Lesson video

Hello, everyone, and welcome to your sixth lesson on Ancient Egypt.

My name is Mrs. Tipping.

And in this lesson, we are going to tackle the question: who were the pyramid builders? So in this lesson, we will learn about the workers from Deir el-Medina and how they built those pyramids.

So, let's begin! Now, for this lesson, it's a good idea to make sure you're sat nice and comfortable with no distractions around you so that you can soak up all the knowledge from this lesson.

You're going to need a couple of things.

Firstly, an exercise book or some paper, and a pencil or pen, and then your fantastic brains.

So if you haven't got any of those things, please go and pop and get them now.

Okay, that was quick.

Good job.

Let's begin.

So, the lesson structure, let's take a look.

We're going to start with some keywords.

Then, we are going to think about where and what Deir el-Medina is.

The next question explores how the pyramids were built.

And finally, we'll look at how many people it took to build the pyramids.

And we'll finish with our end of lesson quiz.

So let's start with some keywords.

The first word is amulet.

My turn, your turn, amulet.

An amulet is a small object that the Egyptians believed would give them power or protection.

Deir el-Medina.

My turn, your turn, Deir el-Medina.

Deir el-Medina was the name of the workers' village.

And finally, Valley of the Kings.

My turn, your turn, Valley of the Kings.

The Valley of the Kings was where the pharaohs' tombs were built after the pyramids.

So let's start with where Deir el-Medina was and what it was.

Deir el-Medina is the name for the workers' village.

The village was created specially so craftsmen could live there whilst they built the royal tombs.

Because tomb robbing became a serious concern, the pharaoh needed workers to build the tombs in the Valley of the Kings instead of the pyramids.

The workers were trusted to keep the location and what was inside the tombs a secret.

Their village is now an archaeological site, which provides important information.

So this picture here shows what is left of the village.

So, a quick question.

What was Deir el-Medina the name for? Was it the name for A, workers' village, B, village, or C, craftsmen village? Which is the correct answer? Point to your screen, say it out loud, or you could write it down.

Which one is it? It is A, the workers' village.

Good job if you got that correct.

So, Deir el-Medina is shaped like a rectangle.

You could almost see that in the picture here.

It had 68 houses inside, with a protective wall all the way around those houses.

Now, the houses were built close together.

They had thatched roofs, so the roofs were made of straw and branches to keep the sun out.

They had different rooms inside, such as a living room and rooms for storage.

The village was in the desert so there was nowhere to grow crops.

So food and supplies had to be delivered from Thebes every month as payment for the workers' labour.

So I'd like you to pause the video now and have a go at this task.

I'd like you to draw what you think Deir el-Medina would have looked like.

So I've put some keywords on the screen there to help you when you're drawing.

So think about what these keywords match.

So there was 68 houses.

Where was the protective wall? What was a rectangle? What were close together? What had a thatched roof? What would a thatched roof look like? And what were the many rooms? So pause your video and restart when you're done.

Okay, so hopefully you've had a go at that.

So, here's my drawing.

I'm sure yours is better and much more detailed than mine, but you can see that the rectangle is the shape of the village.

And then there is the protective wall inside that rectangle, it has all the houses inside.

Now, I've not drawn 68 houses, but you'll see that they're all close together, and they've got a thatched roof which is a roof made of straw and of branches.

And you could have drawn little rooms inside of your house as well.

Okay, so let's look at how the pyramids were built.

No one is quite sure how the pyramids were built.

There are many different theories, so there's lots of ways that people have thought they've been built, but they've been wondering how the Egyptians were able to lift such huge, heavy blocks all the way up to the top of the pyramids.

They had no machinery like what we have today.

Thousands of workers would have helped build the pyramids, and it's likely that they would have used ramps.

So ramps that would have been up the side of the pyramid for them to move the stones up and down.

They may have used wooden sleds or water to help the stones move better or reduce the friction, the rubbing, and for them to move easily.

Archaeologists have recently found a ramp that does suggest that their ideas are correct, although there is no definite proof.

So, what do archaeologists think was used to move the stones to make the pyramids? Was it A, horses, B, cars, or C, ramps? Which one was it? Have a think.

Point to your screen or write down your answer or say it out loud.

The answer is ramps.

Ramps would help move the stones up and down to build the pyramids.

So, I'd like you to pause the video now to complete this task.

What can we learn from how the pyramids were built compared to how buildings are built today? So, draw a bit of a table like this or you could write two separate paragraphs.

So we're going to focus on the pyramids.

The pyramids were built.

How? By how many people and what did they use? And then think about modern buildings.

Modern buildings are built with how many people and what do we use? Think about buildings today in this day and age.

So, when you're finished, restart the video.

Okay, so you could have written something like this: The pyramids were built by thousands of people and the stones had to be moved by hand.

The workers used ramps to move the stones.

The pyramids were made of just stone.

Modern buildings are built with many people, but today we use a lot of machinery to help.

Cranes and other machinery can lift heavy materials and they can lift them quite high.

Buildings are made of many materials like metal, stone, and glass.

Now let's take a look at how many people it took to build the pyramids.

It was thought that the pyramids were built by slaves for many years.

However, discoveries have since found that it took around 10,000 workers around 30 years to build a single pyramid.

And finding workers' villages like Deir el-Medina show that it wasn't just slaves that build those pyramids.

All archaeologists have their own ways of figuring out the number of workers that were working on pyramids like the ones in Giza, but most agree that the Great Pyramid would have taken around 4,000 people, 4,000 labourers, to build that pyramid.

And then they would need other people to support them.

So they might have needed around 16 to 20,000 extra people who would help with building the ramps, who would help with bringing the tools and making those tools, and mixing the mortar, which is a type of cement to put all of those bricks together.

There would also be people to supply food and clothing and also fuel.

So they think that around 20 to 25,000 workers would have took around 20 years to build the Great Pyramid, which is the largest pyramid.

Like Deir el-Medina, workers would have lived in a pyramid village with their families, and they were also paid in food rations.

So, as we saw before, they couldn't grow crops so they were paid in food rations.

So, have a go at this passage, filling in the gaps with the words below.

And when you're done, restart your video.

Okay, so let's have a look at what the answers were.

So it took around 20 to 25,000 workers to build the Great Pyramid.

It took as long as 20 years or more to build.

The workers would live in a village like Deir el-Medina, and they would be paid in food rations.

So well done if you got that correct.

Even when the tombs were made in the Valley of the Kings, they were not safe from being robbed.

Some of the workers who built the tombs decided to rob the tombs of the amulets, jewellery, and gold.

Now, this was because it wasn't risky, and they became wealthy very quickly.

Even if they were captured, they would pay back what they had stolen and then they would just rejoin the group that they'd stolen with and they would share out what was stolen again, so there was no real loss.

So, I'd like you to pause the video to complete this task.

Why did the workers start to rob the tombs? Give at least two reasons.

So you could start with: "Some of the workers started to rob the tombs because.

." Write your answer down with two reasons, and then restart the video once you're finished.

So, here are a couple of the reasons that you could've had.

Some of the workers started to rob the tombs because it was easy and it was not risky.

And some of the workers started to rob the tombs because they became wealthy quickly and easily.

Not only this, they were the only ones who knew where the tombs were and what was inside them, so they may have thought it was quicker and easier to rob the tombs rather than do all of the hard work building them.

And that's the end of our lesson.

Well done for working so hard, and I hope you've learned lots about Ancient Egypt and I hope to see you in the next lesson soon.

Goodbye, everybody!.