A few interesting facts about the great pyramid of Cheops (1 Viewer)

[Ted Lee]

regardless of what this von daniken guy says, building the pyramids (whether in egypt or anywhere else in the world) was am amazing feat.
consider what tools and technology they had. i mean really...how the heck did they do all that stuff.
a couple of things i've seen/heard.
slaves: i think it's commonly believed now that the people who worked on these things were not slaves. i can't remember why, but i remember hearing a few theories about it. heiroglyphs (sp?) or some such...
moving those rocks: i saw a pretty good documentary somewhere that showed one theory that looked pretty good. they found a whole bunch of wooden shaped objects in the shape of a "D" around some of the pyramids. they figure the egyptians took four of those, put one on each side of the stone (essentially turning the square into a circle) and tied it all into bundle. then, they wrapped a rope around the whole object several times, then pulled the rope. the scale model worked perfectly.
tolerances: one of the most amazing things i think is how they got the tolerances so tight. they mention in some of those structures you can't even fit a penny between the cracks. the seams are so tight and perfect. amazing!
anyway, i think pyramids are truly a testament to the ingenuity of mankind.

 

[Danny R]

slaves: i think it's commonly believed now that the people who worked on these things were not slaves. i can't remember why, but i remember hearing a few theories about it. heiroglyphs (sp?) or some such...
I believe this is in large part a "rewriting" of history by the current Egyptian archeologists. They are trying to make their ancient culture more attractive than it was.
While its probably true that slaves weren't exclusively the builders of the pyramids, they were definately present. The presense of slavery is well documented in Egyptian culture from a number of sources.
Here is an interesting link about Link Removed. For instance two of the negative confessions in the Book of the Dead deal with treating one's slaves well.
And you have to remember that Egypt had something of a serf class as well. Technically a free person, until you look at the fine print.

 

[Ted Lee]

cool link danny. love this part:

Amenhotep III ordered 40 girls from Milkilu, the Canaanite prince of Gezer, at 40 kit of silver each

boy, talk about living up to the phrase, "It's good to be the king!"

 

[Clinton McClure]

What year did Slartibartfast do this? I don't have my Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy handy at the moment...

 

[Max Leung]

I thought he did the fjords of Norway, Clint!

My Japanese-designed car has near-perfect seams too. It would be perfect if it was wholly made in Japan. Must be all that ancient alien technology that was once hidden in the ruins of Atlantis, discovered by the Japanese archaelogical team during WW2. No human civilization could possibly make a car as perfect (fit-and-finish-wise) as a Lexus! It's gotta be them aliens, I tell ya...

 

[Dome Vongvises]

If pyramids can't be made today, what do people think of the Luxor in Las Vegas?

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Tacky comes to mind.

Glenn

 

[Mark C Sherman]

Tacky it may be. but what a great Buffet

 

[Rob FM]

Just from memory... I think the Luxor in Las Vegas is 1/2 scale, while the Sphinx in from is double scale.
Because this is kinda a cool Egypt thread we've got going, here's one of the best websites for finding out all the latest news on the unearthing/disovering of KV5: Theben Mapping Project
This one has a link to almost everything you'd want to know: Egypt WWW index
Good luck,
~Rob

 

[Matt Whealton]

In the interest of having more fun with this, and learning something real about Ancient Egypt as well:
About Pyramids, including recent work at Giza : ( by Zawi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (Egypt) and Director of the Giza Pyramids Excavation):
http://www.guardians.net/hawass/sphinx-pyramid-main.htm
A little something on inscriptions in the Khufu pyramid (yes, they do exist):
Again by Dr Hawass:
http://www.guardians.net/hawass/arti...etchambers.htm
And here's one that deals with rebuttals of those inscriptions by those espousing Extraterrestrial origins.
Link Removed
The literature on Egypt is VERY rich. Search around on the web and you'll find it.
To you all, anx(w) wDA(w) snb(w)
(Life! Prosperity! Health!)
m Htp (In peace),
Matt

 

[Clinton McClure]

You're absolutely correct, Max. He did do the fjords of Norway...and quite nicely too, I might add.

The last word I'd heard on the Pyramids as well was they could not be duplicated with today's technology with such precision.

 

[Eric Kahn]

Making square corners is easy, you use the 3,4,5 triangle method, it works with any unit of measure
also to make sure your building or pyramid is perfectly square, you just measure diagonally across from corner to corner once you put the marking stakes in

 

[Jerry Ferguson]

The amazing thing about the precision isn't the shape of the base or perfection in the block alignments. Those are amazing feats of engineering, but the most amazing thing about it is the North-South alignment of the entire structure. The north-south faces are within 3/60ths of a degree from true North. In comparison, the Royal Observatory Meridian building was purposefully designed with modern techniques to be "true north-south" and is actually 9/60ths of a degree off. What makes this really amazing is that at the supposed time of construction, there was no true "north star". Polaris was 2 degrees from true north. It's not really true north now, but it's VERY close. To me it shows a level of knowledge of the Earth and it's shape and size than many believe the AE's had knowledge of. The one other fact that astounds me is the alignment on the 30th parallel. It's very exact. Some sources for thin info can be found at:
http://www.nature.com/nature/fow/001116.html
and
http://www.geocities.com/gemproject/page1002.htm
For more info, also read Graham Hancock's "Fingerprints of the Gods". Even if you don't subscribe the general premise of the book, ther is some great info on the engineering feats at the site and across Egypt and other locations around the world.

 

[Ted Lee]

along (i think) of the lines of what jerry said, most people are probably aware of the fact that the great pyramids aren't in a straight line with eachother. they're actually diaganol to eachother. for the longest time archaeologists (sp?) couldn't figure out why.

they finally figured out that the egyptians were aligning the pyramids with the north star -- which over time shifted position in the sky. they did some mathematical equations and figured they were nearly perfect in their alignments.

the fact that these guys were able to think about such things is really amazing.

i've often said if i could go back in time, the egyptian civilizations is one of the first places i'd visit. to see how they accomplished these things would be priceless.

 

[Julie K]

the fact that these guys were able to think about such things is really amazing

It's just good observation.

People can figure out the motions of the moon, sun, stars, and planets given consistent and long-term observations of the sky. Finding north, even if a bright star isn't sitting on top of it, is not that difficult of a task if you've watched the sky for a while. The stars may look like dimly glowing dots to most folks who today live in brightly lit cities, but a truly dark sky is absolutely amazing and cyclical motions and patterns are easy to spot.

It's also important to remember that while past civilizations were not as technically advanced as we are, the people living in them were just as smart as we are. Technical advancement does not equal any advancement in human intelligence.

 

[Danny R]

they finally figured out that the egyptians were aligning the pyramids with the north star

Actually this is false. The north star wasn't the north star back then. They determined true north by comparing the rotations of two other bright stars rotating around the pole.

What makes this really amazing is that at the supposed time of construction, there was no true "north star". Polaris was 2 degrees from true north. It's not really true north now, but it's VERY close. To me it shows a level of knowledge of the Earth and it's shape and size than many believe the AE's had knowledge of.

Actually, given the theories found in your links, its just a matter of luck that the Great Pyramid is aligned to true north. If it had been constructed earlier or later than it was, it would be slightly off to the east or west, just as the other pyramids are.

The Egyptians had nice insights on the stars and their rotations (all that was needed to align to north in the manner they did), but that doesn't mean they had insights on other aspects of how the earth was shaped or its size.

The one other fact that astounds me is the alignment on the 30th parallel. It's very exact.

Actually its located at 29d 58' 51" N, which is 2.125 km away from 30th. This is within the same order of magnitude of error as the location of the other pyramids at the site, so I hardly think its a special characteristic. If the pyramid were located right on a tropic line or the like I'd be impressed, but there isn't anything particularly special about the 30th latitude. The only real significance of this position is also astronomically determined... if you stand at the base of the south side of the pyramid, the tip of the pyramid will be at approximately the pole. However this is also obviously a function of the height of the pyramid.

 

[Ted Lee]

danny - thx for clarifying. isn't the pole star they used called the north star now? i'm probably getting something mixed up.
julie - i certainly don't mean to implicate that they were idiots back then. all ancient cultures have done similarily amazing things. hopefully people a couple of centuries from now will look upon our current society as innovators. i'm just saying it's amazing they did it at all.

 

[Tim Hoover]

also to make sure your building or pyramid is perfectly square, you just measure diagonally across from corner to corner once you put the marking stakes in

This is also correct, provided you are measuring over a level surface. A naturally-occuring hill of rock in the middle of the site really throws things off...

 

[Grant B]

I read the books, saw the photos, watched every documentary and thought I knew all about them until I found myself in front of one thinking to myself "No way in Hell did they build these things"
Look at Cairo in the distance and see the crappy buildings in the distance and you know they still couldn't build the damn things.
Pictures dont do them justice. Ive been to stonehenge and other ancient sites in Greece and Egypt and incredible US sites like the Hoover Dam but nothing even comes close.

Inside them you really can't imagine the great colors.
We are missing something in our history and people might joke about aliens but when you are standing in front of the things; believing ancient people built them is funnier than anything EVD ever wrote

 

[Julie K]

We are missing something in our history and people might joke about aliens but when you are standing in front of the things; believing ancient people built them is funnier than anything EVD ever wrote

Then please provide good, quality evidence and please reference papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Just because you don't know how the ancient Egyptians might have accomplished such a feat doesn't mean that they couldn't do it. All the awe or flashy TV documentaries in the world does not substitute for the scientific method. People who study Egyptian civilization and building techniques are not perplexed and have shown how the pyramids could have been constructed. This is far more plausible than "aliens did it."

Anyway, as inspiring as the pyramids are (and Stonehenge, and the Mayan ruins which I've also visited) I still think the modern (well-made) skyscraper most certainly holds its own as an engineering marvel.