Lifting Work and Building Time at the 4th Dynasty Pyramids

Abstract

Earlier studies about how long it took to build the great stone pyramids focused on the cubic amounts of masonry which is not an adequate parameter for determining the achievement of pyramid builders. Rather, the appropriate parameter is lifting work measured in Joules – in brief, the product of mass multiplied by lifting height. Provided lifting of a block took on average the same time at the 4th dynasty pyramid construction sites, then there was a proportion between lifting work and building time. The upper limits of the resulting building times depend on the length of Kheops’s reign.