Discovery Target: - How the Pyramids Were Built: - Personal - http://maxpages.com/liz316/Discovery

It took 10 years, an average force of 13,200 men, 111 million jugs of beer and 126 million loaves of bread to build the Great Pyramid at Giza, according to a study by an international engineering and construction management firm.

"We looked at the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza from the point of view of a modern program/construction manager," says Craig Smith, of Daniel, Mann, Johnson, & Mendenhall, whose findings appear in the current Civil Engineering Magazine.

A discipline as old as the pyramids, program management is the science of handling large public works projects.

From critical path scheduling to work breakdown structure, everything is mathematically analyzed and outside factors are taken into consideration before building ever starts.

Using modern program management and drawing on its expertise in large construction projects, Smith's firm of engineers deduced important details about the pyramid, such as the size of the workforce, the duration of the construction and the design of the ramp used by workmen to position stones.

Built during the fourth dynasty, the Great Pyramid was originally 481 feet high. It contains 3.4 million cubic yards of material, while its base covers an area of 13.1 acres, which could accommodate the cathedrals of Florence, Milan, London's St. Paul's and Rome's St. Peter's and still have plenty of space.

"Clearly, the pyramid was built in a shorter time and with fewer people than has been stated in numerous published works going back to Herodotus," says Smith.

According to the Greek historian, the construction took 30 years with a workforce of 100,000. But Smith's analysis of the Egyptian economy's feeding capacity suggests the figure is more like 13,200: The full-time workforce numbered around 5,000, not counting administrative staff or the workers who cut and carried limestone to the site.

Smith's findings were bolstered by recent excavations of a worker's village at Giza, which indicates a permanent establishment of about 5,000 skilled laborers and craftsmen.

The project likely required two to three years for site preparation, five years of pyramid construction, and two years of ramp removal, decoration and other secondary labor, says Smith.

"I believe it's entirely possible that the pyramid was built in a shorter time and with fewer people than previously thought," says archaeologist Thomas Kittredge of Yale University, a member of the Giza excavation team.

Source: Discovery Channel Online @ www.discoverychannel.com

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