The pyramids are perhaps the most famous engineering project in all of history

The pyramids are perhaps the most famous engineering project in all of history

While their scale and complexity may allude to more supernatural origins, there's clear evidence that they were created with skilled work. After all, that's what good engineering does, it takes what's thought to be impossible into reality...

The most remarkable aspect of the Egyptians’ success building pyramids is the absence of any sophisticated mechanical tools. They had no wheels or pulleys for moving or lifting loads, and no iron tools. Instead, they relied on copper chisels and drills, rudimentary copper saws and smooth, round balls of dolerite, a hard stone, to cut limestone, according to Smith.

But what the Egyptians lacked in tools, they made up for with science and engineering precision.

Smith explains that they developed and used the cubit rod to measure and lay out the dimensions of the pyramid; a square level to level horizontal surfaces, and a 3:4:5 framing square to create precision 90-degree angles.

And the work paid off. The pyramids at Giza are oriented nearly precisely north and south. And the southeast corners of the pyramids are aligned on a diagonal that runs almost exactly 43 degrees east of true north, despite the fact that the compass had not yet been invented,