It has puzzled construction experts for millennia - but now a French architect claims he has solved the mystery of the construction of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

After eight years' research, Jean-Pierre Houdin believes he has worked out how the 4,000 year old wonder of the ancient world was constructed without the aid of iron tools, pulleys or wheels.

Mr Houdin says the pyramids were built using a method that started from the inside, out, with huge limestone and granite building blocks building blocks being carried by Egyptian builders up an internal ramp within the pyramid's outer walls.

In an interview with the Independent, M. Houdin said: "My idea is that the pyramid was two different projects. The first was to build the volume of the pyramid and the second problem was to build the king's chamber."

Speaking to the Independent, Neal Spencer, of the British Museum, said the new discoveries should not be dismissed: "It's not as outlandish as some of the theories put forward,"

"Elements of the idea might be reasonable, but the thing is to find the archaeological evidence to support it."

The pyramid of the pharaoh Khufu has been the subject of years of dilemma - Greek historian Herodotus travelled to Egypt in about 450BC to try to work the riddle. Later theories even suggested that a ramp was wound around the outside of the pyramid as it grew - impossible given the weight of the structure.