Overview
- A PLOS ONE paper led by paleotechnician Xavier Landreau proposes a water-powered mechanism operating in subterranean shafts beneath the Step Pyramid of Djoser.
- The model describes platforms in pits up to about 28 meters deep lifting limestone blocks weighing tens of tonnes, with estimates reaching 50–100 tonnes.
- Satellite radar imagery and archival records underpin claims of channels, gates, basins, and a rock-cut installation interpreted as water treatment below the Saqqara plateau.
- The nearby Gisr el-Mudir is reinterpreted as a containment structure roughly two kilometers long with walls about 15 meters thick to manage the required water volumes.
- The hypothesis challenges ramp-only construction models, and researchers emphasize the need for excavations, sediment cores, chronometric dating, and hydraulic simulations before any confirmation.