Ancient Egyptians used a hydraulic lift to build their 1st pyramid, controversial study claims

The ancient Egyptians may have used an elaborate hydraulic system to construct the world's first pyramid, a controversial new study claims.

Known as the Pyramid of Djoser, the six-tiered, four-sided step pyramid was built around 4,700 years ago on the Saqqara plateau, an archaeological site in northern Egypt, according to research posted to ResearchGate on July 24. The research has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Archaeologists have long wondered how ancient workers accomplished such an architectural feat — the structure contains 11.7 million cubic feet (330,400 cubic meters) of stone and clay — before the advent of large machinery like bulldozers and cranes.

Because the pyramid sits near a long-gone branch of the Nile River, researchers hypothesize that the ancient Egyptians utilized the water source to build the 204-foot-tall (62 m) pyramid by designing a "modern hydraulic system" comprising a dam, a water treatment plant and a hydraulic freight elevator, all of which were powered by the river, according to a translated statement from the CEA Paleotechnic Institute, a research center in France. They posit that the Mysterious Gisr el-Mudir enclosure near the pyramid worked as a structure that captured sediment and water.

"This is a watershed discovery," lead author Xavier Landreau, CEO of Paleotechnic, told Live Science. "Our research could completely change the status quo [of how the pyramid was built]. Before this study, there was no real consensus about what the structures were used for, with one possible explanation being that it was used for funerary purposes. We know that this is already subject to debate."

Related: Mysterious L-shaped structure found near Egyptian pyramids of Giza baffles scientists

For the water-powered system to work, water would have flowed from the Nile to the dam, which would have stretched 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) long and had 49-foot-wide (15 m) walls lodged between the sides of two valleys to the west of the pyramid. The dam would have filtered out any sediment before the water traveled downstream to a treatment facility known as the "Deep Trench," which would have been 1,300 feet (400 m) long, 89 feet (27 m) deep and cut into existing rock. The facility would have contained several basins where sediment or particles would have settled at the bottom to prevent any clogs in the system.