“Ancient Egypt and Hydraulics”
By Scott Hamilton
I am taking a step back in time this week to talk about an archaeology article I read earlier this week. I am always fascinated by the number of social media posts trying to prove that we were not only visited by ancient aliens, but that we utilized their technology to build structures like the great pyramids in Egypt. Well, the closer we study the area around these structures and the technology available to people at the time, the more we realize that our ancestors were a lot more advanced than we give them credit.
A newly published paper released by Xavier Landreau and his team of researchers at Paleotechnic in France completely changes the status quo of how the pyramid of Djoser was built. In the paper his team suggests that the ancient Egyptians used a complex system of water-based hydraulics to create a lift system for raising the large stones of the Step Pyramid of Djoser into place. They tell an intriguing story of how the ancient people used water flowing through aqueducts under the Pyramid to power a lift system.
Other researchers are not yet on board with the so-called discovery, because they claim there is a lack of evidence that such a device existed. There are several examples showing the ancient use of hydraulics in the Old Kingdom tomb scenes and ancient texts like the Red Sea Scrolls, but there is no mention of a lifting device of the type described by Landreau. Judith Bunbury, geoarchaeologist at the University of Cambridge, is convinced that there is just not enough evidence to support this new paper.
Researchers have proposed many techniques that ancient Egyptians may have used to raise stones to the heights needed to construct the pyramids, including ramps, cranes, hoists and pivots. But “no generally accepted holistic model for pyramid construction exists yet,” the study authors write. I have always thought while looking at complex aqueducts in our ancient cultures that our ancestors had a very strong understanding of how water flowed and how it could be used to accomplish a variety of tasks. They were even known to use devices similar to a hydraulic ram pump to raise water into hilltop lakes, supplying pressurized water to a city.
Just a quick diversion of how a hydraulic ram pump works – it builds pressure from flowing water by restricting the flow and forcing some of the water up a vertical capped pipe, which will build back pressure and forcefully push the water a large distance from the pump. The ram pump is not very efficient as it requires thousands of gallons of flow to raise only a few gallons of water to a height of 100 feet, but it does not require any power source.
Another area where I believe hydraulics were utilized in the ancient cultures was in the process of cutting the large stones utilized in the building of the pyramids. We think the water-jet is a modern tool used to accurately cut a variety of materials, but I believe, much like the authors of this paper, that the ancient Egyptian culture had a strong understanding of how to pressurize water, and seeing some of the impossible cuts in granite at the sites leads me to believe they were using a tool similar to the water-jet. As we have recently learned, high-pressure, narrow streams of water can cut almost anything at which they are pointed. In fact some of the early studies in water-jet technologies found that the stream frequently cut through the titanium nozzles of the tool, which is among the hardest-to-cut metals currently available. Cutting granite with a high level of precision turns out to be very easy with a small stream of high pressure water.
So the next time you see one of the posts on social media about how it was impossible for ancient people to have accomplished something without modern technology, remind yourself that even some or our new advanced techniques do not require modern technology. The water-jet is a prime example, as the only thing required to create a high-pressure water stream is a high water tower, a ram pump, and a series of decreasing diameter pipes. The ancient water-jet, much like our computers from even 20 years ago, would have required significantly more space to construct, but would not have been impossible, even several thousand years ago.
Until next week, stay safe and learn something new.
Scott Hamilton is an Expert in Emerging Technologies at ATOS and can be reached with questions and comments via email to sh*******@te**********.org or through his website at https://www.techshepherd.org.
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