Passage: The Thames Tunnel The Thames Tunnel was a tunnel built under the River Thames in London. It was the first subaqueous tunnel ever built and many people exaggeratedly daimed it was the Eighth Wonder of the World at the time it was opened. It was opened in 1843 to pedestrians only and people came from far and wide to see the marvel. The day it was first opened, it attracted five thousand people to enter the tunnel and walk its length of almost 400 metres. The Thames Tunnel was used by people irom all classes. The working class used it for its functional use of crossing from one side of the river to another, while for the middle classes and upper classes, it was a tourist experience. In the age of sail and horse-drawn coaches, people travelled a Jong way to visit the tunnel, but this was not enough to make the tunnel a financial success. It had cost over £500,000 to complete which in those days was a considerable amount of money. However, even though it attracted about 2 million people each year, each person only paid a penny to use it. The aim had been for the tunnel to be used by wheeled vehicles to transport cargo so that it could bring in a profit. But this failed and the tunnel eventually became nothing more than s tourist attraction selling souvenirs. In 1865, the tunnel became part of the London Underground railway system which continues to be its use today.Passage: Pyramid Building The most famous pyramid is the Great Pyramid of Giza which is actually only one of over a hundred surviving pyramids. There is a long-standing question about how the pyramids were built given the lack of technology over 4,000 years ago but scientists are piecing together the puzzle. The blocks which make up the pyramids were hewn from quarries and then transported to the pyramids for construction. This was an incredible feat considering the distance that the raw materials had to travel and their enormous weight. The transportation of the materials was either by river using a boat or by land using a wooden sledge. Given the softness of the ground, the wheel would have been of little use had it been invented at that time. Itis believed that the sand in front of the sledge was wet with water in order to facilitate the movement of the sledge and reduce friction. These sledges were pulled manually or sometimes by using beasts of burden depending on the ease at which the sledges could move over the ground. Interestingly, two thousand years after the pyramid building era of the Ancient Egyptians, the Romans moved stones using similar techniques at Baalbek. Once the blocks arrived at the pyramid construction site, itis thought they were moved into place using a ramp and pulley system.The Old Kingdom period in Ancient Egyptian history is also known as the pyramid building era. The Ancient Egyptians achieved the most remarkable feats of building work which have still not been surpassed, particularly given the primitive technology used to build them. There is nothing remotely mystical or magical about how the pyramids were built as is commonly thought. Further still, while popular belief is that the Great Pyramid was built using slave labour, this theory has since been debunked. The first building made in a pyramid shape is thought to be the Stepped Pyramid which consists of six steps placed on top of each other in a pyramid shape to create the world’s first superstructure. The credit to finally achieving a smooth sided pyramid goes to Imhotep, an architect, commissioned by King Sneferu. The pyramids were not an instant achievement, but the achievement of trial and error.