Old Kingdom of Egypt
Khufu, called Cheops, was the Pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid at Giza, near Cairo. He believed his soul never died, so they stored food, clothes, and things he owned in the rooms of the pyramid. The Great Pyramid is one of the Seven Wonders of the World: tall as a forty-story building, it took a hundred thousand men twenty years to build. With only ramps and physical energy, they had to move and lift into place 2,300,000 blocks of limestone that were about two and one-half tons apiece. Slaves, farmers, and gangs of men had to work on the Great Pyramid, and were paid with valuable things, not coins (Egyptians had no coins).