We might finally know how Egypt’s oldest pyramid was built

Just when you thought the Egyptians couldn’t get any smarter.

Egypt’s oldest pyramid, The Stepped Pyramid of Djoser, may have been built using some seriously high-tech kit. At least that’s according to a new study published in July.

The authors found that the Pyramid of Djoser, which served as a kind of proto-pyramid for those that would follow, could have used a sophisticated hydraulic lift at its core during construction. The lift would have been used to raise the colossal stones needed for the pyramid through a chamber in a “volcano fashion”, the authors wrote.

The pyramid was built as the final resting place of Djoser, the first or second pharaoh of Egypt’s third Dynasty during the Old Kingdom period, a mind-boggling 4,700 years ago.

Located just south of modern-day Cairo and 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) south of the Great Pyramids of Giza, the pyramid of Djoser rises in six stepped layers from the Saqqara Plateau to an impressive height of 62 metres – as tall as a 14-storey building.

Its exact method of construction, like all of Egypt’s pyramids, is shrouded in mystery. This hydraulic lift system, if proven, would represent a sophisticated engineering solution for its time, potentially explaining how ancient Egyptians managed to build such massive structures with the technology available to them.

According to the authors, an enclosure nearby may have acted as a kind of “check dam”, designed to capture water and sediment from the surrounding area.

Known as ‘Gisr el-Mudir', the proposed dam is possibly the world's oldest monumental stone structure. Previous hypotheses as to its purpose have ranged from a cattle pen to a fortress to a celebratory arena for the pharaoh.

Map of the Saqqara plateau showing the water course from the Gisr el-Mudir dam to the water treatment facility near Djoser pyramid. The water is then transferred to the pyramid's network of pipes to power the hydraulic elevator. - Image credit: Paleotechnic of Paris, France

A series of compartments dug into the ground outside the pyramid would then have served as a water treatment facility – no less than 400 metres long and 27 metres deep. As water passed through each compartment, sediment would settle out, providing cleaner water for use in the construction process.

Taken together, Gisr el-Mudir and the trench would form a sophisticated system capable of controlling both water quality and flow.

From here, water would then flow into shafts located inside the pyramid itself. Inside these shafts, the researchers propose that a float system was used. The rising water level in the shafts would help lift this float, which could carry building stones to where they were needed.

Afterwards, the shaft could be drained using a plug system at its base, allowing the process to begin all over again.

This work opens up a new line of research for the scientific community: the use of hydraulic power to build the pyramids of Egypt," says Xavier Landreau, President of Paleotechnic and lead author of the study.

"It not only piques curiosity about the level of technical knowledge possessed by the architects of these structures, surpassing previous estimations but also challenges the established historical narrative."

Impressive though this system and the work to uncover it is, one question remains on Landreau and his team's mind: where was the tomb of the pharaoh located?

"Could the hydraulic system, likely employed in pyramid construction, have been used to inter the king in his ultimate resting place, within the pyramid's core?" he asks.

About the expert

Xavier Landreau is president of Paleotechnic and the lead author of the study. Paleotechnic conducts multidisciplinary research to answer questions about the origins of our civilization and stands out for its interdisciplinary methods, which combine hydrology, geotechnics, physics, mathematics, materials science, and history.

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