Ancient Impossible (2014–…): Season 1, Episode 3 - Monster Monuments - full transcript

How did the Egyptians
carve the world's

largest monument thousands of

years before mount rushmore?

That is absolutely
extraordinary!

How did the romans build
a dome bigger than the

dome on the U.S.
capitol building?

This is just under
2,000 years old.

It is incredible that
it is still standing.

And how were the massive
stones of stonehenge

moved hundreds of miles
across rugged terrain?

Monuments more colossal than



our own, ancient super weapons
as mighty as today's,

technology so precise
it defies reinvention.

The ancient world
was not primitive.

Their marvels were so
advanced, we still use them.

Travel to a world closer than

we imagine, an ancient age

where nothing was impossible.

Over 3,000 years ago, one of

Egypt's greatest pharaohs

created this impossibly vast

monument to himself at abu

simbel, an imposing
location on the nile river.

To this day, it is still the

largest temple ever
carved out of solid rock.



This colossal monster monument

was built in an age before

modern machinery, before there

were even iron tools.

But how did they do it?

To understand what they were up

against, we look at a monster

monument being built right now

crazy horse monument,
South Dakota.

This project is so vast that Dr.

Derek muller needs a
helicopter to appreciate it.

This is absolutely amazing.

I am coming up close and

personal with one of America's

native American leaders, crazy

horse, who led the native

Americans to victory in the

battle of little big horn.

This sculpture is just

mind blowingly big.

It is the whole mountain.

The statue of this

great native American hero on

horseback will be 563 feet high

when completed.

Just the horse's nostril alone

will be big enough to
hold ten full size cars.

This impossible monument is so

massive and time consuming that

the task has been handed down

from father to son.

My dad got a letter from

Henry standing bear asking him

to carve a mountain to the

native American Indian.

And in 1948, he started it.

Crazy horse will be the largest

carving of any kind in the world

as far as mountain carvings go,

and I think it's the tallest

memorial built by man.

But until crazy

horse monument is complete, the

title for the world's largest

monument remains with
Abu Simbel, in Egypt.

In a boundless and barren

desert, this monument stands,

carved out of a single mountain

just like crazy horse.

But it took the Egyptians
just 20 years to build.

How was this possible
so long ago?

Look at that.

That is absolutely

extraordinary.

Oh, wow.

In terms of the scale of the

achievement, the size of the

building, and the fact that this

is cut directly into a mountain,

the great temple at Abu Simbel

is as close as there is to an

ancient impossible mega build.

Well, standing in front of

Abu Simbel right now, I am

incredibly impressed
by this structure.

You really only get a sense of

scale when you're right up

against it.

It is just so amazing.

I don't even come
up to his feet.

Monuments like

these were built on the orders

of the pharaohs, absolute rulers

of Egypt, who ruthlessly used

every resource they could muster

to celebrate their rule.

But one pharaoh outbuilt
all the other pharaohs.

N a massive fit of pride,

Egyptian pharaoh ramses ii

decorated the outside of the

temple with four massive
statues of himself.

Ramses ii was an ego maniac.

He was the greatest, powerful,

celebrated pharaoh of all time.

He probably reigned from the
age of 24 to 90 years old.

And he built huge monuments
to celebrate himself.

He even changed inscriptions on

existing monuments to
celebrate himself.

He was the ancient monument

builder of the ancient
world, if you like.

It's a grand statement of

power and capability.

You didn't need to
be able to read.

You didn't need to be able to

meet the man to know
what he was capable of.

This was a visual statement that

I am as powerful as any man,

almost as powerful as a God.

Ramses ii was buried in the

valley of thkings and is now

on display in a museum.

And even though he died over

3,000 years ago, everyone still

remembers him, which I am sure

pleases him enormously.

The vast interior

of Abu Simbel is a great

testament to the phenomenal

ability and craftsmanship of the

ancient builders.

Wow.

Can you believe that?

Look at how amazing
this temple is.

You know, as a modern engineer,

I wouldn't believe that this was

possible if someone had told me

they could build a structure

this big and detailed and just

beautifully constructed.

I wouldn't think it's possible.

Despite its tremendous
size, the temple of

Abu Simbel was built with

pinpoint precision, an example

of not only advanced engineering

but that the Egyptians also had

an extraordinary
knowledge of astronomy.

On exactly two days of the

year, February the 21st and

October the 21st, possibly the

king's birthday and the king's

coronation, the light falls

inside the temple and shines on

the back wall and lights
up the holy statues...

The question remains
how did the ancient

Egyptians build this
impossible temple?

Now we're still trying to

work out what sort of techniques

they could have used
to construct it.

It's from another time, and that

doesn't make sense.

Some clues might

lie in another
modern mega monument

mount rushmore, South Dakota.

It's been called the eighth

wonder of the world.

Many believe mount rushmore

would not exist if it were not

for the work of the ancient

builders at Abu Simbel.

We are going to see the

modern Abu Simbel,
mount rushmore.

But the best way to see
it is from a chopper.

I can't wait.

Let's do this.

These faces of
presidents Washington,

Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln

are 60 feet high, taller
than a 5 story building

wow.

That is truly something special.

You look at the size of
that thing, the scale.

You know, its 60
foot high faces.

If those were made into men,

they would stand 465 foot tall.

You think about Abu Simbel and

what they were able to achieve
there, the statues of ramses

were actually larger than
each of those faces.

Can the construction
of mount rushmore

help us to understand what it

took to create Abu Simbel?

Rushmore was carved
with explosives.

The people who built mount

rushmore had dynamite.

They had pneumatic drills.

They had all of this very

impressive modern technology.

The result is truly an
engineering marvel, but

consider this 3,000 years
ago at Abu Simbel,

there was no dynamite
or power drills.

All the workers had was
this, a small hand chisel

as a modern engineer, I would

not believe that something like

that was capable of being built

thousands of years ago with a

technology as simple as this,

a simple copper chisel.

It gives me a whole new respect

for the ancient Egyptians and

what they were capable of.

The statues of ramses
alone are seven feet

higher than the faces
on mount rushmore.

Could the Egyptians really have

built this massive temple with

little more than copper chisels?

This is a block of sandstone,

the very same material that the

temple at Abu Simbel was carved

out of, and here I have a

reconstructed tool, the same

type of copper chisel that they

would have used to
build the temple.

What I want to find out is just

how difficult it is to work with

this tool on this rock.

It seems impossible to

believe that Abu Simbel was

carved with copper chisels, but

it's the only metal that the

Egyptians could get
large quantities of.

Now today, our tools are made of

hardened steel.

And copper isn't even half as

hard as that, which makes abu

simbel one of the most amazing

feats of engineering ever.

We're talking about hundreds,

possibly thousands of men

hacking away skillfully over a

long period of time.

It's the only way you could've

covered this amount
of sheer rock.

After just a few

minutes' work,
there's a problem.

Looking at my tool after a

few hits, I can see that it's

already started to wear away.

It is estimated

that three or more chisels a

day could have been used by

each man as they pounded the

rock face, far less effective

than a pneumatic drill, let

alone explosives.

How could the Egyptians have

done it?

If you're going through three

copper chisels in a day and

you've got 1,000 stone carvers

working for about 20 years, you

arrive at something like
20 million chisels.

The scale is just
hard to believe.

But they did it, and
Abu Simbel is still

standing, a constant reminder of

the power of pharaoh ramses ii.

But what's even more impossible

is that thousands of years

after it was built, the entire

temple had to be cut into

thousands of pieces and moved.

It seems impossible

that this temple was carved out

of a mountainside in Southern

Egypt 3,000 years ago.

This monster monument is larger

than mount rushmore and was

created with nothing more than

simple copper chisels

imagine what it would've been

like to be here around 3,000

years ago and watch thousands

of men as they worked on this

rock in 110 degree heat.

To create a monument
like this demanded a

highly motivated and
organized labor force.

Most experts agree that this

could not be built
using mostly slaves.

Well, the workers at abu

simbel were not actually slaves,

they were skilled craftsmen, and

to be working for the pharaoh

would have been a privilege and

an honor, and how they got paid?

Well, in bread and about
8 pints of beer a day.

While the builders

were able to harness enough

manpower to accomplish this

seemingly impossible task.

How were they able to work at

such great heights?

Today we take scaffolding for

granted, but Abu Simbel might

have been one of the first times

that scaffolding was ever
used on a large scale.

There are some theories that

show they did have some

scaffolding that would lift them

up the rock so you'd have

hundreds of workers working on

different levels
at the same time.

Another theory is

even more remarkable.

Could they have used the

mountain itself as a
building platform?

Imagine that you're carving

from top to bottom and you're

filling up the whole area with

sand so as you produce, as you

carve the statue, you're taking

away amounts of sand, your

platform from which
you're working.

But there are many

questions that need
to be answered.

How would they figure out the

exact size and proportions if

the mountain was
covered in sand?

The answer might be found
at mount rushmore.

The builders of mount rushmore

first made a clay model.

They scaled up the dimensions

using giant protractors with a

boom and a dangling plum Bob.

Using these measurements they

carved out each
presidential face

what's interesting to me is

that some of the techniques they

used to map out where they're

gonna carve may have been the

very same that they
used at Abu Simbel.

There's a technique called

pointing where essentially, you

measure out from the top and

then drop a plum Bob down to

indicate where on the rock you

need to cut back.

I mean, it's very difficult to

carve everything just by hand.

You need to also know the

mathematics and the appropriate

engineering to make that work.

It's incredible that
techniques used today may

have been the same used on abu

simbel 3,000 years ago.

When I think about the

techniques that must have been

invented in order to produce

such an incredible temple, I

think about the vast advances

that humans made here to such a

point that if people hadn't

figured out how to make this,

they may never have figured out

how to make mount rushmore.

But there is an

important difference
between the two monuments.

Ramses the second ordered his

monument to be painted
in bright colors.

We see them only as they

exist now, where earthquakes

have shaken off some of the

face, and they're left a dusty

sort of brown color.

In their original state, they

would've been brightly colored,

painted whites and blues and

reds, gilded with gold.

That is truly how these

sculptures should be viewed.

The pharaoh wanted

to be sure everyone travelling

the nile river saw his monument.

He wanted them to know who he

was and be in awe of his power.

But Abu Simbel's prominent

position on the banks of the

river nile put it under threat.

Over 3,000 years after it was

built, Abu Simbel was
nearly lost forever.

What I find truly

extraordinary is that the abu

simbel temple actually used to

be 200 feet below the surface of

the nile here.

In 1964 they built a dam at

aswan which flooded
this whole region.

So they had to move the whole

temple up 200 feet, and they set

it back 700 feet in
its current position.

To me, that is amazing, that

centuries after this mega build,

they made a mega move.

So a team of expert engineers

and contractors took Abu Simbel

block by block, 20 to 30 ton

blocks and moved it
onto a higher position.

They created a concrete dome to

help support its structure and

then piece by piece like a giant

Jigsaw put it all
back together again.

And what really amazes me is

that they still realigned the

temple so that twice a year,
on the king's birthday and the

king's coronation, the sunlight

still hits the back of that

temple wall and lights up the

holy statues of ramses.

Today, the great temple of abu

simbel looks like it's
always been here.

It is a great testament to the

ancient builders that

constructed it and to the modern

engineers that moved
it the ancient

Egyptians used a massive

workforce for 20 years
to create Abu Simbel.

Their tools were simple, but

multiplying simple tools and

techniques with thousands of

workers achieved the impossible

to think about the techniques

that they invented, to think

about their ingenuity and their

manpower, their organization, I

just think it's extraordinary.

If I hadn't seen it for my own

eyes, I wouldn't believe
that it's possible.

But is it possible that
ancients working thousands

of years before Abu Simbel may

have employed even more
advanced techniques?

Thousands of miles and a
continent away from the

great structures of Egypt lie
the remains of an ancient

impossible monument built
by a people long ago.

To this day, there are many
theories as to why they built

it, but one thing is sure.

It is a structure years
ahead of its time.

Stonehenge is a massive and

mysterious stone circle
built 4,500 years ago.

Visiting stonehenge literally
takes your breath away.

You stand there in absolute awe.

It's a very iconic, very
spiritual place, and it's a real

testament to what people can
achieve when they work together.

Stonehenge in Southern england.

Like the pyramids, it is one of

the most famous ancient
sites in the world.

Now irrigation and sunshine

in Egypt created a real rich

powerful agricultural economy,

which then in turn gave power

and wealth to create
monster monuments.

At the same time in Southern

england, agriculture was
on a fairly basic scale.

So how small farming

communities got together and

moved and built something like

this is absolutely incredible.

Sometimes when you stand

inside stonehenge with these

massive stones towering above

you, it's almost impossible to

work out how our ancient

ancestors might have built

something like this, just
the sheer scale of it.

These massive stone

archways weigh nearly 100 tons.

Can these ruins give us a clue

as to how this
monument was built?

Originally it looked quite

different because today, it's a

ruin because its
4,500 years old.

Quite a lot of stones are
missing, but if we look at that

part of the outer circle, that

gives you an idea of what

carried all the way round here.

With no quarries on

site or nearby, it seems

impossible to think this

enormous mega structure was

built in ancient
times, but it was.

Stonehenge was built by the

stone age and bronze age
inhabitants of britain.

And what they brought here to

build it were two different
sorts of stones.

These huge ones are sarsens,

which is a hard sandstone, and

that comes from about 20
miles away to the north.

These things weigh up to 40.
Tons, and the smaller ones, they

only weigh up to
about five tons.

They come all the way from

wales, about 150 miles
in that direction.

This is the site in wales
where the inner circle

bluestones from
stonehenge come from.

Stonemason selwyn Jones believes

the answers lie in this quarry.

It's incredible to think that
these stones from this quarry

were transported well over 100

miles by people who had never

done anything like this before,

and probably would never
do anything like it again.

Even today, the scale of

choosing one of these stones,

moving it down the valley by

sled, out to the coast, onto

the water, across the channel.

It's amazing,
absolutely amazing.

Today, it takes a few hours
to travel 150 miles.

5,000 years ago, it took over a

week, and that's
without a 4 ton stone.

There were no roads, no Bridges

and no boats big enough.

How did they get the
bluestones here?

James Dean uses advanced

holographic technology to help

solve the ancient mystery.

One theory as to how they

might have done it is they could

have wrapped the stones in

wicker and then rolled
them to their destination.

Now this seems like it's going

to be very hard work when you're

going uphill and potentially

lethal when you're
going downhill.

Some of the route to stonehenge

is over water, but no one has

any idea about this because

there's no evidence that there
were suitable boats that could

have moved these stones.

So this one remains impossible.

Unless, could they have used the

wicker to float a 3 ton stone?

It's possible, but you're going

to need a lot of wood to

displace this much weight.

But the bluestones are the
smallest at stonehenge.

It seems impossible to have
moved them here, but how could

the ancients possibly
transport the heavier stones?

The sarsens are very different
from the bluestones.

They're much, much bigger.

These massive stones weigh about
40 tons, and they've got a 10

ton stone perched
on top of them.

And they also came from 20
miles away to the north.

So quite how prehistoric people

dragged these enormous stones

across the downs, we
honestly don't know.

For thousands of years,
the sophisticated society

of Egypt built impossible,
massive monuments.

But a mysterious culture in

Southern england was
not to be outdone.

The secrets behind the mega

build at stonehenge have

remained a mystery
for 5,000 years.

How could these 40 ton stones

have been moved over 20 miles

without modern
machinery or roads?

We've got 20 to 50 tons of

granite hard sandstone here.

And it's a 25 mile
journey to stonehenge.

We can't drag it, and in fact

even trying to drag it on sleds

seems like hard work.

We could try stone rowing.

So we have two teams of people

on either side of the rock with

big levers, and as they lift the

rock, they shuffle it a tiny

amount forwards, but it's

incredibly slow, and the whole

idea of moving a 40 odd ton

stone 25 miles without transport

or roads seems
totally impossible.

But we're not out of ideas yet.

We've seen that the

ancient Egyptians could
move massive stones.

But what technology was

available to a
stone age culture?

These rollers could work, but

ground in Southern england can

get very muddy and
they'll get stuck.

This is a better option, build a

stone age rail road.

We either do it as a continuous

length of track or we
re lay it as we go.

Either way it's going to take a

huge number of people.

Is it possible that

stonehenge was built with

technology thousands of years

ahead of its time?

Loads of these balls have

been found near neolithic

monuments in Scotland, and

they're all three
inches in diameter.

They could be stone
age ball bearings.

These ball bearings could be

laid between two "u" sections

cut from hard oak to
make a roller platform.

This is amazing, but we've no

proof that this
is what they did.

With a mobile trackway like this

you could move the sarsen stones

with far fewer people.

Despite the theories,
how the stones got

here is still a mystery.

But look at their
perfectly smooth sides.

It's not difficult
to do this today.

But how was it done
4,500 years ago?

The only thing they had to do

that with were stone tools.

Hammers of stone, everything

from the size of footballs that

you'd have to pound away at the

stones with, and then when you

got to a finer surface you'd

need a smaller handheld stone

like this, but can you imagine

just sitting here and pounding

away for hours and days and

weeks and months to create these

smooth surfaces and the joints

that fit the stones together?

Even with the

stones on hand and ready to go,

the problems for these ancient

mega builders were
only just beginning.

So they've got the stones

here, they've shaped them.

Then they've got to
get them upright.

That in itself is not easy with

a stone of this size.

We think that they must have

known how to use levers to

actually lever the
end of the stone up.

Stone age societies

had no metal tools.

They had to improvise.

To get this stone vertical.,

you dig a hole with a vertical

side and a diagonal side
using antler picks.

First the stone goes
in off this ramp.

And then it's hauled in whilst

the hole is backfilled.

It would work, but it'd take an

incredible number of
people to achieve it.

The people who

built stonehenge might have been

able to mobilize enough workers.

But there is still the question

of how they got the
final stones in place.

So you've got the upright

stones up, then you've got to

get the lintel on the top, and

that really we don't know in

all honesty how they actually
got these stones up.

It's one of the great
mysteries of stonehenge.

There are plenty of

theories but still
no solid answers.

You can haul the lintel up an

earth ramp to get it into

position, but it's very costly

in terms of time and manpower.

As another possibility, you can

lever up alternate sides and

build supporting timber

underneath until you lever it

sideways on to the stones.

Another idea is that the
lintel was lifted on a

sturdy wooden wheel.

Stonehenge comes from a time

before written records.

There's no evidence as to how

or why it was built, but it

remains today a testament
to the impossible.

I think one of the things

that we need to understand
is that these people were

incredibly ingenious,
incredibly skilled.

They were mathematicians.

They were engineers.

They were astronomers.

They had a lot of skills.

We mustn't think of them as

being primitive in any way.

They were unbelievably skilled

people because they built

stonehenge, and it's still here

for us to see 4,500 years later.

Stonehenge remains one of
the greatest mysteries of

the ancient world.

But the romans weren't to be

outdone in monster
monumental impossibilities.

Our world is full of amazing
buildings, but 2,000

years ago, the romans built
advanced structures that still

have not been outdone today.

One of these is a 2,000 year old

concrete dome found in
the centre of Rome.

It's called the pantheon, built

as a temple to all the
gods of ancient Rome.

The pantheon is usually

ascribed to emperor hadrian, but
it's actually said to have been

begun by his predecessor,
emperor trajan.

These towering grey granite

columns came from Egypt,
3,000 miles from Rome.

They were quarried in aswan

these were first transported up

the river nile, then across the

mediterranean, and then by

barge up the river tiber and

then finally dragged through

the streets to the pantheon.

The sight must have
been incredible.

The stone floor was made up of

granite and marble from Egypt,

north Africa and Turkey, the

edges of Rome's vast empire.

But the truly impossible
feature of the

pantheon is its dome of
unreinforced concrete.

After 2,000 years, its sheer

scale has never been matched.

The dome's diameter, that's

what's not superseded, ever.

So picture, you don't just have

this amazing dome but the width,

the diameter is the same as the

height, so you could fit in that

cylinder a perfect sphere.

Incredibly, the space
inside the pantheon could

hold 9 million gallons of water.

It is an amazing structure.

If we compare the pantheon

dome to say a modern dome such

as the capitol building
in Washington DC.

Now the pantheon dome has
a diameter of 142 feet.

Now the capitol building
has a diameter of 96 feet.

The last time the pantheon dome

was repaired was in 202
ad after an earthquake.

The capitol dome was finished in

1866 and has already undergone

two extensive restorations.

How was the pantheon built?

The secret lies hidden
in the concrete.

Modern concrete buildings rarely

last 50 years, let
alone 2,000 years.

To uncover this secret, we're

going to one of the world's most

dangerous places.

Oh, my God.

It's like being on the moon.
Amazing.

Dr. Darius Arya has

come to solfatara
volcano in Italy.

This hellish inferno is the key

to the mystery of
the pantheon dome.

We think of concrete
as a modern invention.

We think about it building
our modern mega cities.

But it was invented
here in Roman times.

Encased in this bubbling
cauldron is the secret

ingredient, this volcanic

material, called
pozzolana ash or sand.

The magic ingredient in
cement is the pozzolana sand,

and what it has is volcanic

material, including
aluminates and silicates.

And this creates a really

important chemical bond with the

lime and with the water.

The bond created by volcanic

ash when combined with other
ingredients makes a solid

material, unlike modern
concrete which lets water in.

The volcanic ash makes the

concrete weatherproof
and resistant to decay.

This simple ingredient
makes Roman concrete

a mega build super material more

durable than any
concrete made today.

A modern equivalent of the
Roman concrete recipe was

amazingly used in
the hoover dam.

Fly ash, a by product of the
coal fire process, was used in

the hoover dam concrete, and it
works in a similar kind of way

to the volcanic ash
of the Roman age.

We've found the secret
of Roman concrete.

And we've come to Texas
to put it to the test.

Concrete expert mark whaling

has always been fascinated
by Roman concrete.

He's even visited the pantheon
in Rome to study its design.

Mark has made one ton blocks of

Roman and modern concrete
to test their strengths.

How will they face up to a true
Texas test, a Winchester 73?

We have a showdown between
Roman concrete 2,000 year old

technology and modern concrete,

and we're going to see
which one is stronger.

Can sharpshooter
Kirsten weiss make

a big impact on modern concrete?

Some light damage, penetrated

about half an inch, not
much more than that.

Held up pretty well.

Will the Roman concrete
be equal to the test?

It's fared every bit as well
as the modern concrete did.

The thing with the Roman
concrete is that it gets

stronger and stronger as it
ages, and that is one of the

reasons why the pantheon
is still standing today.

If you take something like the
pantheon dome, it's actually

stronger now than when it
was built 2,000 years ago.

I'm in complete awe of the
engineering and the skill of the

monument builders of
the ancient world.

The romans formulated
the ultimate building

material and built
the impossible.

In 2,000 years it's
never been matched.

But another ancient monument
stood 2,500 years before the

pantheon was built and
is still standing today.

This is the great
pyramid of giza.

We like to think that
humans have never been more

advanced than they are
today, but we're wrong.

As far back as 5,000 years,
ancient engineers erected

buildings that have stood the
test of time and might outlast

anything we build today.

The temple of Abu Simbel in
Egypt is still the world's

biggest monument carved out of a
mountainside, but one Egyptian

monster monument even
dwarfs Abu Simbel

the great pyramid, built
in the 26th century bc.

At a height of over 480 feet, it
reigned as the tallest manmade

structure in the world
for over 4,000 years.

The building of the great

pyramid is a staggering feat

when you consider
the sheer size.

This is an almost
impossible achievement.

The Egyptians built

more than 100 pyramids
across their kingdom.

It is believed that all
were constructed as tombs.

In terms of size, precision and
construction time, no mega

build in the world beats
the great pyramid of giza.

It is the only wonder of the

seven wonders of the ancient
world still standing.

It was constructed as a tomb for
Khufu, second pharaoh of the

fourth dynasty, 4,500 years ago.

How did the Egyptians build on

such a scale thousands of
years ahead of their time?

I think, undisputedly, the
ancient Egyptians were the

mega builders of
the ancient world.

The mind boggles to
think how they did it.

When we think of big, we
think of buildings like

the Pentagon, and while it does
have greater ground coverage,

the Pentagon is just a
lightweight when it comes to the

sheer volume of the
great pyramid.

These are manmade mountains,
structures of a size that we

failed to replicate up until,
say, the 20th century.

That just gives you some idea
of the scope, the scale, the

monumental achievement
that this represents.

The great pyramid weighs
over 6 million tons.

That's more than seven
Pentagon buildings.

The number of stone blocks it
contains is simply staggering.

You know, each one of these

pyramids contains about
2 million huge stones.

And you think about how far they
had to bring those stones, it just

it boggles the mind.

How was that even possible?

The blocks used at the
base of the great pyramid

weigh two and a half tons.

The largest single blocks in the

pyramid weigh as much
as 20 tons each.

You think about how long
Khufu's reign was and we think

it was between 23 and 25 years,

you divide that time by the
number of blocks, you're looking

at putting one of those
humungous blocks into place

every couple of minutes.

That in itself is a
staggering achievement.

And if you think with enough

rope, enough men, enough force,

you can move anything, and the

great pyramid is
the proof of that.

Even more incredible
is the precision with

which the great pyramid was
built long before computers and

modern surveying
equipment were invented

in addition to its phenomenal
size, the pyramid is an

incredible feat of precision
building as well.

So the base on to which it's
built is absolutely level.

There's less than a single inch
worth of deviation from that

absolutely perfect level, and
all of the four sides of the

pyramid at the base are
of identical length.

The difference between the

shortest and the longest
is less than two inches.

This is an absolutely
incredible feat.

Originally the pyramids
were covered with

highly polished white limestone
and possibly capped with gold.

Only the pyramid of khafre,
the second pyramid, still has

some of its limestone
cladding left.

The casing stones that were used
to face the pyramid are cut

with incredible accuracy.

So at the corners of the

pyramid, they are cut to a 90
degree angle that is so close

to perfect, it's within
100th of an inch.

Modern builders would
find it a challenge to

match such precision
on a monster scale.

The Egyptians proved that you
can achieve the impossible with

little more than. String, a
plumb line, and a set square.

It is a testament to their
mega monument building.

For me as an engineer,

this is the most impressive
manmade feat on the planet.

I mean, it represents
impossible ancient engineering.

The world's greatest
mega build is yet to be

surpassed after 4,500 years, and
many believe it will remain

long after anything
we build today.

The construction of the
pyramid as a whole is so well

done that we expect the pyramid

will still be standing
in 100,000 years time.

Mega builders of the
ancient world made

unbelievable structures
impossible to match even today,

from history's most immense
monument to the largest concrete

dome and the world's most
massive building, proving that

the ancients were to
achieve the impossible,

creating monster
monuments that still

remain unmatched after
thousands of years.