[W]e don't know exactly how [the pyramid] was built, a question that has been debated for millennia. The earliest recorded theory was put forward by the Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Egypt around 450 B.C., when the pyramid was already 2,000 years old. He mentions "machines" used to raise the blocks and this is usually taken to mean cranes. Three hundred years later, Diodorus of Sicily wrote, "The construction was effected by mounds" (ramps). Today we have the "space alien" theory--those primitive Egyptians never could have built such a fabulous structure by themselves; extraterrestrials must have helped them.

Modern scholars have favoured these two original theories, but deep in their hearts, they know that neither one is correct. A radical new one, however, may provide the solution. If correct, it would demonstrate a level of planning by Egyptian architects and engineers far greater than anything ever imagined before...

then goes on to discuss the external ramp, crane, and internal ramp theories including the recent work by Jean-Pierre Houdin.

How to Build a Pyramid, Bob Brier, Archaeology Magazine, American Institute of Archaeology, New York, USA, Volume 60, Number 3, May - June 2007.

Previously:

The inside [out] story, April 07, 2007.

Great Pyramid Built Inside Out, French Architect Says, April 03, 2007.

Ancient riddle of the Great Pyramid's construction is turned inside out, March 30, 2007.

Real-time 3D Helps to Finally Solve the Mystery of the Great Pyramid of Kheops!, March 30, 2007.