Wet Sand Helped Ancient Egyptians Move Pyramid Stones With Sleds

By Sandy Fitzgerald

It's long been believed that the ancient Egyptians used wooden sleds to haul stone to build the pyramids, but it's been a mystery about how the sleds dragged the stones across the desert's soft sands without mechanical assistance.

The answer, researchers at the University of Amsterdam say may be the simplest solution of all: they wet the sand with water.

Scientists participating in the university's study, published in the Physical Review Letters, said the use of water was nothing more than a "clever trick," reports The Washington Post.