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LiveScience
LiveScience
Stephanie Pappas

Great Pyramid of Giza is remarkably resilient to earthquakes —‬ and it's due to the ancient Egyptians' 'extraordinary' engineering knowledge

The pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza, also known as the Great Pyramid of Khufu, has stood for more than 4,600 years, even through powerful earthquakes. Now, new research explains why: The structure is remarkably resilient to vibrations.

The pyramid has lost only about 33 feet (10 meters) of height since its construction during Egypt's Old Kingdom (2649 to 2150 B.C.). That's despite experiencing strong earthquakes over the millennia, including one with an estimated magnitude of 6.8 that struck south of Cairo in the city of Fayum in 1847 and a temblor with a magnitude of 5.9 in 1992 that knocked some of the topmost stones to the ground.

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