For centuries, the pyramids of Giza have been timeless symbols of Egyptian culture. But who actually built them? For years, we did not know for sure. But archeologists recently discovered an ancient village near the pyramids. Close by, there was also a cemetery where pyramid builders were buried. From studying these places, archeologists can now confirm that the pyramids were not built by slaves or foreigners (or space aliens!). Ordinary Egyptians built them. It took about eighty years to build the pyramids. According to archeologists, about 20,000-30,000 people were involved in completing the task. The workers had different roles. Some dug up the rock, some moved it, and some shaped it into blocks. People also worked on different teams, each with its own name. On a wall in Khufu’s Great Pyramid, for example, a group of workers wrote “Friends of Khufu.” Teams often competed to do a job faster. Life for these workers was hard. “We can see that in their skeletons,” says Azza Mohamed Sarr