Naturally enough, one of my favorite subjects. I am especially fond of the Egyptian pyramids, but they have been built all over the world by all different cultures. Where stone wasn't readily at hand or difficult to transport, they piled up literally enormous mounds if earth, which can still be seen around the eastern US.
This started as a reply to the PP thread about that movie, but it is a separate topic, really.
According to the archeological evidence, the Step Pyramid was built starting around 2630 BC, and the Great Pyramid starting 2551 BC, but they both took many years to build. The Step Pyramid is interesting in that the interior shows the progression from mastaba-style tomb of the 1st and 2nd, to a 4-stepped pyramid or stack of mastabas, to the final structure.
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/arth/zoser/20.gif
The pyramid built by Snefru at Meidum, which for years was thought to have been bulit by another king, Huni* also shows the progress made in the interior design of the pyramid. The third picture down is the best.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/meidump.htm
Here's a link to my personal second favorite, the Bent Pyramid.
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Travel...eNorthWest.jpg
The page that picture is from has many more, showing the construction details a lot better.
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Travel...r/BentPyramid/
The interior of the Bent Pyramid is pretty cool--and also mysterious. Some weird stuff happened when they first started exploring it.
http://www.guardians.net/egypt/cyber...d_interior.htm
The archeological evidence points one way, other theories to radically different directions--especially in the case of the best known, Great Pyramid, and rarely to the many other really big ones built within that roughly 300 year span.
I know what I believe, but I also know I wasn't there when they built them.
*The last king of the 3rd Dynasty, had a long reign, long enough to have built quite a bit if he was as serious as those before and after him. Maybe he started it and Snefru finished it, those Egyptians pulled that usurping monuments stuff all the time.



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My ultimate dream is to become a Classical archeologist, we'll see how that pans out given where my hubby will get stationed. But Egypt and Greece and Rome will always be my first loves.

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