Tours: Workers & Transport

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Understand who were the people involved in the creation of ancient Egyptian monuments, and understand the techniques used to quarry stone blocks and transport monuments.

Who Were The Workers?Multiple QualificationsAn Efficient AdministrationTransportation On Land

Whether workers were employed for the pyramid construction or at the quarries, the government supplied food and housing.

Workers for the pyramids and royal necropolises were housed in more permanent villages such as the famous Deir el-Medina. Quarry workers had more temporary lodgings.

Al skill levels were needed and utilized, from basic workhands to prepare the gypsum, to brick makers and sand carriers, to skilled stonemasons to shape the blocks.

Skilled architects and engineers were employed year-round, while support labor were often farmers who worked on the quarries or construction during the Nile's flood season. The basic laborers were hard-working and versatile. Many may have been farmers who joined the construction during the off-season. Hieroglyphs found in the work villages listed assigned job titles.

Archeological research shows that no food was stored or prepared on site, but instead workers received abundant rations of bread, beer and meat. These rations were taken care of by an administration outside the village. Medical treatment was also available for those who were injured.

While some quarries were closer to the Nile, others were located across the desert and required long expeditions. These expeditions were sanctioned by the state. They involved complex logistics, and required many participants. Transporting a block by land meant that workers had to overcome the weight and friction of the load. To solve this, they first dug a track in the ground. This path was sometimes reinforced with rails upon which a sled used to ferry the blocks would be pulled.

Moving Stone BlocksTransportation On WaterThe Ouadi el-Jarf PapyriStone CargoRiver Transportation

Whenever possible, blocks were toppled from a higher elevation onto the sled.

Workers then poured water onto the clay at the front of the sled, creating a slick surface to more easily move the load.

It wasn't until the New Kingdom that animals were used to tow the burden.

During flood season, the Nile was at its largest and deepest, which allowed the transportation of the heaviest and biggest loads. Quarries close to the river had troughs dug out to deliver the stones to the shoreline. Harbors and wharfs situated at the river's edge allowed the transfer of materials and supplies. Harbor warehouses accommodated additional stocks of stone so that they were available for the winter sailing season.

The Ouadi el-Jarf papyri detail a limestone load intended for the Khufu pyramid that weighed in at 70-80 tons, or thirty blocks. One papyrus is a fragment from a foreman's notes taken while working on the Great Pyramid. It details the transportation of limestone blocks from the Tura quarries to the construction site of the pyramid. The other papyri are shipping logs containing archives of the sailors assigned to sail the Red Sea and the Nile.

Stone cargo generally weighed 15 tons per boat, amounting to roughly six or seven blocks per trip. For heavier Loads such as obelisks, monolithic pillars or gigantic statues, larger boats were used. These transports are the ones typically showcased on temple walls.

River transportation was the most efficient way to ferry stone blocks between the quarry and the construction site. Blocks were transported by flotillas of several types of boats. The most detailed illustration of transport by river is a relief of Queen Hatshepsut's barge with an accompanying flotilla.