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Building a pyramid - part 1

60 second histories

This video covers:

An insight into the evidence discovered that shows us how the pyramids were built and by whom.

Although there are no records from the ancient times that tell us exactly how the Egyptians built their pyramids we’ve discovered many things, through archaeology. We’ve found pieces of papyrus, the Egyptian paper, which shows calculations and tells us how they worked out the angles and the overall dimensions of the pyramid. We’ve also found carvings and drawings from the time that show us the different building techniques they used and we’ve found tools, like a cord and peg which would have been used to mark out foundations, rulers for measuring and chisels and boning rods which would have been used to make the stone blocks smooth. All of these artefacts have survived and by examining them it give us an idea how things were done. But what about the men who built the Pyramids? It was believed for many years that slaves were used to build them, but we now know that around four thousand skilled workers, many of whom were skilled, were on site all year round. Sometimes these numbers grew because when the annual floods came it stopped the peasants working in the fields so they went to work on the pyramids instead.
Eras: 
Ancient Egypt
Topics: 
Buildings & Structures
Character: 
Victorian Explorer
Key words: 
Ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Egyptians, Egypt, Pyramids, Ancient, Foundations, archaeology, pyramid, papyrus, tools, craftsmen, carvings, artefacts, boning rods, KS2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6, Key Stage 2 history, KS2, key stage 2, primary, KS2 videos, KS2 clips, KS2 history, KS2 videos, KS2 history film, KS2 history clip, Egypt, Egyptian, Egyptians, Ancient Egypt,