Building world's 1st pyramid

In a preprint study published this summer, researchers proposed that ancient Egyptians built the world's first pyramid the 4,700-year-old Step Pyramid of Djoser, which sits on Egypt's Saqqara plateau using a "modern hydraulic system" powered by a long-gone branch of the Nile River.

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The system comprised a dam, a water treatment plant and a hydraulic freight elevator, the researchers suggested, enabling workers to deliver heavy construction materials to the pyramid building site.