Did slaves really build the pyramids?

No: the pyramids were not built by slaves, as far as archaeology can tell. The idea comes from the Greeks, who wrote about Egypt long after the pyramids were built. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of 100,000 workers and a tyrannical king, Khufu, and it seemed natural to him that such huge buildings could only come from cruel exploitation. Archaeologists now believe the Great Pyramid was built by tens of thousands of skilled workers who camped nearby and worked for a salary or as tax payment, called corvée.

The evidence is practical and a little touching. Beside the pyramids, Mark Lehner's team found a settlement with communal sleeping quarters, bakeries, breweries and kitchens, a copper workshop, and a hospital. In 1990 the workers' own tombs were found alongside the pyramids. They were mudbrick tombs, with beer and bread left to support the dead in the afterlife, close to the king's monument. That, together with the way they were buried, points to paid labourers who took pride in their work.

The workers were also organised like a company. Graffiti show haulers divided into gangs of 40 men with an "Overseer of Ten", and gangs painted their names on the blocks, names that included the king's, such as "The gang, The white crown of Khnum-Khufu is powerful". Most archaeologists think only around 4,000 workers quarried, hauled and set the blocks; the rest were scribes, toolmakers and other support. Pay was in food and drink: ten loaves of bread and a jug of beer a day.

One honest caveat: this is not a story with no foreigners and no coercion. Corvée meant people worked off a tax duty, and for one Middle Kingdom pyramid the king's annal stone shows foreigners from Canaan were employed.