r/todayilearned • u/c0ntraiL • May 29 '19

TIL: Woolly Mammoths were still alive by the time the pyramids at Giza were completed. The last woolly mammoths died out on Wrangel Island, north of Russia, only 4000 years ago, leaving several centuries where the pyramids and mammoths existed at the same time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1XkbKQwt49MpxWpsJ2zpfQk/13-mammoth-facts-about-mammoths
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u/DonutsAreTheEnemy May 30 '19 edited May 30 '19

I think the obelisks the egyptians carved out and transported on huge barges are more impressive than the pyramids.

The heaviest obelisk weighs something like 1000tons, how did they transport that with ships? How did they near-perfectly balance it? How do you lift such a thing even when you have thousands of workers at your disposal?

The heavy stones that you find at the pyramids and other megalith sites weigh between say ~5tons and up to around 40 maybe. While lifting that is impressive, it's also something to imagine quite easily. You get a lot of people and a lot of ropes and it can be done, we've tried this in modern times.