Ordinary Egyptians, not slaves or foreigners, built the pyramids of Giza over approximately 80 years. Around 20,000-30,000 workers with different roles, such as digging, moving, and shaping stone blocks, were involved in the massive construction project. Recent discoveries of an ancient village and cemetery near the pyramids provided evidence that the pyramid builders lived and were buried there, allowing archaeologists to confirm who built the iconic structures.
Ordinary Egyptians, not slaves or foreigners, built the pyramids of Giza over approximately 80 years. Around 20,000-30,000 workers with different roles, such as digging, moving, and shaping stone blocks, were involved in the massive construction project. Recent discoveries of an ancient village and cemetery near the pyramids provided evidence that the pyramid builders lived and were buried there, allowing archaeologists to confirm who built the iconic structures.
Ordinary Egyptians, not slaves or foreigners, built the pyramids of Giza over approximately 80 years. Around 20,000-30,000 workers with different roles, such as digging, moving, and shaping stone blocks, were involved in the massive construction project. Recent discoveries of an ancient village and cemetery near the pyramids provided evidence that the pyramid builders lived and were buried there, allowing archaeologists to confirm who built the iconic structures.
Ordinary Egyptians, not slaves or foreigners, built the pyramids of Giza over approximately 80 years. Around 20,000-30,000 workers with different roles, such as digging, moving, and shaping stone blocks, were involved in the massive construction project. Recent discoveries of an ancient village and cemetery near the pyramids provided evidence that the pyramid builders lived and were buried there, allowing archaeologists to confirm who built the iconic structures.
Giza have been timeless symbols of Egyptian culture. But who actually built them? For years, 5 we did not know for sure. But archeologists recently discovered an ancient village near the pyramids. Close by, there was also a cemetery where pyramid builders were buried. From Archeologist Dr. Zahi 10 studying these places, archeologists can now confirm that Hawass led the team that discovered the pyramid the pyramids were not built by slaves or foreigners (or space workers’ tombs. aliens!). Ordinary Egyptians built them.
It took about eighty years to build the pyramids.
According to archeologists, about 20,000–30,000 people 15 were involved in completing the task. The workers had different roles. Some dug up1 the rock, some moved it, and some shaped it into blocks. People also worked on different teams, each with its own name. On a wall in Khufu’s Great Pyramid, for example, a group of workers 20 wrote “Friends of Khufu.” Teams often competed to do a job faster.
Life for these workers was hard. “We can see that in their skeletons,” says Azza Mohamed Sarry El-Din, a scientist studying bodies found in the cemetery. The bones show signs 25 of arthritis,2 which developed from carrying heavy things for a long time. Archeologists have also found many female skeletons in the village and cemetery. The damage to their bones is similar to the men’s. Their lives may have been even tougher: male workers lived to age 40–45, but women to only 30 30–35. However, workers usually had enough food, and 5 they also had medical care if they got sick or hurt.
The work was challenging, but laborers were proud of their
work. “It’s because they were not just building the tomb of their king,” says Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass. “They 35 were building Egypt. It was a national project, and everyone was a participant.3” 1 If you dig up something (or, dig something up), you take it out of the ground. 2 Arthritis is an illness that causes the hands, knees, or other joints to hurt. 3 A participant is a person who joins a certain activity.
