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During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, pyramids were built to house the pharaohs’ bodies after death.
Some were 40 stories high, built of stone blocks that weighed three tons or more each. The Egyptians’ only tools were ropes, levers, wedges, and a few stone and copper hand tools. They had no wheels or any hoisting tools to move the stones. How did they do it? The hard way—with muscle power. For three or four months a year, while the Nile flooded, the pharaohs made farmers and laborers work on building projects. The largest was the pyramids.
