Pyramid Stone Quarry Distance

Stone quarries of ancient Egypt Rock temples cut directly in the rocks at the Silsileh quarrying site, near Aswan The stone quarries of ancient Egypt once produced quality stone for the building of tombs and temples and for decorative monuments such as sarcophagi, stelae, and statues. [1] These quarries are now recognised archaeological sites. A horseshoe-shaped quarry lies just south of Khufu's Great Pyramid and the Khafre pyramid causeway.

The sides of the quarry align with the sides of the Khufu Pyramid. Lehner suspected that this great pit furnished most of the local stone for the core of the Great Pyramid. Limestone quarries Quarries of limestone, sandstone and granite are scattered all along the Nile, with a greater share near the south of the delta, on the Cairo side and in its southern part.

The Giza pyramids were made with a local stone, directly extracted from the Giza plateau. These are open. The construction of the Great Pyramid is still a bit of an archaeological mystery, a papyrus discovered in 2013 reveals now where ancient Egyptians got the rocks needed to build this ancient wonder.

The Aswan stone quarries (granite) Aswan (Assuan) lies 934km south from Giza up the Nile river (about 700 km air-line distance). The granite quarries lie south and southeast of the city of Aswan on the right side of the Nile and cover an area of about 20 km². The granite for the pyramids probably came from the northern part.

The distance from the pyramid to the nearby quarries was about 700m, so that the total length of the transport line from the quarry to a construction platform halfway to the top was 1400 + 700 = 2100m. The quarry in Aswan, where much of the stone for the pyramids was sourced, is approximately 800 kilometers (about 500 miles) south of Giza. This distance reflects the significant effort required.

The King's Chamber stone blocks weighed 50,000 - 60,000 kg (110,000 to 132,000 lbs). Wooden barges transported stone blocks via canal from the river or quarry to the pyramid. The canal at the base of the pyramid was at a higher elevation than the canal used to transport building materials from the river or quarry.

WHERE DID THEY GET THE STONE? Giza Quarry: Located near the Great Pyramid, this limestone quarry supplied much of the material for the pyramids and mortuary temples. Workers extracted and transported these stones over short distances, making the site extremely efficient.

Aswan Granite Quarries: The quarries at Aswan produced granite used in obelisks, sarcophagi, and statues.