Pyramid BuildingVocabulary

Mastaba:

• mud-brick structure above an underground tomb• the first type of tomb for pharaohs• contained a chapel and a statue of the deceased

Step pyramid:

• designed by Imhotep (the first recorded architect in history) for King Zoser

• (built in the Third Dynasty- 2750 B.C.)

King ZoserImhotep

Pyramid:

• tomb for pharaohs• flat, square base with 4 sloped, triangular sides

Temenos wall:

• 30 feet high wall built• surrounded the pyramid

Stone used for pyramid building:

• softer limestone- for basic structure• harder limestone- for outer casing• granite- (very hard) used for burial

chambers and porticullises• dolerite- (extremely hard) used to

pound through outer stone• alabaster- (fine opaque stone) used

for pottery, jewelry and floor tiles

Wooden wedge:

• placed in chiseled area of stone

• water was poured over it to make it swell and split the stone

Plumbline:

• stone at the end of string

• used to determine vertical level of the object

Sledge:

• sled rolled over logs• used to move stones to or from a barge, or to a

site

Causeway:

• simple road over which stones were moved

Friction:

• the heat created by the friction of the sledge being moved over the causeway was so great that water, milk or mud was often poured over the sand surface to help cool it

Ramps:

• these huge structures were built of stone

• needed to get large stones to high areas on the pyramid

Workers:

• hundreds were paid to work on the pyramid all year long

• during the inundation, or flood season, many thousands more of farmers who could not yet work in their fields were also paid to work on the pyramid

• very few slaves worked on it

Shafts:

• small tunnels, or passageways were kept open for different needs

False doors:

• these were sometimes intended to trick potential grave robbers

• sometimes they were intended to be the doors through which spirits or gods could enter

Portcullises:

• made of granite

• sealed the entrance to the burial chamber

Burial chamber:

• where the pharaoh’s sarcophagus was placed

Capstone:

• the final stone that was placed on the very top of the pyramid

Inundation:

• the annual flooding of the Nile between July and November

• predicted by Sirius, the Dog Star

Site:

• area chosen on which the pyramid would be built (north, south, east, or west)

• always on the West Bank- for the land of the dead

West Bank at Thebes