The pyramids built by the ancient Egyptians are among the most well known and celebrated in the world. Egyptians engineered the model for what most of us consider the classic pyramid design: a square base and four smooth triangular sides. The awesome design and massive size of the pyramids have evoked some fanciful explanations. Some people have suggested that inhabitants of the legendary Atlantis extraterrestrials built them, while others claim levitation was used or that the Egyptians possessed a now-lost, unique technology to help them erect the remarkable structures. Indeed, there is no known Egyptian hieroglyph or relief or any surviving written account from that time depicting the building of the pyramids. For centuries, Egyptologists, scientists, engineers, writers, and mathematicians have theorized how the pyramids were built. All agree, however, about the basic techniques of pyramid construction. Copper chisels were used to quarry softn rocks such as ...