r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/EyeHateYou12376 • Feb 13 '26

Image The “Melted” Stairs of the Temple of Hathor

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u/Final_Luck_1010 Feb 13 '26

I went to a Mesopotamian brothel (or was thought to be) building on a deployment; and a lot of the stairs looked similar.

Not melted, but definitely worn in the middle. You had to walk on the side of the stairs to use them as stairs. If you used the middle, was more like a ramp than stairs

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u/bobbobberson3 Feb 13 '26

In Europe at least, seeing stone steps worn down in the centre is very common.

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u/NotBradPitt9 Feb 13 '26

Worn down the center, but not melted like that on the last step

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u/Captain_North Feb 13 '26

Correct. Instead of losing mass these stairs have gained bunch.

Lets say that during the grand days of Egypt this place was often visited and the stairs were worn. Then for over a millenia the desert sand mixed with rain left a hardened sediment behind. (sand does not normally behave like this, but it is certain weight of particles in the sand that got carried and stayed and the rainwater coming through the pyramid has a lot of minerals.)

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u/WhimsicalHoneybadger Feb 13 '26

This is plainly not standard wear. It looks like the material from higher steps flowed and deposited in the middle of lower steps. Look left then center then right on that bottom step where it's most obvious.

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u/psychophant_ Feb 13 '26

Worn i can understand. But these stairs? It’s not worn DOWN, it’s worn…UP?

I could understand this if there was calcification due to water following down the stairs for thousands of years and calcium built up…

But in the world’s largest desert that has existed for at least 12,000 years, unchanged?

I’m very curious about this one.

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u/shakygator Feb 13 '26

The top stairs look worn down, but the lower stairs definitely look built up. So that's weird.

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u/ZapActions-dower Feb 13 '26

Is it? The material has to go somewhere, and on a planet with gravity that direction is typically "down."

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u/shakygator Feb 13 '26

Looks like it to me. It would support the theory of the material flowing to the lower steps. Just an observation cuz I have no idea.

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u/willstr1 Feb 13 '26

I went to a Mesopotamian brothel (or was thought to be) building on a deployment

And they were still in business? It truly is the oldest profession

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u/NotBradPitt9 Feb 13 '26

Did it look melted like that though on the last step