(ORDO NEWS) — Nowadays, we are accustomed to skyscrapers that have long crossed the half-kilometer mark. However, until about 1300, the pyramid of Cheops, with its current height of 138 m, was the tallest building for 3 thousand years.
But it is worth considering the fact that it was built in 2600 BC. without access to modern technology. How much will it cost to build the Great Pyramid in 2022?
Description of the pyramid of Cheops
The Pyramid of Cheops or the Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian monument and the only “miracle of the ancient world” that has survived to this day. The project was carried out by the pharaoh’s nephew, the architect Hemiunu.
The pyramid was erected on a natural limestone hill and is a single-tier structure consisting of granite and limestone blocks. Here are some of the known sizes and features:
– Initial height – 146 meters
– Current height – 138 meters
– Tilt angle – 51 degrees
– Base area – 53 thousand square meters
– Number of block levels (current) – 203
Construction
According to scientific research, the construction of the Cheops pyramid was not done by slaves at all, but by free Egyptians with certain qualifications. They were paid for their work, but not in money, as they did not exist then.
This became known only in the 1990s, when archaeologists discovered tombs intended for workers and overseers. Also, not far from the pyramid, settlements were found in which the builders lived.
How long did it take to build and who built it?
About 10,000 people were involved in the construction, according to Zaha Hawass, former secretary general of Egypt‘s Supreme Council of Antiquities. They worked according to the schedule – replaced each other every 3 months.
Egyptologist Mark Lechner claims that at least 20,000 people participated in the project. In any case, these are not the 100,000 that Herodotus wrote about in his books.
There is no exact opinion about the duration of construction. It is known that it lasted throughout the reign of Cheops – according to various sources, from 20 to 27 years.
The experiment showed that in 27 years of work, a team of 1,000 people could extract the required amount of limestone in quarries (without the use of modern tools).
It is proved that the workers ate the best food – lots of meat, vegetables, bread and other products. According to the archaeozoologist R. Redding, they needed about 1800 kg of meat daily.
Most of the costs of building the Great Pyramid were materials and their transportation. The pyramid was built mainly from local limestone, a deposit of which is located next to it.
However, white limestone of a higher quality was used for decoration, which was delivered from the quarries of Tura (13 km from Giza) by ship. The interior decoration was made of imported granite (Aswan, 934 km along the Nile River).
How much will it cost to build the Great Pyramid in 2022?
It is difficult to calculate the cost of building a pyramid at that time, because they did not use money, the workers were paid in food, the pharaoh owned many of the materials, and everything else was obtained by barter.
But if we imagine the construction of such a structure in Egypt at the current level of development, then we get approximately the following data: limestone blocks (2.5 million cubic meters) – 500 million dollars; granite finish (8,000 tons) – $1.4 million; the total cost of building materials – no more than 1 billion dollars.
Comparing the project with the construction of the Hoover Dam (USA), which has a similar volume (3.33 million cubic meters), architect Jean-Pierre Hourden said that in 5 years about 1500-2000 people could build an analogue of the Cheops pyramid.
The construction cost would have been $ 5 billion . To save costs and time, you can use concrete instead of limestone and granite.
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