thank you for this very interesting post, but i would like to mention one thing.. the archaeological and textual evidence shows that the pyramids were not built with slave labor. the egyptologists have (and still are) excavated the village where the workers lived and have turned up a number of interesting things. by digging through the refuse (archaeologists love ancient garbage!) they have learned that the builders had a high-protein diet that included fish, goats, cattle, and a variety of other food sources that were fairly expensive at that time. there is also evidence that the builders had good medical care, including signed of broken bones having been mended, medicinal herbs stored in large quantities in the builders village, etc. from what we can tell, the builders seem to have been part of a large feudal-style work system where egyptians would dedicate a certain amount of time each year working on large projects like this, and that they were not only well fed and cared for, they seem to have been competitive with each other. graffiti at the work sites show that different work gangs trash talked about each other!