While some conspiracy theorists have suggested aliens may be involved, unsurprisingly scientists and archaeologists were not convinced.
For centuries it has been one of the world’s greatest mysteries, but new proof shows how the Egyptians transported 2.5-ton blocks for 500 miles and blocks of limestone and granite built the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu in 2,600BC.
The pyramids were ordered to be built by pharaohs, who would recruit high-ranking architects and engineers to oversee their construction.
However, the back-breaking construction work was left to an army of slaves who are believed to have worked for food.
A scroll of ancient papyrus has also been found in the seaport Wadi Al-Jarf has given a new insight into the role boats played in the pyramid’s construction.
At 481ft tall the Great Pyramid of Giza was the largest man-made structure on Earth until the Middle Ages.
Now the discovery of an ancient papyrus, a ceremonial boat and an ingenious system of waterworks have shed light on the infrastructure created by the builders.
The detailed archaeological material shows that thousands of skilled workers transported 170,000 tons of limestone along the Nile in wooden boats held together by ropes.
Written by Merer, it is the only first-hand account of the construction of the Great Pyramid, and describes in detail how limestone casing stones were shipped downstream from Tura to Giza.
In his diary, Merer also describes how his crew were involved in the transformation of the landscape, opening giant dykes to divert water from the Nile and channel it to the pyramid through man-made canals.
Archaeologist Mark Lehner, has uncovered evidence of a lost waterway beneath the dusty Giza plateau.
He said: “We’ve outlined the central canal basin which we think was the primary delivery area to the foot of the Giza Plateau.”
The new discoveries were revealed in a documentary, Egypt’s Great Pyramid: The New Evidence, which also includes another team of archaeologists who have unearthed a ceremonial boat designed for Khufu to command in the afterlife, which gives new insights into the construction of vessels at the time.
A team of specialists restored the wooden planks before scanning them with a 3D laser to work out how they were assembled.
They discovered that they were sewn together with loops of rope.
There are an estimated 138 surviving Egyptian pyramids, with the Great Pyramid of Giza, near Cairo, the most famous.