How? Thanks again for the important info!
I wonder if it is. The angles seem wrong for a 180° rope redirection, they seem closer to 90°. Of course, it could just be meant to redirect ropes a lesser angle.
@@AncientArchitects I like how you make clear, what is fact and what is speculation. Makes it so much more interesting and "Sherlock-Holmes-y" in contrast to some of the "experts" that "know exactly" what happened 4kya 😆
@AncientArchitects they're not pulleys. They're brakes. Look at how rappel devices work and you'll see they would work far better as brakes. Any other pulley can be wood and work fine. This attached most like in how you have it depicted in 8:14 . Then, it worked like a wagon wheel level brake most likely. It was used to slow the lowering of loads. It's why it has no rims also
Differently not a type of pullie; yet more like a reduction of friction device. Showing us one again that the Egyptians had no clue, on how to be able to move 70 TON Megablocks!
Hmm, I will say anti wear device at the end of wood lifting beams, there would be wear from dirty ropes sliding even more so if oiled/greased. That is just there to allow rope tention around the end of the lifting beam. Maybe early on, they used just notched beams to lift, found the wood too soft to last any amount of time, then Joe Shmo says, stick a hard rock on the end there, and we can also save money on large heavy rope, we just use 3 smaller ropes. :}
Definitely an interesting theory as to how they built the pyramids; and while I’m still a skeptic on crude pully system theories due to just how massive the stones are along with other massive Egyptian structures those theories seem insulting to how advance ancient Egypt and other cultures actually are. That being said I’m always open minded to hearing all theories from pully systems to forms of vibration tech.
It seems unlikely to be a pully as it would be more of a hemisphere so the ropes could connect to another pulley below that. With such shallow grooves it would be largely useless in any position other than vertical and would require retainers to keep the ropes inline. A pulley make it easier to pull the rope, however the pully still experiences the full force of the load and ropes which are inherently twisted very easily jump out. The image you have showing it as support for the top of timbers seems more likely so less of a pully and more a redirection of force. If these were used for construction I'd say it allowed the workers to pull downhill, perhaps almost vertically while the rock went uphill.
Just got to the bit where you describe the posts up the path. Sounds great and plausible and would explain the parabolic shape but no way would those ropes stay in those groves.
They aren't pulleys, they are bearings. These can't be used to increase mechanical leverage. The picture ay 7:09 shows how they'd be used. The hole in them is to secure them in a post, and is not a center point about which they spin.
yeah I've been looking at this since the beginning and trying to understand what they're on about. no mechanical advantage. finished up I think they just mean it enables them to change the direction of pull. pretty specious idea for why make 'three groove' variety only? and why be so fussy, just go round a spar would do. They look tantalisingly like part of a pulley system, a 'block and tackle' system is what I first thought. but there seems no other evidence of such systems. and what about the ropes they'd have used? anyone know anything about them? what they made them of? for those are pretty small groove for 'native fibre' type ropes. Ever seen the blocks and pulleys on old time sailing ships? This doesn't convince me. The mention of the portcullis door on the great pyramid is tantalising for it'd be instructive to see a good diagram of all if with explanation of how it was supposed to have worked. that should give a clue.
When I used to do off road wheeling with my truck I found that I could pull my truck up steep rocky hills by affixing one end of the rope to the truck and looping the other end around a boulder or tree. I would take a forked branch about 4 inches in diameter and about 6 feet long and wedge it under the taught rope pushing it forward as if erecting a large tent. The fork was my protopulley and by changing the rope from a straight line to one with an angle created a pulling force that was insane for one guy with a rope and a stick. Having two ropes I would tie off one while I reset the other for another pull. Then I was taught the flip flop winch. Now I call the younger kids with winches and jeeps, good times. Great video btw, it certainly got the brain going
We might also look at the old sailing vessels and see how they used block & tackle to stiffen the mast and raise sails .. there is probably some good learning connected to that old industry.
The proto pulley looks like it is affixed to the end of a timber sized pole. The hole holds a dowel pin that keeps the Pulley locked to the pole. The wedge shape of the stone on the bottom of the Pulley looks designed to fit inside the carved out pole. This makes a proto pulley tool that works like a pivot arm. 3 large ropes fit in the protopulley grooves. The ropes are attached to the block, then run up over the pulley grooves and continue to a leveraged counterweighted timber sized pole. The ropes pull the block up the side of the pyramid (sliding upward on top of a wooden scaffold ramp resting on the pyramid steps). The proto pulley pivots at its’ base every time the rope is pulled up another block (this eliminates the rope from sliding against the protopulley which would wear out the rope and make pulling more difficult). The block would be ratcheted up the side of the pyramid one block at a time. Every pyramid block level higher up the side, the block would be temporarily locked and held in place by pins into the scaffold. At the other end of the rope beyond the pivoting protopulley, the rope would be pulled by a leveraged and counterweighted pole that also pivots as a lever every time the block is lifted one step up the pyramid. After the block weight is resting on the scaffold pins, the rope tension is loosed and the protopulley lever angle is moved back to the starting position. Also the slack is pulled through the leveraged counterweighted pole as it is also reset. Then the slack is tightened by wrapping it up around a big spindle. The spindle rotates to wind up the slack and restore most of the rope tension, then locked to prevent unwinding. Then the whole process is repeated.
Makes complete sense. These people had the wherewithal to come up with this pulley system and probably many other systems which we aren't aware of, yet they still did not have the wheel.....
I had similar thoughts: if they made these, it is not a huge leap at all to make a true pulley. But perhaps with these being used to move extremely heavy stones they couldn’t make an axle strong enough for the forces, so this shape (and perhaps some lubrication?) Worked best.
I don't want to be pedantic here, but it really depends on what you mean by 'wheel'. Were they riding around Chariots in 4th-5th dynasty Egypt? No, probably not. But there were certainly technologies like potters wheels, and even rollers. And they also understood fundamentals of turning machines like tube drills. It actually makes me wonder if they didn't take to the wheel early on, because frankly wheel's aren't particularly useful in the Nile valley. Almost everything gets around by boat or on the back of a beast. Even a sled is probably more useful in a desert when you think about it. In fact, you could probably make the case you only see the wheel really show up as a result of warfare with neighboring regions, and having to adapt to 'modern' technologies coming out of the near east, their direction competition, to survive.
The clear evidence of rotary cutting tools in the form of scoring marks across Egypt is proof enough for me that they had a lot of different technologies working in concert to make the projects happen.
I agree that the basalt artifacts were likely used in moving stones. However if your diagram showing them placed on top of a wooden machine with ropes passing over the grooves is correct, the wood would still have to support the weight of the stone being moved. This may work for an average stone but not for the massive blocks such as those found above the kings chamber.
I think you are correct. The idea of that culture being too primitive for basic machines is absurd. Levers and pulleys, A frames and much more must have been there. What I never understand is why beasts are never included in heavy lifting. This civilisation domesticated and surely must have used oxen or similar so we should be looking for bridles and so forth.
Most EXCELLENT point! Could oxen be used with simple machines like this, to GET the blocks to the ships? And then once off the ships, to the building sites? With humans handling it from there?
Im very curious about the current whereabouts of the "proto-pulleys", the picture you show of them seems to be quite old. Would be nice to see a modern picture with a little better resolution, and in color, as well as to just know what happened with them and where they are.
Boa tarde , Fantástico , uma peça incrível de um imenso quebra cabeça ! Acredito que seja mesmo uma proto polia , faz todo sentido . Quanto a "máquina" no interior da grande galeria ... tenho as minhas ressalvas . Não seria possível içar as pedras que foram colocadas nos níveis mais altos , utilizando este sistema , que estaria restrito/limitado ao interior da grande galeria . Imagino alguma coisa mais simples bem mais fácil de se fazer . Gostaria muito da sua opinião sobre este video abaixo: Le principe K.I.S.S. appliqué à la construction de la pyramide de Khéops. Parabéns pelo vídeo , Sucesso infinito !!!
ood afternoon, Fantastic, an incredible piece of a huge head break! I believe that it is a proto polia, making all sense. As for the "machine" inside the large gallery... you have as few as you can save. It would not be possible to remove stones placed on higher levels, using this system, which would be restricted/limited to the interior of the large gallery. I imagine some things that are simpler and easier to do. I would like to give your opinion on this video below: Prince K.I.S.S. applied to the construction of the pyramid of Khéops. Parabens hair video, Infinite success!!! I believe he deserves a reply ^_^ Google Translate should help
Sheesh. None of these guys ever work a logging site? That's a snatch block. With three grooves it's a pretty good one, too. Triples your mechanical advantage. Two of them would be six times, etc.
OK Pulleys idea is a plausible one. Keep sticking with plausible ideas. Houdin's ramp theories are far from that. Once again (sigh), Jean Pierre Houdin's theory of ramp construction may be fascinating to animate but simply will not work as a practical matter and does not show in the archaeological record nor in any other pyramid nor in the muons. Your promotion of this theory has an element of simple irrational stubbornness in the face of the facts. Any sensible engineer can think of a number of reasons why Houdin's ramp theories would not even have been considered. Should I lay them out still again? TRY ANOTHER THEORY. SZ BA MA Art History and Architecture
The issue still reamins pyramids are extremely out of place 4500 years ago. Think of things that we take for granted: knowlege transfer - with an average lifespan being maybe 30, minimal mobility, no ways to store and propagate technological discoveries, other than human memory...think about a failure rate of these machines, can you imagine damage done by one giant basalt block failing somewhere at the top and falling down? So many questions
I make up purchase systems that hole looks like a becket to me 3 ropes would give 3:1 which means simply pull the rope 3 times longer but only use 1/3 force required, got dimensions of groves and hole i will make one from wood and try it
Nice that you are using reasonable assumptions for the times instead of wild speculations. The ramp in the quarry helps prove the usefulness of pulleys.
What do you think they used in that little hole to pull a 2 ton block? A stick? 😂 I wonder if friction alone is enough to keep it from breaking loose and spinning free?
I have a (better) idea on how to use those pullies. Imagine them on the end of "spokes" of a wheel. It would make a pully like we use, but not a complete circle.
How was 'weathering' done for such deep shafts. Normally a shaft deeper than 8m needs artificial air exchange. In Hallstatt deep shafts have been found from the middle bronze age that had wooden 'chimneys' for fire to exchange the air.
No one ever talks about the shaft, how it's bevelled. Like it would fit into a slot to hold it still, then the pin would be the final locking mechanism.
My grandfather was a stone mason and bricklayer. He had thick wooden "arcs" with grooves in them.They were used to roll stone blocks. Ropes were placed in the grooves to keep them in place around the block. You could roll them to where they would eventually be set. Maybe these stone pieces were put into a wheel shape liike spokes. A solid stone may have been too heavy for the particular task.
Yes wrap wheels were found many years ago and rarely get mentioned. Different sizes were found and definitely big enough to move any size stone found within the pyramid.
I often wondered if there were pulleys used in the pyramid. Every idea that includes a ramp spiraling around the pyramid has to invent something at the corners to do the pulling. They usually involve a pulley, but if you already understand the pulley, you don't need the spiral ramp in the first place. I wonder if it's possible they even figured out a compound pulley. All of the questions about how stones so heavy could have been dragged go away once you invent a compound pulley.
Makes you wonder why there aren't more examples of these proto- pullies. Only a couple of examples? I don't understand how so much work took place with very limited artefacts being found.
The very ancient walls of/ in the Equatorian Andies (South America) have simular incredibly precise construction that could only have been done with casting one block next to the other over and over again. Absolutely no way the ancients could have chiseled these blocks. Could not have been done today at a reasonable cost.
I think it's really underestimating the ancient builders to suggest they didn't have actual pulleys. Of course there's no way to prove it, but I'd be exceedingly surprised if they didn't have VERY robust pulleys, as in 6-10 foot diameter with proper copper bearings. Also lathes, and probably some ironworking capacity. Such things would easily have been within their technical capability, given the existing evidence of technology.
I had to look up the history of the shaduf, and it turns out that they were only in use in Egypt around 1200 or so BCE, so they would not have been using a shaduf- style crane on the pyramids. However, they would have been well-established in Egypt by the time of Herodotus, so perhaps that's where he got the idea that they used something similar to raise stones on the pyramids? Just a thought, I cannot know the mind of Herodotus. Also, clever engineering secrets were closely guarded in those days, so it is unlikely that anything really special would ever have been published or exported.
They could have used two of those protopullies pointing in opposite directions on two poles and sling a rope around them a few times. That would reduce the force needed to move the stones...
Love your videos and along with these I have always thought the best proof of ancient Egyptians having pulleys is the Ankh. From over head two ropes wrapping around a djed pillar and going to one would look like an ankh and provide more leverage.
This evidence of what could be a pulley. Shows that anyone that has this simple pulley method as described, most certainly would realize the advantage of two pulleys wrapped a few times around would greatly decrease the amount of man power needed to lift a heavy object. Let me dismiss the need for the pulley to be a wheel. All you need to do is lubricate this pulley and the rope with oil. This may require the people pulling to where some type of glove with say sand on it to keep the rope from slipping out of the hands of the workers.
Ok ya this will be difficult, because you need a skid that will not fall apart. But if there is a post on the skid with the same pulley rock. . You now do have are pulley system we have today. As the skid moves closer to the post described . Of course, realize now, the skid has to have one post on both the left and right side. , to be pulled straight up.
Well we may, spend another 2000yrs trying to figure, who, built the pyramids, or when, or how. But I love the idea 💡 that they could have been aliens 👽..... But presently I enjoyed your presentation. 👍❤
If the Egyptians had such understanding of engineering, power to move blocks as large as we see today, why did they stop making those types of structures? We would expect them to progress with the trial and error process and build larger, more complex monuments, not less over time. Something doesn't add-up.
History for Granite has a recent video that includes his hypothesis for why they didn't go bigger than the Great Pyramid. IIRC it has to do with the changing political climate of the time.
@@oscodains I’m familiar with History of Granite channel and the explanations of what we see today still doesn’t check all the boxes (in my opinion). The evidence of megastructures and building with stones as heavy as 200 tons are all over the world, as if it was a global knowledge.
I welcome all theories that help solve this mystery, or at least give insight. However, if the Giza pyramid was built in 20 years and there are 2.5 millionish 5 ton stones mined from many miles away, am I a total duffus in questioning? Assuming the 20 year time frame and the 2.5 million blocks is at all correct my calculation reveals that those ancients were placing one block place every 5 minutes 24 hours a day for 20 years. And once again, how many pyramids are in Egypt, and over how many centuries were they building, that is the definition of tenacity and perseverance beyond any modern conception.
The 2.5 million blocks is based on the size and dimensions of the pyramid. The flaw is that this number is based on assumptions such as the pyramid is solid and that it is constructed entirely of stone. We already know about that unexplored chamber thanks to those scans and a french team found part of the pyramid filled in with sand.
@@mattking993 The number also doesn't really take into account that the structure is built on top of a sloping plateau which would reduce the total number of required stones.
Wow! Fascinating. The block lifting diagram (5.55) looks highly plausable. I'm not sure these could replace a wheeled pulley as shown on the ramps illustrations though as the greater the weight, the greater the friction. Besides, the ropes would fail through wear in no time at all. I don't think the posts, as illustrated, would last either for that matter. Millions of massive blocks worth of wear...Nah! Great to speculate. Thanks!
I think they are too small to be used for long-time handling weights at some fixed position. They are only 24x18 cm. The wedge-shape will also make them lighter and more fragile, so perhaps they were made for easier and faster displacements of its "job" from point to point.
Looks good to me. The small amount of friction caused to the rope wouldn't be any worse than the worn out iron pulley you showed at one point. The sliding rope would polish the surface of the basalt as it was used lessening the friction. If it was built by ancient aliens it would look like it was new.
Could be a combination of part or all of many of the ideas and theories we have today of ancient construction methods. A question seldom raised though is if works such as the great pyramids of Giza were built circa 5000 years ago, just how long did it take our species develop the understanding and techniques to work stone the way they did in the first place?
Highly possible. I've seen this type of pulley (or a gear ) somewhere relating to more modern engineering or clock mechanisms, but I can't think where. Certainly half gears exist. What if it was part of a braking mechanism that could be rotated into position causing a breaking effect on a rope by pressure between it and another pulley. The egyptians had wheels, they supposedly might have used logs to roll blocks on. They could core rock, so although no evidence exists as yet, they could have used cores as main pulleys. I've seen an item on an excavation of what is presumed to be a rock cutting workshop that supposedly used a circular metal saw. They certainly knew the benefits of wheels and pulleys. The hole on the proto pulley would allow it to be swung into action. Just a thought.
surely if this is the use for this artifact then the size / thickness of the rope / ropes would not have been very thick, especially if there were supposedly 3 on a device measuring only 7inch's wide. maybe there could be or there used to be larger versions though. love all the work you put out, keep's me wanting to goto see the pyramid's. thank you.
Where is the remainder of the image with the 3 mounted into the wood? The bottom of this wooden A frame pivots on the ground creating lift. The ropes stay stationary as the A frame is pulled toward vertical. Simple Jib Crane
Further to my last post. If you take note that the curve of the grooves are not part of a circumference around the hole pivot, ie the radius from the hole to the groove changes. This is essential geometry if the piece is to be used as a cam lock. To lock the ropes in the grooves, the stone piece pivots slightly and as it rotates a little it jambs the ropes between the stone and another fixed surface. The changing distance from the pivot to various points on the grooves is evidence that it is a cam lock.
We know they had pulleys for sail boats long before the 4th dynasty pyramid builders. They had wheels aswell but didn't use them for transport. Ladders in hieroglyphs show wheels at their base. The great pyramid had portcullis like all the pyramids before it. The round groves are still above the portcullis where only a round object could fit to assist in ropes opening the portcullis. The counter weight system in the grand gallery could have only worked with wheels and pulleys too. They had to find ways to do things back then and moving over 2 millions blocks shows they didn't just do it but they done it with relative ease. Add up all the blocks from all the temples and pyramids and your prob looking at over 20 million blocks of stone at minimum. All moved in around 120 years. The more they built and moved the easier it became for them.
I bet 5$ those are brakes for slowing and controlling ropes when a load is being lowered. I bet theyre mounted to a lever wagon wheel style brake lever arm like shown in 8:14 . Then the arm applies pressure to ropes and stops them. Sort of like stone age rappel device cams. Same things. Just different materials
Thanks for watching and for being here. If you want to support the channel, you can become a RUclips Member at ruclips.net/channel/UCscI4NOggNSN-Si5QgErNCwjoin or I’m on Patreon at www.patreon.com/ancientarchitects
..mercury..stone and metal floats on mercury...maybe same system as Panama canal..
I really like the idea of revisiting old content with a fresh view, new skills and in general, a better bearing. Definitely going to watch all of them again! Wouldnt mind for more "refreshers" 😉
There a RUclips Video "I asked AI how they built the pyramids" It's under 10 minutes.
I'd like to get your thought on it... (Edit: changed 'the' to 'they')
@@GregMoress your video is a good one
Thanks Matt
There are modern versions of these that we in the military called saddle blocks used to change the angle of a rope. Notice that the tendon (with the pinhole) is tapered which allows it to be placed in a simple socket that can be pinned in place. As soon as I saw it in the thumbnail I knew what it was. At the top of pretty much every suspension bridge in the world sits a saddle block where the suspension cable passes over (or bent).
I believe they had some kind of conveyer system to transport those stones up the causeway to the worksite.
You can float an anvil in liquid Mercury.🤔
Also, ropes were their main working material besides water and a few rocks.
I knew it. Ancient high technology. YES :)
@@faster6329 Look at the carvings in India for example. A lot of the carvings are different types of intricate knots.
If you still th8nk the pyramids were built with ramps, rope and sticks, then your just basically dumb, super dumb and very gullible
Why does any of that matter? Doesn't explain how the pyramids were built.
I worry about the friction - but perhaps this could be the point. In your illustration of the block going up the ramp, perhaps the folk pulling the ropes via the pully aren't there primarily to help raise the block, but to arrest the block from sliding down if the primary pullers lose grip. In normal operation, they just need to keep sufficient tension on their ropes that there is minimal slack and the ropes stay in their grooves. Then if the primary pullers mess up, the pulley rope workers need only support a fraction of the stone's weight, as the rest of the force comes from friction. (Probably each rope goes through several pulleys, if friction is your friend.) It might not be an emergency response, but part of standard operations: it would allow the primary pullers to use a 'heave and rest' technique instead of a 'continuous force' technique.
There are ways to lubricate a pulley like this without needing it to roll (pour water on it, use more ropes, use a lower angle of deflection). A rolling pulley is necessarily limited by material science (limited by the strength and toughness of the axle and the block, which is difficult if all you have is copper and/or early bronze).
Ultimately you'd want a lot of ropes anyway, since rope tech was also similarly limited by material science (hence the triple format). I suspect that these objects fit into a slot in the side or end of a beam and the wood on the sides would prevent the rope from riding out.
I also suspect based on the shape that these were rarely used to deflect a rope more than 90 degrees, and that the image at (9:30 is probably a way steeper deflection than was typical). With a lower deflection angle, the friction decreases massively.
I doubt that your suggestion is true regarding using friction to arrest backwards movement... in that case they wouldn't bother with these blocks, they'd just throw the rope over a wooden log. You'd only carve an object like this to reduce friction.
Yeah, those ropes wouldn't last a day with the friction. It seems more likely they had something like a capstan, where the log spins and the rope spins with it. That picture is also not very realistic. It looks like that block is around 20 tons, that would require at least 3-400 people to pull up a gradient.
@@alexg5189 the ropes don’t rub back and forth in one spot.
Unlikely its a pulley as conveyed here. More likely a "walking" mechanism that had ropes pivoting over it.
That tool to me, looks like a part from a locking cam mechanism that might be used for mountain climbing gear. It allows rope to pass one-way freely, but the opposite direction causes the two cams to push together and locks it, preventing it from sliding further.
It's definitely rope breaks . I totally agree
I thought the same thing lol. And I don’t climb - the grooves especially look like modern catamarans or whatever and prob use simple tool force multiplication like gears in a car (rock and pulley)
It would be interesting to know if chemical analysis of the grooves in these proto-pulleys shows that a lubricant was used. Without lubricant, the friction of rope against stone would be prohibitively high, IMHO.
Wouldn't that depend on whether the stone was originally polished? Then it might slide pretty easily.
The contact area would be relatively small with no sharp edges to grab the rope and the forces acting along the "pulley block" would be directly into the peak of the curve and very nearly parallel to the begining or end of those curves. As long as it's a polished surface rope should slip very easily even without lubrication.
They used ropes and left grooves in portcullis stones. So it would not require a great leap to use these
Simply covering a rope with leather would act as a lubricant surface add a measure of animal fat and it would work wonders.
More than likely water
My thoughts: the device is a braking mechanism. When workers pull the stone upward from above, the tension on the ropes rapped around the stone devices is reduced, and workers pulling from below can take up the slack in the ropes they are pulling on. When workers pulling from above stop pulling, and the stone starts to slide back, tension on the ropes increases, and friction between the stone and the ropes prevents the ropes from moving, thus locking the stone into place.
This allows the workers above to stone to heave together in one strong pull, and then relax, while workers pulling from below lock the stone into place. Or perhaps the mechanism serves solely as a safety mechanism to stop the stones from accidentally running away down the slope.
My exact thoughts. The surface of the rope channel could corroborate this hypothesis
This is much more likely
similar to my thought, too. the hole is a pivot point , basically making this a ratcheting rope lock/ pulley. the only thing that makes me think otherwise is that it would have been just as easy to make the clamping surface ribbed to really bite into the ropes and lock down. With the surface being slotted, the ropes could , over time, erode the slots and make the catch mechanism no longer viable. though the grooves are indeed very shallow. They do appear to be shallower than the the cross diameter of the groove itself, so maybe the ropes never got a chance to erode the slots enough.
@@shaunrichardson2346 Yeah I agree. I imagine two of these on opposing sides with the rope drawn between allowing movement only in one direction.
Similar to the rock climber's Belay, where a rope is run through a pulley or similar and the person below keeps the rope ready to catch a fall
A pulley, or a device to change the angle of ropes-just because they haven't found round ones, doesn't mean they didn't exist. It has a hole in it. In what would be the center.
It's also possible that this is one of several, attached to long poles, attached to an axle, making a very large pulley, which would make it fairly easy for a small crew to lift or move a very big object. They had such things to build castles with in Europe, put 2 people in a ferris wheel like object, it becomes a crane. This type of thing was handed down through the ages by very tightly controlled groups for centuries.
That group were Known as Masons/ Stone Masons or guilds and yes they kept their techniques amongst themselves.
They call the Schist Disk an incense burner when it's clearly part of a rotary mechanism. . . the authorities on Egyptology are absolute morons.
@@Guitar6ty Yeah, didn't want to say that for fear my comment would have been deleted.
I have seen things like these used in old style sailing ships. Makes sense for the Egyptians to have developed this tech prior to these big building projects.
I thought the same thing: a 3-pulley block still used in sail boats and many other applications
This is not a pulley and grants no mechanical advantage.
Better not mention this to Brien Forester, he's still telling people that Edward Leedskalnin built coral castle with some magnetic levitation ancient turbo technology, even though all the photos and even videos of him using his huge tripod and pulley system to list the blocks into place. I even sent Brien a video via email of my son at the age of 12 lifting a 2-ton block of limestone with a basic rope and pulley system using little to no effort, he never replied, I also tried to explain to him that the MOHs scale is not used when using tools such as chisels and a downward force which concentrates the energy from the striking the chisel to its point or blade.... there is a scale specific to this called the Rockwell scale. Unfortunately, his entire grift is based on the MOHs scratch test scale, where he even tells everyone that 2 of the same minerals can't be used on the other you always have to have at least a mineral that is 1 higher on the scale to use it as a tool. Yet in the same sentence, he can say that the Egyptians probably had gigantic 30-meter diameter circular saws to the black granite, and would have needed to have diamond-coated blades to do so... so I asked him what they used to grind down the diamonds for the coating on the blade if you can't use a diamond on the diamond... he never got back to me, strange bloke con merchant.
interesting. thanks for that. yep, he's a salesman. a bandwagon rider.
Thanks you.. grettings from Vietnam!
As soon as I saw the proto pulley in the thumbnail I imagined it slotted into a large timber beam with a wooden peg to hold it in place.
Very cool 😎
So did everyone else
@@TJ-W Na, not everyone, some think aliens 😛
Apparently aliens built the pyramids. After somehow figuring out how to travel the vastness of space, they decided the best thing to do was build some stone pyramids, using proto pulleys.
I think calling it a pulley is the right classification. Correct me if I'm wrong Matt, but aren't those very same grooves found above the portcullis blocks of the kings chamber in the Great Pyramid? Maybe not a pulley per say, but certainly a tool used with cordage to heft heavy loads. It's fascinating when you really think about the technology at play there.. it's a rounded edge! Basically a channel that will not damage the ropes as they're pulled through. But that small adaptation changed the entire trajectory of man kinds capabilities. Gotta love history!
Its not a pulley but is a load bearing device.
Eclipse is happening and I'm watching this 🤩
Oh yeah, not here in England sadly
@@AncientArchitects neither in sweden, its dark here half the year
@@ReptilezDzn Everywhere spends half their year in darkness.
It's entirely possible to use a series of these that would functionally amount to a compound pulley or block and tackle. Fun fact but in your example of the weight being lowered down a shaft, suspending that load from ropes running through one of these "pulley blocks" wouldn't just change direction it would give a 2:1 mechanical advantage to the labor.
Did they have oxen able to pull ?
Did the pulley those 60 ton blocks from Aswan too? Ive always believed if we can figure out how they moved the largest stones from aswan that the rest will kinda fall in place. The colossi of memnon
Excellent point. I'm sure these pulleys had their applications, but that doesn't address some larger questions.
@gschaub9 original kemites(Egyptians) didn't even have the wheel. So no way pulleys were used to build the pyramids. We're missing some thing on a larger scale.
Yep, more pulleys and larger ones. Why don't you think we can scale things up for the larger stones? Go look at the Greeks and Roman's and there building techniques. It's all there showing how the moved and positioned large megalithic stones.
Hi Matt: you use the term "the ancient Egyptian construction sites" (which no-one could really argue against) and "the Ancient Egyptian builders" in contrast to "the Pyramid builders". I'm pretty certain different cultures were engaged in building across the various sites, over millennia. So it does seem to matter which label is applied.
Definitely, but he start supporting the egyptologists narrative a few years back so it's fitting
@@totttrax That's true 👍
@@totttrax That's cause he's intellectually honest. The research led him to that point.
Humans are great at problem solving. We dont give our ancestors enough credit. They had the same brains as us.
If you put 4 of those proto pulleys on a circular cut wood log at 12,3,6,9 oClock with a center hollowed out on the log you effectively get a circular pulley system. different diameter tree trunks provides you with different wheel sizes.
Fun Facts: Volume of the top 3/4 of the Great Pyramid (172.5 meters base by 110.25 meters high) is ≈ 1mio cubic meters which is 42.2% of its total volume.
1/4 of the way up, the Great Pyramid was 57.8% complete.
The top half of the pyramid (115 meter base and 73.5 meter height) is only 12.5% of the total volume of the pyramid.
I'd be interested in the point at which half of the work, in the physics sense, was done. At what point did the blocks of the pyramid hold half of its final gravitational potential energy?
Except for all the extra work and material used to build a ramp to the top, and then to remove that ramp later.
@@deepspire I don't think that there was no ramp to the top.
@@aotmr1604 Did the maths, 38.57% of the way up.
Also, interestingly, the individual layer that takes the most work to lift is exactly 1/3 up from the base.
Thanks for that! The rope was hemp? That material would shred long before making any 'grooves" in the {granite} portcullis stones, likewise the block at the top of the GG, even if greased IMHO. If it was used for bringing up those huge blocks of the same material over that KC, why not make a wider, smooth floor in the GG, like all those in the other corridors? Obviously, knowing little about architecture, I still think it is possible (even likely) those 5 granite "relieving" chambers over the KC wouldn't be to relieve the overhead weight, but for "relieving" whatever might make a force outwardly from the KC, and having plenty of reinforcement at the sides of that chamber by many yards of limestone blocks forming the upper 1/5? of the pyramid.
As far as trying to figure out anything at all about the use, construction of the GG, it's portcullis system, or how the entire structure was made, a more thorough look at that way over done, outside main entrance (weights/measures, pressures,# of and configuration of the slabs of rock) at 16+levels up, would be a place to start? And before that unexamined lateral(multi-angled?) granite portcullis system at the top of the AC and before the entrance to the GG. But only after the reason for the also overdone AC, a much more complicated corridor than any other in the pyramid, with the upper section better reinforced, and having much more damage/stress?than the lower section? It's a guess, but the answers to those enigmas would be where to begin the why? And How? Thanks again for the important info!
Fascinating! And a very convincing pulley theory. I'm not sure what else they could be!
Cheers
I wonder if it is. The angles seem wrong for a 180° rope redirection, they seem closer to 90°.
Of course, it could just be meant to redirect ropes a lesser angle.
@@AncientArchitects I like how you make clear, what is fact and what is speculation. Makes it so much more interesting and "Sherlock-Holmes-y" in contrast to some of the "experts" that "know exactly" what happened 4kya 😆
@AncientArchitects they're not pulleys. They're brakes. Look at how rappel devices work and you'll see they would work far better as brakes. Any other pulley can be wood and work fine. This attached most like in how you have it depicted in 8:14 .
Then, it worked like a wagon wheel level brake most likely. It was used to slow the lowering of loads.
It's why it has no rims also
I'll make a sketch soon and send it to ya if ya like
A really convincing explanation of rock-transport!
Great to revisit any ttheory evidence. Thank you.
Differently not a type of pullie; yet more like a reduction of friction device. Showing us one again that the Egyptians had no clue, on how to be able to move 70 TON Megablocks!
They’re copper/ Bronze Age black Africans. What do you expect them to do with technology from 4,700 years ago?
Hmm, I will say anti wear device at the end of wood lifting beams, there would be wear from dirty ropes sliding even more so if oiled/greased. That is just there to allow rope tention around the end of the lifting beam. Maybe early on, they used just notched beams to lift, found the wood too soft to last any amount of time, then Joe Shmo says, stick a hard rock on the end there, and we can also save money on large heavy rope, we just use 3 smaller ropes. :}
Aliens or pulleys 🤔 I'm going with pulleys 👍
Or Aliens
You know it's always aliens.
Aliens using pulleys is my choice.
Alien pulleys.
Ancient astronaut theorists say aliens 👽
Watching during the eclipse in Tampa, FL
@@Egyptologist777gheeeey
Same here in Palm Harbor.
Definitely an interesting theory as to how they built the pyramids; and while I’m still a skeptic on crude pully system theories due to just how massive the stones are along with other massive Egyptian structures those theories seem insulting to how advance ancient Egypt and other cultures actually are. That being said I’m always open minded to hearing all theories from pully systems to forms of vibration tech.
oh yeah, ancient architects and an eclipse, it's a good day ✌️
It seems unlikely to be a pully as it would be more of a hemisphere so the ropes could connect to another pulley below that. With such shallow grooves it would be largely useless in any position other than vertical and would require retainers to keep the ropes inline. A pulley make it easier to pull the rope, however the pully still experiences the full force of the load and ropes which are inherently twisted very easily jump out.
The image you have showing it as support for the top of timbers seems more likely so less of a pully and more a redirection of force.
If these were used for construction I'd say it allowed the workers to pull downhill, perhaps almost vertically while the rock went uphill.
Just got to the bit where you describe the posts up the path. Sounds great and plausible and would explain the parabolic shape but no way would those ropes stay in those groves.
@SayWhut276 yes, that would also explain the parabolic shape but you'd need an axel to take all the force.
They aren't pulleys, they are bearings. These can't be used to increase mechanical leverage. The picture ay 7:09 shows how they'd be used. The hole in them is to secure them in a post, and is not a center point about which they spin.
yeah I've been looking at this since the beginning and trying to understand what they're on about. no mechanical advantage. finished up I think they just mean it enables them to change the direction of pull. pretty specious idea for why make 'three groove' variety only? and why be so fussy, just go round a spar would do.
They look tantalisingly like part of a pulley system, a 'block and tackle' system is what I first thought. but there seems no other evidence of such systems. and what about the ropes they'd have used? anyone know anything about them? what they made them of? for those are pretty small groove for 'native fibre' type ropes. Ever seen the blocks and pulleys on old time sailing ships?
This doesn't convince me.
The mention of the portcullis door on the great pyramid is tantalising for it'd be instructive to see a good diagram of all if with explanation of how it was supposed to have worked. that should give a clue.
When I used to do off road wheeling with my truck I found that I could pull my truck up steep rocky hills by affixing one end of the rope to the truck and looping the other end around a boulder or tree. I would take a forked branch about 4 inches in diameter and about 6 feet long and wedge it under the taught rope pushing it forward as if erecting a large tent. The fork was my protopulley and by changing the rope from a straight line to one with an angle created a pulling force that was insane for one guy with a rope and a stick. Having two ropes I would tie off one while I reset the other for another pull. Then I was taught the flip flop winch. Now I call the younger kids with winches and jeeps, good times. Great video btw, it certainly got the brain going
We might also look at the old sailing vessels and see how they used block & tackle to stiffen the mast and raise sails .. there is probably some good learning connected to that old industry.
@@MerwinARTist I’d have to agree with you 100%
The proto pulley looks like it is affixed to the end of a timber sized pole. The hole holds a dowel pin that keeps the Pulley locked to the pole. The wedge shape of the stone on the bottom of the Pulley looks designed to fit inside the carved out pole. This makes a proto pulley tool that works like a pivot arm. 3 large ropes fit in the protopulley grooves. The ropes are attached to the block, then run up over the pulley grooves and continue to a leveraged counterweighted timber sized pole. The ropes pull the block up the side of the pyramid (sliding upward on top of a wooden scaffold ramp resting on the pyramid steps). The proto pulley pivots at its’ base every time the rope is pulled up another block (this eliminates the rope from sliding against the protopulley which would wear out the rope and make pulling more difficult). The block would be ratcheted up the side of the pyramid one block at a time. Every pyramid block level higher up the side, the block would be temporarily locked and held in place by pins into the scaffold. At the other end of the rope beyond the pivoting protopulley, the rope would be pulled by a leveraged and counterweighted pole that also pivots as a lever every time the block is lifted one step up the pyramid. After the block weight is resting on the scaffold pins, the rope tension is loosed and the protopulley lever angle is moved back to the starting position. Also the slack is pulled through the leveraged counterweighted pole as it is also reset. Then the slack is tightened by wrapping it up around a big spindle. The spindle rotates to wind up the slack and restore most of the rope tension, then locked to prevent unwinding. Then the whole process is repeated.
Como siempre un vídeo muy, muy interesante. Enhorabuena
Good work!
Thank you.
What I'd love to know is, how DID they work the basalt with only copper tools...
Makes complete sense. These people had the wherewithal to come up with this pulley system and probably many other systems which we aren't aware of, yet they still did not have the wheel.....
I had similar thoughts: if they made these, it is not a huge leap at all to make a true pulley.
But perhaps with these being used to move extremely heavy stones they couldn’t make an axle strong enough for the forces, so this shape (and perhaps some lubrication?) Worked best.
I don't want to be pedantic here, but it really depends on what you mean by 'wheel'. Were they riding around Chariots in 4th-5th dynasty Egypt? No, probably not. But there were certainly technologies like potters wheels, and even rollers. And they also understood fundamentals of turning machines like tube drills.
It actually makes me wonder if they didn't take to the wheel early on, because frankly wheel's aren't particularly useful in the Nile valley. Almost everything gets around by boat or on the back of a beast. Even a sled is probably more useful in a desert when you think about it. In fact, you could probably make the case you only see the wheel really show up as a result of warfare with neighboring regions, and having to adapt to 'modern' technologies coming out of the near east, their direction competition, to survive.
Its a load bearing device not a pulley.
The Egyptians had chariots so they knew about the wheel.
The clear evidence of rotary cutting tools in the form of scoring marks across Egypt is proof enough for me that they had a lot of different technologies working in concert to make the projects happen.
I agree that the basalt artifacts were likely used in moving stones. However if your diagram showing them placed on top of a wooden machine with ropes passing over the grooves is correct, the wood would still have to support the weight of the stone being moved. This may work for an average stone but not for the massive blocks such as those found above the kings chamber.
I think you are correct. The idea of that culture being too primitive for basic machines is absurd. Levers and pulleys, A frames and much more must have been there. What I never understand is why beasts are never included in heavy lifting. This civilisation domesticated and surely must have used oxen or similar so we should be looking for bridles and so forth.
Most EXCELLENT point! Could oxen be used with simple machines like this, to GET the blocks to the ships? And then once off the ships, to the building sites? With humans handling it from there?
Fascinating!
I think you nailed it. Great video!
Im very curious about the current whereabouts of the "proto-pulleys", the picture you show of them seems to be quite old. Would be nice to see a modern picture with a little better resolution, and in color, as well as to just know what happened with them and where they are.
Someone writing about the Pyramids 2000 years later is a complete guess or theory.
Boa tarde ,
Fantástico , uma peça incrível de um imenso quebra cabeça !
Acredito que seja mesmo uma proto polia , faz todo sentido .
Quanto a "máquina" no interior da grande galeria ... tenho as minhas ressalvas .
Não seria possível içar as pedras que foram colocadas nos níveis mais altos , utilizando este sistema , que estaria restrito/limitado ao interior da grande galeria .
Imagino alguma coisa mais simples bem mais fácil de se fazer .
Gostaria muito da sua opinião sobre este video abaixo:
Le principe K.I.S.S. appliqué à la construction de la pyramide de Khéops.
Parabéns pelo vídeo ,
Sucesso infinito !!!
ood afternoon,
Fantastic, an incredible piece of a huge head break!
I believe that it is a proto polia, making all sense.
As for the "machine" inside the large gallery... you have as few as you can save.
It would not be possible to remove stones placed on higher levels, using this system, which would be restricted/limited to the interior of the large gallery.
I imagine some things that are simpler and easier to do.
I would like to give your opinion on this video below:
Prince K.I.S.S. applied to the construction of the pyramid of Khéops.
Parabens hair video,
Infinite success!!!
I believe he deserves a reply ^_^ Google Translate should help
Sheesh. None of these guys ever work a logging site? That's a snatch block. With three grooves it's a pretty good one, too. Triples your mechanical advantage. Two of them would be six times, etc.
So beautiful, again! 🤗 Exactly what I needed today. Thanks so much 🙏
Man stop repeat the same bullocks as MSM ...
Pyramids wasn't but by Egyptian...
I cancel my subscription
OK Pulleys idea is a plausible one. Keep sticking with plausible ideas. Houdin's ramp theories are far from that. Once again (sigh), Jean Pierre Houdin's theory of ramp construction may be fascinating to animate but simply will not work as a practical matter and does not show in the archaeological record nor in any other pyramid nor in the muons. Your promotion of this theory has an element of simple irrational stubbornness in the face of the facts. Any sensible engineer can think of a number of reasons why Houdin's ramp theories would not even have been considered. Should I lay them out still again? TRY ANOTHER THEORY. SZ BA MA Art History and Architecture
CLEAR AS MUD? This is EGYPT - Use "TRANSPARENT AS SAND" - more politically correct.😊
The issue still reamins pyramids are extremely out of place 4500 years ago. Think of things that we take for granted: knowlege transfer - with an average lifespan being maybe 30, minimal mobility, no ways to store and propagate technological discoveries, other than human memory...think about a failure rate of these machines, can you imagine damage done by one giant basalt block failing somewhere at the top and falling down? So many questions
I make up purchase systems that hole looks like a becket to me 3 ropes would give 3:1 which means simply pull the rope 3 times longer but only use 1/3 force required, got dimensions of groves and hole i will make one from wood and try it
Nice that you are using reasonable assumptions for the times instead of wild speculations. The ramp in the quarry helps prove the usefulness of pulleys.
How strong are these ropes!? I dunno bro. Can't we just agree it was aliens 😂
Yes, it should be Aliens! Everything is better with Aliens!
It always so good to watch these videos, thanks! I think the egyptians had to use some grease in the grooves of the stone pulley to reduce friction.
I bet these pulleys were used to place the antigravity incabulators in place.... it's all coming together! ❤
When you're talking about moving a 2-ton item, yeah, that is a "small object".
What do you think they used in that little hole to pull a 2 ton block? A stick? 😂 I wonder if friction alone is enough to keep it from breaking loose and spinning free?
I have a (better) idea on how to use those pullies. Imagine them on the end of "spokes" of a wheel. It would make a pully like we use, but not a complete circle.
This makes perfect sense. It certainly wasn't flippin' Aliens.
How was 'weathering' done for such deep shafts. Normally a shaft deeper than 8m needs artificial air exchange.
In Hallstatt deep shafts have been found from the middle bronze age that had wooden 'chimneys' for fire to exchange the air.
Gold Miners in America just dug air shafts to utilize natural convection. I'm sure Egyptians did to.
Matt great video as always. Keep up the good work. Know your effort is greatly appreciated
No one ever talks about the shaft, how it's bevelled. Like it would fit into a slot to hold it still, then the pin would be the final locking mechanism.
Good video 👍
Cheers
My grandfather was a stone mason and bricklayer. He had thick wooden "arcs" with grooves in them.They were used to roll stone blocks. Ropes were placed in the grooves to keep them in place around the block. You could roll them to where they would eventually be set. Maybe these stone pieces were put into a wheel shape liike spokes. A solid stone may have been too heavy for the particular task.
Yes wrap wheels were found many years ago and rarely get mentioned. Different sizes were found and definitely big enough to move any size stone found within the pyramid.
I often wondered if there were pulleys used in the pyramid. Every idea that includes a ramp spiraling around the pyramid has to invent something at the corners to do the pulling. They usually involve a pulley, but if you already understand the pulley, you don't need the spiral ramp in the first place. I wonder if it's possible they even figured out a compound pulley. All of the questions about how stones so heavy could have been dragged go away once you invent a compound pulley.
Makes you wonder why there aren't more examples of these proto- pullies. Only a couple of examples? I don't understand how so much work took place with very limited artefacts being found.
The very ancient walls of/ in the Equatorian Andies (South America) have simular incredibly precise construction that could only have been done with casting one block next to the other over and over again. Absolutely no way the ancients could have chiseled these blocks. Could not have been done today at a reasonable cost.
They may have been used for baskets of material, but no way for 200 tn stones.
I think it's really underestimating the ancient builders to suggest they didn't have actual pulleys. Of course there's no way to prove it, but I'd be exceedingly surprised if they didn't have VERY robust pulleys, as in 6-10 foot diameter with proper copper bearings. Also lathes, and probably some ironworking capacity.
Such things would easily have been within their technical capability, given the existing evidence of technology.
All lies, this is the crap I was taught in school. All wrong. Stop spreading this nonsense.
Still no physical evidence that prove all what have been said, and no one was able to replicate with actual sized stones
I had to look up the history of the shaduf, and it turns out that they were only in use in Egypt around 1200 or so BCE, so they would not have been using a shaduf- style crane on the pyramids. However, they would have been well-established in Egypt by the time of Herodotus, so perhaps that's where he got the idea that they used something similar to raise stones on the pyramids? Just a thought, I cannot know the mind of Herodotus. Also, clever engineering secrets were closely guarded in those days, so it is unlikely that anything really special would ever have been published or exported.
They could have used two of those protopullies pointing in opposite directions on two poles and sling a rope around them a few times. That would reduce the force needed to move the stones...
That's an interesting idea each block would act as a counter wait to the preceding blocks 🤔
Amazing 😮
Like a production line good teams and rope swapping could get a flow going
maybe not fixed at the pin but some degree of swivel back and forth or rotated against each other for one way pull and locks the rope when relaxed
Smaller blocks yes. Larger I doubt. Then again it would need a lubricant. Surprised that there is still no recorded build documentation.
The technical drawings and specs were probably put down on papyrus that got burned up, sun dried or locked up in a vault by the Catholic Church.
Fascinating! Im wondering if the stones head was carved into that shape or if it was worn down to look like that due to rope wear?
The friction should have really reduced a lot of the leverage gains tho. Someone should test this.
Love your videos and along with these I have always thought the best proof of ancient Egyptians having pulleys is the Ankh. From over head two ropes wrapping around a djed pillar and going to one would look like an ankh and provide more leverage.
This evidence of what could be a pulley. Shows that anyone that has this simple pulley method as described, most certainly would realize the advantage of two pulleys wrapped a few times around would greatly decrease the amount of man power needed to lift a heavy object. Let me dismiss the need for the pulley to be a wheel. All you need to do is lubricate this pulley and the rope with oil. This may require the people pulling to where some type of glove with say sand on it to keep the rope from slipping out of the hands of the workers.
Its a load bearing device.
Ok ya this will be difficult, because you need a skid that will not fall apart. But if there is a post on the skid with the same pulley rock. . You now do have are pulley system we have today. As the skid moves closer to the post described . Of course, realize now, the skid has to have one post on both the left and right side. , to be pulled straight up.
And yes, it most certainly could be just a load bearing device. In such a case I do not believe you want lubrication.
@@Guitar6ty So are pulleys. . .
Well we may, spend another 2000yrs trying to figure, who, built the pyramids, or when, or how.
But I love the idea 💡 that they could have been aliens 👽.....
But presently I enjoyed your presentation. 👍❤
Yes, I believe it is spot on. Whatever they used it was probably very fast at doing it's job. Ancient Egyptians are my spirit animals. LOL
As the friction is proportional to the cube of the degree the rope is turned around I think this would rather be some break, or stilt leg.
If the Egyptians had such understanding of engineering, power to move blocks as large as we see today, why did they stop making those types of structures? We would expect them to progress with the trial and error process and build larger, more complex monuments, not less over time. Something doesn't add-up.
History for Granite has a recent video that includes his hypothesis for why they didn't go bigger than the Great Pyramid. IIRC it has to do with the changing political climate of the time.
@@oscodains I’m familiar with History of Granite channel and the explanations of what we see today still doesn’t check all the boxes (in my opinion). The evidence of megastructures and building with stones as heavy as 200 tons are all over the world, as if it was a global knowledge.
I welcome all theories that help solve this mystery, or at least give insight. However, if the Giza pyramid was built in 20 years and there are 2.5 millionish 5 ton stones mined from many miles away, am I a total duffus in questioning? Assuming the 20 year time frame and the 2.5 million blocks is at all correct my calculation reveals that those ancients were placing one block place every 5 minutes 24 hours a day for 20 years. And once again, how many pyramids are in Egypt, and over how many centuries were they building, that is the definition of tenacity and perseverance beyond any modern conception.
Vast majority of stones in Giza pyramids were quarried basically on-site. Teamwork is missing from your calculations.
The 2.5 million blocks is based on the size and dimensions of the pyramid. The flaw is that this number is based on assumptions such as the pyramid is solid and that it is constructed entirely of stone. We already know about that unexplored chamber thanks to those scans and a french team found part of the pyramid filled in with sand.
@@Eyes_Open I can and should be corrected. Thank you. But the math still stands.
@@bobharris7401 I am just suggesting that teams working in tandem to simultaneously cut, transport and place stones would affect the calculations.
@@mattking993 The number also doesn't really take into account that the structure is built on top of a sloping plateau which would reduce the total number of required stones.
Blows my mind how these things were built
Surely khafris pyrimad could give us clues as well
Wow! Fascinating. The block lifting diagram (5.55) looks highly plausable. I'm not sure these could replace a wheeled pulley as shown on the ramps illustrations though as the greater the weight, the greater the friction. Besides, the ropes would fail through wear in no time at all. I don't think the posts, as illustrated, would last either for that matter. Millions of massive blocks worth of wear...Nah! Great to speculate. Thanks!
I think they are too small to be used for long-time handling weights at some fixed position. They are only 24x18 cm. The wedge-shape will also make them lighter and more fragile, so perhaps they were made for easier and faster displacements of its "job" from point to point.
Looks good to me. The small amount of friction caused to the rope wouldn't be any worse than the worn out iron pulley you showed at one point. The sliding rope would polish the surface of the basalt as it was used lessening the friction. If it was built by ancient aliens it would look like it was new.
Could be a combination of part or all of many of the ideas and theories we have today of ancient construction methods. A question seldom raised though is if works such as the great pyramids of Giza were built circa 5000 years ago, just how long did it take our species develop the understanding and techniques to work stone the way they did in the first place?
Highly possible.
I've seen this type of pulley (or a gear ) somewhere relating to more modern engineering or clock mechanisms, but I can't think where.
Certainly half gears exist.
What if it was part of a braking mechanism that could be rotated into position causing a breaking effect on a rope by pressure between it and another pulley.
The egyptians had wheels, they supposedly might have used logs to roll blocks on. They could core rock, so although no evidence exists as yet, they could have used cores as main pulleys.
I've seen an item on an excavation of what is presumed to be a rock cutting workshop that supposedly used a circular metal saw. They certainly knew the benefits of wheels and pulleys.
The hole on the proto pulley would allow it to be swung into action.
Just a thought.
OR.. a single rope, wrapped around three times. The hole in the middle is for a spindle, so the whole thing rotates. There's your pulley wheel
surely if this is the use for this artifact then the size / thickness of the rope / ropes would not have been very thick, especially if there were supposedly 3 on a device measuring only 7inch's wide.
maybe there could be or there used to be larger versions though.
love all the work you put out, keep's me wanting to goto see the pyramid's.
thank you.
Where is the remainder of the image with the 3 mounted into the wood? The bottom of this wooden A frame pivots on the ground creating lift. The ropes stay stationary as the A frame is pulled toward vertical. Simple Jib Crane
Further to my last post. If you take note that the curve of the grooves are not part of a circumference around the hole pivot, ie the radius from the hole to the groove changes.
This is essential geometry if the piece is to be used as a cam lock. To lock the ropes in the grooves, the stone piece pivots slightly and as it rotates a little it jambs the ropes between the stone and another fixed surface.
The changing distance from the pivot to various points on the grooves is evidence that it is a cam lock.
The Grand Gallery was a counterweight shaft for pulling up stone during the middle stages of construction.
We know they had pulleys for sail boats long before the 4th dynasty pyramid builders. They had wheels aswell but didn't use them for transport. Ladders in hieroglyphs show wheels at their base. The great pyramid had portcullis like all the pyramids before it. The round groves are still above the portcullis where only a round object could fit to assist in ropes opening the portcullis. The counter weight system in the grand gallery could have only worked with wheels and pulleys too. They had to find ways to do things back then and moving over 2 millions blocks shows they didn't just do it but they done it with relative ease. Add up all the blocks from all the temples and pyramids and your prob looking at over 20 million blocks of stone at minimum. All moved in around 120 years. The more they built and moved the easier it became for them.
There a RUclips Video "I asked AI how they built the pyramids" (It's under 10 minutes.)
Feedback is welcome.
Interesting
I bet 5$ those are brakes for slowing and controlling ropes when a load is being lowered. I bet theyre mounted to a lever wagon wheel style brake lever arm like shown in 8:14 . Then the arm applies pressure to ropes and stops them. Sort of like stone age rappel device cams. Same things. Just different materials