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The researcher investigating the Great Pyramid needs a
clear head and firm anchor on reality. All the available data has been
used and misused in almost every possible way over the years. With this
in mind I have tried to avoid getting carried away with this subject
and I have limited this item to a very basic description of the Great
Pyramid and its possible history.
The Great Pyramid is located at approximately 29° 58' 51" North
31° 29' East at a place in Egypt that used to be called Giza
and is now part of Cairo. The Pyramid’s location is one of its
features that has caused much argument. This location is in the centre
of the landmass of the Earth. This leads to the obvious question; did
the pyramid builders choose the site for this reason or was it a coincidence?
The builders may have been more interested in good solid rock foundations
given that the finished structure would weigh more than 4,000,000 tonnes.
In more recent times the longitude of the Great Pyramid was suggested
as the zero for our system of longitude because it was the centre of
the world. As ever politics reigned supreme and the meridian of Greenwich
was chosen mainly because the English got their own way.
The meanings of the dimensions of the Great Pyramid have
become a religion in their own right, there are plenty of web sites that
will supply information on the significance of every minute dimension.
I do not intended to enter this arena, instead I will limit my comments
to some basic dimensional information and offer some comments on the
abilities of the builders. It is easy in the complex philosophical debates
to lose sight of the fact that the Great Pyramid was built by very skilled
humans working with very great dedication. The work is executed with
high precision but it is definitely not beyond human ability. Have some
faith in your ancestors!
The Great Pyramid was accurately surveyed by W M Flinders
Petrie starting in 1881 and then again in the 1920s by J H Cole, this
time for the Egyptian government. His results were published in 1924.
Both surveys were well executed and there is good general agreement on
the dimensions. It is important to be realistic about the dimensions
because the outer cladding of the Great Pyramid was mostly removed following
a large earthquake in Cairo in 1301CE. The removal of the cladding has
meant that workers have had to make some educated estimates of the original
building line. Given that the average length of the sides of the base
is 230.36 metres is is likely that there are errors of several millimetres
in the external dimensions. Cole drew attention to possible measurement
errors in his report. The north south orientation of the Great Pyramid
is within 2' 30" to 3' 43" west of north, the surveys
are not in exact agreement. Much is made of this westward rotation but
it could easily be a simple error. A 3' rotation of a line 230 metres
long moves the far end of the line 200 millimetres, a 0.087% error. Not
a large error for a structure of this size.The height of the Great Pyramid
is 146.71 metres with an approximate slope of the sides of 52°. It
is also possible that there has been some ground movement in the last
4500 years.
It is probable that the structure was originally measured
in Royal Cubits, a measurement of approximately 524 millimetres. This
would make the intended size of the base 440 Royal Cubits square and
the height 280 Royal Cubits.
The exact date of the building of the Great Pyramid is
uncertain but it is normally placed in the Fourth Dynasty of the Old
Kingdom, around 2500BCE. The David H Koch Pyramid Radiocarbon Project
dated wood and charcoal samples from the mortar used in the building.
This was done in 1984 and again in 1995. The results announced so far
show a 400 year scatter in dates with the later ones around the expected
date. The reason for the scatter is not certain but it could be as simple
as the Egyptians recycling timber. Hopefully as techniques improve more
accurate dating may be possible.
Khufu, a Fourth Dynasty Pharaoh, is credited with the building
of the Great Pyramid. It probably took a large work force around twenty
years to build and the project would have drawn resources from the whole
of Egypt. Recent work in the area has produced evidence of a settlement
that could have housed the workforce. They appear to have had a good
life style even though they must have worked very hard. There are signs
of materials at the site that must have come from all over Egypt. It
seems more likely that a project of the high quality of the Great Pyramid
would have been carried out by a contented work force rather than oppressed
slaves as reported by the Greek historian Heredotus. There is still much
to discover about the working methods used in the building. The fact
that we have very few tools from the period is often put forward as support
for many of the more extreme claims about the origins of the Great Pyramid
but these views seem to miss the simple fact that very few tools survive
4500 years. I am sure the contents of my tool box will corrode away in
a much shorter time!
The purpose of the Great Pyramid will probably never be
known for certain but is seems likely that it was built for religious
reasons, most likely as a Pharaoh's tomb. Sacred mounds appear in
several old Egyptian creation stories so it is not difficult to support
the religious connection and a number of the other pyramids were used
as tombs. The fact that Adullah Al Mamoun, Caliph of Baghdad, apparently
found the Great Pyramid empty when he opened it in 820CE does not mean
that it couldn't be tomb, just that in approximately 3300 years since
it had been built someone else got in first. Given the value of items
found in other Egyptian pyramids and temples they would have found the
effort worth while.
The controversy about the Great Pyramid will certainly
continue long into the future and will probably never be completely settled.
If you are a simple, practical person like me you can of course ignore
this and simply delight in the skill and ingenuity of the Egyptians who
built this magnificent structure that has survived over four millennia.
May it survive another four millennia to delight and puzzle future generations.
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