ABSTRACT
Sometime during the third millennium bc, workers on the Great Pyramid of Cheops set the last stone in place. They must have felt jubilant, for this event represented a milestone of sorts in one of humanity’s grandest undertakings. Although much of the ancient Egyptians’ technology is still a mystery, the enormity and quality of the finished product remains a marvel. Despite the lack of sophisticated machinery, they were able to raise and fit some 2,300,000 stone blocks, weighing 2 to 70 tons apiece, into a structure the height of a modern 40-story building. Each facing stone was set against the next with an accuracy of 0.04 inch (1 mm), and the base, which covers 13 acres (52,600 m2), deviates less than 1 inch (25 mm) from level (Figure I.1).1
