Learning from the Past: The Ancient Egyptians and Geotechnical Engineering

Abstract

There are numerous evidences that the Ancient Egyptians were pioneers in Geology and Geotechnical Engineering. Some examples of their revolutionary works are presented in this paper to show their genius in mining, quarrying, tunneling, choice of the locations of their structures, and introducing innovative solutions for dealing with problematic soils. Engineers, especially geotechnical engineers, may consider returning to the roots of civilizations and reevaluating the achievements of the ancients by modern means such as Forensic Engineering. This could open the door to understanding how the ancients built their wonders and why these wonders survived millenniums. The study of old civilizations could introduce new engineering and construction concepts that benefit the profession today. This paper, which focuses primarily on Ancient Egyptian engineering achievements, raises questions rather than answers as to what geotechnical engineers actually know about, and from, this great civilization; the authors believe that we know very little despite it being the subject of numerous in-depth studies that date as far back as the fifth century B.C. (the work of Herodotus)and continued till the present day.