Great Pyramid study suggests internal pulley and counterweight system

A Nature study by Dr Simon Andreas Scheuring proposes the Great Pyramid was built from the inside out using sliding counterweights and pulley-like mechanisms, citing wear marks in the Grand Gallery as supporting evidence; separate research mapped a buried Nile tributary that could have carried stone to Giza.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu has stood on the Giza plateau for about 4,585 years and questions remain about how its massive stones were raised and placed. A new study published in Nature offers a reconstruction aimed at explaining how the heavy blocks could have been lifted as the structure rose. The research, led by Dr Simon Andreas Scheuring of Weill Cornell Medicine, models sliding counterweights and pulley-like mechanisms operating inside the pyramid. The authors point to interior features and surface wear as possible physical traces of repeated mechanical use. Key points: - The Nature paper, authored by Dr Simon Andreas Scheuring, models an internal counterweight and pulley-like mechanism intended to raise blocks often weighing up to about 60 tons. - The study proposes the pyramid was built from the inside out, using sliding counterweights rather than only external hauling or long external ramps. - The author estimated that, under the model, builders could lift and place blocks at rates sometimes described as as fast as one block per minute. - The paper reinterprets the Grand Gallery, Ascending Passage and Antechamber as parts of a sloped lifting system rather than solely ceremonial or security spaces. - Scratches, wear marks and polished surfaces in the Grand Gallery are cited as evidence consistent with repeated movement of large sledges or sliding loads. - Separate research mapped an extinct, buried Nile tributary near the Giza complex that could have been used to transport heavy granite and limestone to the site. Summary: If the model is supported by further study, it would prompt a re-evaluation of how internal architecture at Giza functioned during construction and how builders managed very large stones. Further archaeological and analytical work will determine whether the proposal gains wider acceptance. Undetermined at this time.