Transporting Large Stone Blocks

[a1call]

I just finished watching an episode of "The Nature of Things" about the construction of the Egyptian Pyramids on CBC.
It stated that the large blocks of stone were carried along rails and probably using rollers.
As a mechanical designer this does not quite make sense to me. What does, is what I read years ago that it was probably done by adding 4 semi circular wooden blocks to the sides of a rectangular block, which resulted in forming a large circular profile. Such an assembly would be capable of rolling over obstacles as high as the radius of the formed circle. That would be a much simpler/intuitive/practical method of transporting large blocks than pulling rectangular blocks along wooden rails.
Any thoughts?

[xilman]

Originally Posted by a1call

I just finished watching an episode of "The Nature of Things" about the construction of the Egyptian Pyramids on CBC.
It stated that the large blocks of stone were carried along rails and probably using rollers.
As a mechanical designer this does not quite make sense to me. What does, is what I read years ago that it was probably done by adding 4 semi circular wooden blocks to the sides of a rectangular block, which resulted in forming a large circular profile. Such an assembly would be capable of rolling over obstacles as high as the radius of the formed circle. That would be a much simpler/intuitive/practical method of transporting large blocks than pulling rectangular blocks along wooden rails.
Any thoughts?

As someone who is emphatically not an engineer, the first thought that comes to mind is: how would the blocks be attached to each other? The technology of the day doesn't include metal nails or any glue stronger than pitch. The finished product has to withstand the weight of the stone and the jolting from carrying the stone over uneven ground,

Another thought is that the constructed rollers will still only be twice the diameter of the tree trunks from which they were made. An advantage, yes, but a large enough one?

[Mark Rose]

I like this theory: https://imgur.com/gallery/HJ9ll

[a1call]

Originally Posted by xilman

As someone who is emphatically not an engineer, the first thought that comes to mind is: how would the blocks be attached to each other? The technology of the day doesn't include metal nails or any glue stronger than pitch. The finished product has to withstand the weight of the stone and the jolting from carrying the stone over uneven ground,

Another thought is that the constructed rollers will still only be twice the diameter of the tree trunks from which they were made. An advantage, yes, but a large enough one?

You are a very intelligent person indeed,
Those are very good points, you can watch the episode online here
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m/e...f-the-pyramids
It is known that the blocks were carried on wooden ships held together using ropes,
The same engineering that kept the ships together and from crushing would make the wooden blocks feasible. Pyramid builders riotous have certainly been capable of building blocks bigger than the tree trunks they were made of the same way a ship is much larger than the diameter of a tree outs made of. Ancient Egyptians were much more advanced than one might expect of people some 5k years ago.

[ewmayer]

With the pyramids, rolling over obstacles or even minor unevenness would not be an issue, since so many blocks went into each pyramid that it would be imperative to properly construct a "road" from the quarry to the pyramid. Wooden rails+rollers would be an excellent way to accomplish this, and would save all the unnecessary labor and block-tipping-on-its-side needed by the giant-wheel approach.

[LaurV]

What's funny in all this topic is that your link is shortened by the forum's software into "f-the-pyramids" to which I agree...
Too much ink was already wasted in things which for me seem not mysterious at all.... People then, like now, were not stupid...

[a1call]

Originally Posted by LaurV

What's funny in all this topic is that your link is shortened by the forum's software into "f-the-pyramids" to which I agree...
Too much ink was already wasted in things which for me seem not mysterious at all.... People then, like now, were not stupid...

You are just teeming with Mathematical / Mechanical goodness.