source:
www.berndhardt.org.uk/photo%20pages/egypt/the%20pyramids.htm
Early engineers, like the Egyptians, built with what was available. In the words of one Pharoah, "Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself." The Egyptians were not worried about efficiency - there is enough material in the Great Pyramid of Giza to build 6 Empire State Buildings, with stuff left over! Rather, they were concerned about making very large monuments to themselves that would stand a very long time. Some of those structures are now more than 4 thousand years old!
Other builders of that era were not concerned about building lasting monuments, but just shelters from the elements. That mind set can still be seen today in the tribal cultures in Africa & South America where homes are built from mud, brush, and sticks (or logs).
In the last few centuries BC, nations such as the Greeks and Romans appeared and used arches and columns in their buildings. Compared to the pyramids of ancient Egypt, the structures the Greeks and Romans made were far less bulky, and more open to the outside. Many of those edifices still exist, at least in part, in Italy, Greece, Turkey, and some other Mediterranean countries.
Arches transfer the load placed on them down through the sides and into the ground below, while columns work like your legs, supporting the load above at certain points, and transferring it directly down to the ground.