The coordination of labour and resources needed to create the Great Pyramid is as awe-inspiring as the thing itself. Tens of thousands of workers toiled over decades to create the bigger pyramids, setting up towns just to support themselves, with bakeries and kitchens to feed the craftsmen, dormitories for sleeping, and graveyards to bury them in.43 The American historian and sociologist Lewis Mumford has argued that it’s this sort of mass organisation that actually sets humanity apart from other species, not individual displays of intelligence or mastery of any particular tool.
