3.4.5 Were the Ancient Egyptians System Engineers?

Abstract

AbstractSystems engineering is a 20th century discipline. To judge whether an organization is on a world class systems engineering level, we evaluate whether the organization's development processes and resulting product satisfy the 8 systems engineering axioms. Could we evaluate ancient organizations? The pyramids on the Giza Plateau are the only remaining wonders of the ancient world. The sheer scale and precision of Kufu's great pyramid obviously required a quality process. But were the ancient Egyptians systems engineers? This paper will outline how the pyramids were built, and whether that process satisfied the systems engineering Axioms.