Who built the Egyptian pyramids?

Egypt's pyramids are an archaeological marvel, rising high above the desert sands and visible for miles on end. Building these pyramids was undoubtedly a mammoth task, so who were the individuals that pulled it off?

There are many theories about who built Egypt's pyramids, including large teams of enslaved Jewish people and wilder ideas, such as inhabitants of the 'lost' city of Atlantis or even aliens. 

None of these theories, however, have evidence to back them up.

Related: How were the Egyptian pyramids built?

The pyramids could not have been constructed by Jewish slaves, as no archaeological remains that can be directly linked to the Jewish people have been found in Egypt that date back to 4,500 years ago, when the Giza pyramids were built, archaeological research has revealed. Additionally the story told in the Hebrew Bible about Jews being slaves in Egypt refers to a city named "Ramesses." A city named pi-Ramesses was founded during the 19th dynasty (about 1295-1186 B.C.) and was named after Ramesses II, who ruled 1279–1213 BC. This city was constructed after the era of pyramid construction had ended in Egypt.

"We have no clue, not even a single word, about early Israelites in Egypt: neither in monumental inscriptions on walls of temples, nor in tomb inscriptions, nor in papyri," wrote archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman in their book "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of its Sacred Texts" (The Free Press, 2001). 

What's more, no archaeological evidence has ever been found for the lost city of Atlantis in any time period, and many scholars believe that the story is fictional. As for aliens, well, that idea is out of this world.