Well, they’ve found a bunch of dinosaur bones in Egypt! This pretty much solves the problem of how they moved such heavy stones. Clearly, they domesticated dinosaurs and used them as beasts of burden.

The Great Pyramids of Giza have stood tall for 4,500 years and remain the last untouched wonder of the world.

Too big for the British Museum to steal and too strong to be destroyed by future ages, the Pyramids of Giza have for thousands of years inspired wonder and awe – but for some, they also inspired wild theories about their construction and purpose. For a bit of fun, we thought we’d take a look at the weirdest and most outlandish theories out there.

There are some pretty outlandish theories that the pyramids of Giza not only date back 4,500 years, but actually co-existed with dinosaurs. However, taking the craziness up to 11 are those who claim that the ancient Egyptians used domesticated dinosaurs to build the pyramids.

Through which culture

With the help of truly terrible Photoshop skills, conspiracy websites have spread the image of Mr Nabir Ibn Al-Sammud pointing at what is supposedly proof of the domestication of dinosaurs in ancient Egypt. The supposed archaeologist, who in the images is actually Don Patton, an American creationist, is said to have found papyri describing “beastly creatures” of an “enormous size”.

To dispel all doubts that they were actually referring to dinosaurs, it is even claimed that ancient Egyptian papyri and inscriptions describe animals that “can kill an army of men” with a flick of their tail and “whose necks stretch towards the sky.” Needless to say, there is no such thing as Nabir Ibn Al-Sammud, who is an archaeologist at Cairo University, and this imagined person is certainly not one of the “most eminent figures in Egyptology” as claimed.

Via MovieWeb

While Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, jokingly tweeted that the pyramids were built by aliens, some take the idea a bit too seriously. Claiming that the pyramids’ coordinates match the speed of light, proponents of the idea argue that there is no way mere humans 4,500 years ago could have had this knowledge. As with many things, the truth is much more boring, as Full Fact exposes, who argue that this “evidence” relies entirely on heavy, deliberate manipulation of numbers for the theory to work.

People who subscribe to this theory often claim that the pharaohs were human-alien hybrids or just completely alien and that only through extraterrestrial technology or even telekinesis could such large and heavy blocks be moved. However, countless experiments have been conducted using ramps, wet sand and pulleys which show that it would have been quite possible to drag these huge chunks of stone.

From medieval Europe, theories emerged that the Old Testament described the pyramids of Giza as grain stores. It was alleged that Joseph, the father of Jesus Christ, interpreted the ruling Pharaoh’s nightmares of seven hungry cows eating seven healthy ones as a divine sign to build the pyramids to store grain and protect against the upcoming seven years of famine. While this idea died out 500 years ago, the conspiracy era seems to have reawakened this theory for some. Surprisingly, a 2016 US presidential candidate named Ben Carson jumped on the conspiracy theory and defended his position regardless of the amount of ridicule he received.

The legendary lost city of Atlantis, as described by Plato, has been a constant source of fascination and wonder for conspiracy theorists for centuries. However, some even connected the Pyramids of Giza with this lost city and claim that the Pyramids of Giza were not built by the ancient Egyptians, but by the Atlanteans. It is no coincidence that the Atlanteans are described as Europeans, so giving them credit for the construction of the pyramids follows the usual trend of conspiracy theorists who refuse to accept that people outside of Europe could be capable of such wonders.

Via Reflections of the Red Queen

Proponents of the idea, apparently wanting to offend those who own ancient civilizations around the world, claim that the prevalence of the pyramids of the Inca civilization in Peru and elsewhere in the world proves their theory about this ancient world civilization. Incredibly, two German pyramidologists even defaced the pyramids to carbon date the stone and prove their claim that Pharaoh Khufu only put his name on the pyramids of Giza to take credit for them.

In trying to explain how mere humans could lift such heavy stone blocks, some on the internet believe that they were actually built by an ancient race of humans who stood at least 12 feet tall. What is their proof, you ask? Since many of the pharaoh statues are quite large, many theorists believe that they represent the actual size of the pharaohs of the time. However, it is important to remember that pharaoh statues like the Statue of Liberty are not to scale, and that Egyptian art was not very fond of the idea of scale.

Another of the more absurd theories behind the construction of the pyramids is that they were not built to be tombs but are actually Noah’s Ark as described in Genesis. Built by Noah to save mankind from the coming flood, it is claimed that the pyramids were boarded by people and animals in order to survive the great flood. Even though I am fairly certain that the pyramids would not float, there is still “evidence” put forward. However, with some dodgy translations of ancient biblical texts and imaginative interpretations of 15th century Italian art, some pyramidologists have made a very serious case for this explanation of how the pyramids were built.

Green Prophet Route

When science and facts don’t match theory, change the science and theory. Some have claimed that the pyramids at Giza were built using ancient technology that was lost to time. Pointing to fantastic and bizarre interpretations of images of pharaohs, they claim that the images depict the power of some pharaohs and priests of ancient Egypt to move the world with their minds.

The more scientific-sounding, but equally ridiculous, idea is that they were moved by a process called acoustic levitation. Apparently, the ancient Egyptians supposedly struck stones with hammers until they reached a certain vibration and then the stones moved effortlessly like a hovercraft on a thin layer of air.

After living in Cairo for almost a decade, I’ve met my fair share of people who visit the country with more than a little outlandish ideas about the pyramids. I once met a Canadian guy in a downtown bar who claimed that entering the pyramids would charge his iPhone to full power. The thing is, he’s not alone in his theory that the pyramids at Giza are actually huge batteries or electricity generators. Some believe that the gold caps that are supposed to have topped the pyramids were lightning conductors or some kind of unknown cosmic energy source.

Via Fall Queen Fall

With stories of unknown cameras hidden from the world and false claims that scientific instruments are picking up unusual signals from the pyramids, some have speculated that the pyramids of Giza are in fact alien spaceships. After lying dormant for 4,500 years, some claim that one day they will suddenly fly away and disappear into the sky. Pointing to supposed evidence on temple walls of objects they claim are spaceships and some (very poorly edited!) videos on YouTube of spaceships flying around the Giza Plateau, they claim the evidence is irrefutable.

The truth is that the ancient Egyptians were an incredible civilization with an immense knowledge of astronomy, engineering, and all kinds of science. They were fully capable of building the pyramids, and we have a pretty good idea of how they did it. However, it’s still fun to go through all these conspiracy theories, as each one has proven to be more creative than the last.