1. Pyramid Building Vocabulary

2. Mastaba: mud-brick structure above an underground tomb the first type of tomb for pharaohs contained a chapel and a statue of the deceased

3. Step pyramid: designed by Imhotep (the first recorded architect in history) for King Zoser (built in the Third Dynasty- 2750 B.C.) King ZoserImhotep

4. Pyramid: tomb for pharaohs flat, square base with 4 sloped, triangular sides

5. Temenos wall: 30 feet high wall built surrounded the pyramid

6. Stone used for pyramid building: softer limestone- for basic structure harder limestone- for outer casing granite- (very hard) used for burial chambers and porticullises dolerite- (extremely hard) used to pound through outer stone alabaster- (fine opaque stone) used for pottery, jewelry and floor tiles

7. Wooden wedge: placed in chiseled area of stone water was poured over it to make it swell and split the stone

8. Plumbline: stone at the end of string used to determine vertical level of the object

9. Sledge: sled rolled over logs used to move stones to or from a barge, or to a site

10. Causeway: simple road over which stones were moved

11. Friction: the heat created by the friction of the sledge being moved over the causeway was so great that water, milk or mud was often poured over the sand surface to help cool it

12. Ramps: these huge structures were built of stone needed to get large stones to high areas on the pyramid

13. Workers: hundreds were paid to work on the pyramid all year long during the inundation, or flood season, many thousands more of farmers who could not yet work in their fields were also paid to work on the pyramid very few slaves worked on it

14. Shafts: small tunnels, or passageways were kept open for different needs

15. False doors: these were sometimes intended to trick potential grave robbers sometimes they were intended to be the doors through which spirits or gods could enter

16. Portcullises: made of granite sealed the entrance to the burial chamber

17. Burial chamber: where the pharaoh’s sarcophagus was placed

18. Capstone: the final stone that was placed on the very top of the pyramid

19. Inundation: the annual flooding of the Nile between July and November predicted by Sirius, the Dog Star

20. Site: area chosen on which the pyramid would be built (north, south, east, or west) always on the West Bank- for the land of the dead West Bank at Thebes