There is no mystery about them. We know how they were built, who by, who commanded the building, and why they did it. We have found detailed records on 4500-year old rolls of papyrus recording exactly how much beer and bread were furnished daily to the laborers, where they were housed, how many days each season they worked, and many other fascinating details of those immense ancient construction projects. We know so much about them because the ancient Egyptians were among the first inventors of both bureaucracy and written language, and they kept meticulous records on a medium (papyrus) that is very durable and long-lasting. Fortuitously, the bone-dry climate of Egypt has allowed numerous papyrus rolls and paintings on stone walls to survive for over 4500 years in a still readable condition. And even more fortuitously, the discovery of the Rosetta Stone 200 years ago allowed us to decipher the language they were written in.

We know that the laborers who built these great tombs were not slaves, but rather were peasants who voluntarily worked for the Pharaoh in exchange for room and board in the off-season when they could not farm. We know that the immense stone blocks were cut from nearby quarries using wooden wedges that were pounded dry into cracks in the rock, and then soaked with water so that they expanded and opened the cracks further. Once cut out of the cliffs, these blocks were then dressed using chisels of bronze and floated down the Nile on immense barges specially built for the purpose. They were raised into place by being dragged up long earthen ramps by hundreds of workers hauling on ropes, with men walking in front and pouring oil under the leading edge of each block so that it would slide easily. We know this because paintings and carvings have survived that depict this activity, and writings on papyrus have survived that record the progress of the work.

We know that the pyramids were built as tombs, and we know exactly who was buried in each one. We know that they were originally covered by an outer layer of white limestone blocks, which were later stolen for use in constructing other buildings so that only the rough sandstone interior blocks remain. We have recently discovered, using instruments that measure the flux of radiation coming down from the sky, that at least one of the pyramids contains an interior chamber formerly unknown to us, sealed deep inside with no way in. The sole remaining secret of the pyramids constitutes the contents, if any, of this blind chamber, and the possible existence of other yet-undiscovered voids in the interior of the structure.