Top 10 Mind-Blowing Facts About the Pyramids You Didn’t Know

Contrary to popular belief, Egypt is not the only country with pyramids. This wrong notion has been perpetuated by the frequent referrals made to the Pyramid of Giza. It is worth noting though that there are hundreds of pyramids scattered around the globe in places such as Asia, South America and other African countries

The first Egyptian pyramid is believed to be the Pyramid of Djoser and it was built in Saqqara in 2640 B.C. The Pyramid of Khufu also known as the Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the ancient wonders of the world. Standing at 146 meters above the ground, the Great Pyramid was for 3800 years the tallest man made structure in the world.

This does surprise very many people who assume that Egypt has the most pyramids. Even though Egypt has the most popular pyramids, it cannot match the thousands of pyramids scattered all over China such as the Mausoleum of First Quin Emperor amongst a long list.

These pyramids are part of the Ancient wonders of the world. The Menkaure pyramid was named after an Egyptian king who reigned from 2490 to 2472 BC and was built using sarcophagus, red granite and limestone. The Khufu Pyramid was also named after an Egyptian king who reigned between 2589 and 2566 BC. The Khafre pyramid was named after the son of Khufu.

This particular pyramid was constructed with such precision that even the most sophisticated and advanced technology currently in the market cannot replicate the same precision using the same building materials.

In ancient times, the Mayans and Aztecs were known to routinely sacrifice people, both strangers and prisoners at the top of the pyramid. This is in fact one of the reasons why all the Mayan and Aztec pyramids had a stair stepped architecture. The largest human sacrifice took place at the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan where slightly over 80,000 people were sacrificed during its re-consecration.

Tourists who have been fortunate enough to tour both of these pyramids have all commented about the unusual urine scent which permeates the pyramids. This scent has baffled both archeologists and researchers alike and because the airflow within the pyramids is quite limited, getting rid of the smell is almost impossible. There are several theories as to where the smell originated from; some believe it came from prisoners who were kept there, the builders or vandals. The jury is still out there.

There are people who believe that the pyramids in South and Central America still do hold some mystical powers. Many people who believe in deities do believe that the more people follow a certain deity, the weaker the deity gets over time. It thus follows that a deity which has not been followed for some time does have more power to grant. They thus follow the hidden deities in Pyramids so as to get their powers.

Even though the exact number of stone blocks is not known, it is estimated that it has 2.3 million blocks. With each block weighing anything between two and thirty tons, it is still a marvel as to how these blocks were lifted or raised and how they were delicately balanced to last that long.

Archeologists have since concluded that the shape of pyramids was mainly driven by the type of tools available during those ancient times. With only chisels, mallets, hammers and trowels, the constructors were limited in the design options. They chiseled, smoothed and stacked blocks together and came up with stable structures which could be seen from afar and used as a tomb for the pharaoh.