How was the Great Pyramid built? Join Unknown Origin for a journey through ancient Egyptian quarrying, Nile transport, sledges, ramps, surveying and the human coordination behind the monument.

This is the audio edition of our cinematic film. Watch the full 4K visual edition, including historical images and engineering graphics: https://youtu.be/JkCeLRSS8f4

Ancient Worlds joins our continuing exploration of UAP, unusual encounters and the cosmos.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Your next project: the Great Pyramid
01:08 Start with the stone
02:24 A building site becomes an industry
03:34 Follow the water
04:51 Move the stone
06:04 The problem of height
08:06 The geometry changes the work
09:15 Inside the pyramid
09:53 Lines, levels and orientation
11:18 The people behind the monument
12:42 One connected system

Sources and visual credits for the companion film:
SELECTED RESEARCH
Pierre Tallet, Le journal de Merer, Les papyrus de la mer Rouge I, MIFAO 136 (2017).
Fall et al., Sliding Friction on Wet and Dry Sand, Physical Review Letters 112, 175502 (2014).
Sheisha et al., Nile waterscapes facilitated the construction of the Giza pyramids during the 3rd millennium BCE, PNAS 119, e2202530119 (2022).
AERA / Giza Plateau Mapping Project; AERAGRAM 16.2 (2015).
Harvard Digital Giza; National Museums Scotland; Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities; Amy Calvert / Smarthistory, Pyramid of Khufu.

HISTORICAL IMAGES
Merer's logbook photographs: Courtesy of www.meretsegerbooks.com, under publication permission. Original watermarks retained; resized for presentation.
https://www.meretsegerbooks.com/pictures-of-egypt.php
Grand Gallery: Mike McBey. King's Chamber: Andrew Currie, cleanup by JMCC1. Both CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; resized to fit, with crops and pans.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Looking_upwards,_along_the_Grand_Gallery,_inside_the_Great_Pyramid_1984_(50535456558).jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Khufu_Pyramid_-_King%27s_Chamber.jpg
Djehutihotep transport scene: Howard Carter / P. E. Newberry, El Bersheh I, plate XV (1895), public domain. A 19th-century facsimile of a 12th Dynasty painting; resized with an attention annotation.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Transportation_of_statue_of_Djehutihotep_II.jpg
Unas pyramid complex, Saqqara: Sebi; panorama/crop by GDK, public domain; resized.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Panorama_of_the_pyramid_of_Unas_and_temple.jpg
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Open Access / CC0:
Khufu's cattle relief, 22.1.3a, b; temple relief, 22.1.25. Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1922.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/543890
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/551275
Great Pyramid mortar, 23.187. Anonymous Gift, 1924.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/569692
https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

PRODUCTION
An EpicB Media LLC production. Creative direction: Bill Van Nort. AI-assisted visual reconstructions and narration; ramp designs and planning figures are illustrative. Narration: Frederick Surrey / ElevenLabs. Music: Beyond the Last Star, UOL001-003, from the existing Unknown Origin Suno library. Full credits appear in the film.

SUPPORT & EXPLORE
https://www.patreon.com/UnknownOriginPodcast
https://unknownorigin.transistor.fm/
Questions and corrections: unknownorigin@epicbmedia.com

#GreatPyramid #AncientEgypt #UnknownOrigin