The 2025 paper by Simon Andreas Scheuring in npj Heritage Science proposes a new, physically and archaeologically grounded explanation for how the Great Pyramid of Giza was built, replacing the commonly assumed construction-ramp models with an integrated system combining pulley-like systems to lift blocks and sliding-ramps with counterweights for force generation. Rather than imagining enormous external construction-ramps, the paper envisions an interior pulley-like system, reassigning the Antechamber, that was used to build the interior architectural elements of the pyramid. Other pulley-like systems at the pyramid’s periphery, were used to raise blocks in step-like sections to build the mantle of the pyramid.
Drawing from detailed examination of the pyramid’s architecture, in particular masonry features and physical surveys, the paper argues that the inclined interior passages served as sliding-ramps that with a slope of 1-over-2, were planned to generate about 1/2 of the gravitational force of counterweight blocks while providing about twice the sliding-ramp length of the height that blocks needed to be lifted: Thus, the sliding-ramp design was optimized to interact with a pulley-like system amplifying the force by a factor of 2.
Archaeological evidence from the Antechamber, Grand Gallery, Ascending Passage, Horizontal Passage, and Descending Passage supports this theory. Rope-guidance grooves in the Antechamber south wall extend nearly a meter above the wood-log positions holding the ropes, indicative that the Antechamber was part of an extended vertical shaft. The floor of Ascending and Descending Passages are hardened and smoothened by friction of weight. Vertical masonry features in these passages match the integration of pulley-like systems during construction. Finally, the Horizontal Passage's masonry with cross-shaped joints represents expected masonry anomalies as the result of the Grand-Gallery having grown as a sliding-ramp.
On the pyramid surface, the course height pattern organized in decaying sections, the subtle concavity and central furrow of the pyramid faces match the working mechanism of peripheral pulley-ramp systems.
By synthesizing mechanical analysis, experimental modeling, and in-depth analysis of early sources of pyramid measurement and survey, the paper presents a cohesive framework that resolves long-standing contradictions about manpower, physical possibilities to lift the heaviest blocks, and construction pace. The conclusion is that Khufu’s pyramid was erected not using construction-ramps on which blocks were hauled up, but using energy-efficient pulley-like systems combined with sliding-ramps and counterweights — positing that Old Kingdom Egyptian engineering was more advanced than assumed.