Exploding the Pyramid Myths

by

Derek K Hitchins

Book Contents

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Table of Figures

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Figure 1 The First Flowering of Culture ....2

Figure 2 Northern Egypt, showing the Principal Necropolis Sites, NASA ....5

Figure 3 Artist's View of a Typical Necropolis ....6

Figure 4 Giza Pyramids in Shadow ....7

Figure 5 Djoser's Stepped Pyramid, Saqqara ....7

Figure 6 Collage of Features in Djoser's Pyramid Complex ....8

Figure 7 King Djoser, Cairo Museum ....9

Figure 8 Djoser's Pyramid Construction ....9

Figure 9 Djoser's "Brickwork" and Casing Stones ....10

Figure 10. Meidum Pyramid Schematic ....12

Figure 11. Snefru's Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, North Side. ...13

Figure 12. Bent Pyramid: Construction and Ka Pyramid ....14

Figure 13. Snefru's Red Pyramid, Dahshur. West Face. ...15

Figure 14. Red Pyramid: Reconstructed Pyramidion, Stonework and Casing ....15

Figure 15. Khufu's Necropolis - Principal Components ....17

Figure 16. Khufu Pyramid Precision ....17

Figure 17. Structures in Khufu's Great Pyramid ....18

Figure 18. Virtual Views of the Inner Structures in the Great Pyramid ....20

Figure 19. The so-called Relieving Chambers above the King's Chamber, Great Pyramid (simulation) ....20

Figure 20. Relieving Chambers Construction ....21

Figure 21. Khafre's Pyramid, North Face .....23

Figure 22. Khafre's Valley Temple Construction ....24

Figure 23 Menkaure's (Unfinished) Casing and Mortuary Temple ....25

Figure 24. Menkaure's Pyramid and Queen's Pyramids ...26

Figure 25. Collage of 4th Dynasty Statuary. ...28

Figure 26. Pyramid Texts, Unas and Teti Pyramids. ...30

Figure 27. Giza Pyramid Alignment. ....31

Figure 28. Djoser's Stepped Pyramid at Saqqara through the haze from Snefru's Red Pyramid, Dahshur ..32

Figure 29. Location of Necropolis Sites on their Mutual Horizons .....33

Figure 30. Terrain Simulation, Archaic Memphis to Giza ....34

Figure 31. Views of the Giza Pyramids ......35

Figure 32. Teti's Pyramid Construction, Saqqara ......39

Figure 33. Naturally-occurring Pyramids, Abu Simbal ......40

Figure 34. From Stepped to Perfect Pyramid ....40

Figure 35. Conjectural View of a Pyramid as a Mound of Creation .......42

Figure 36. Herding in the New Kingdom .....45

Figure 37. Ivory Label showing Den, 1st Dynasty, Smiting an Asiatic Foe..... 46

Figure 38. Bull Palette. Louvre 47

Figure 39. Ti, 5th Dynasty Statesman, in his Tomb, with Unascribed Statue......48

Figure 40. Famine Amongst Bedouin, Old Kingdom....50

Figure 41. Osiris and Isis .....51

Figure 42. Khufu's Shafts. ......53

Figure 43. Heliacal (Dawn) Rising of Sirius, 04:44, 6 July, 2575BC. ....54

Figure 44. Ancient Egyptian Constellations .....54

Figure 45. Coincidence: Simultaneous culmination of Kocab and rising of Alnitak .....56

Figure 46. Ursa Major and Ursa Minor as the Bull of Heaven? .....57

Figure 47. Hieroglyph for Bull .....57

Figure 48. Representing the Bull in Heaven. ....58

Figure 49. Navigating the Egyptian Stars .....59

Figure 50. Khufu's Shafts and Annual Dawn Transit Dates, 2575BC .....60

Figure 51. Finding North with Kocab and Mizar .....62

Figure 52. Finding North ......63

Figure 53. The world's first free-standing stone structure at Ggantija, Gozo, ~3600BC ....64

Figure 54. Hagar Qim, Malta, ~3000-2500BC 65

Figure 55. Oracle Room, Mnajdra Temple, Malta, ~3300-3000BC ......66

Figure 56. Queen's Chamber Niche with Superimposed Statuette of Khufu ......67

Figure 57. The Spirit of Osiris Activates Khufu ......68

Figure 58. Inside QC (S). Photographs by Rudolf Gantenbrink ......71

Figure 59. Egyptian Fractions, Kom Ombo, Ptolemaic Period ......73

Figure 60. Rhind Papyrus..... 74

Figure 61. Moscow Papyrus, Moscow Museum of Fine Arts. ....75

Figure 62. Egyptian Numbers .....75

Figure 63. Addition .....76

Figure 64. Binary Multiplication ......76

Figure 65. Second Multiplication Example .....76

Figure 66. Nilometer at Elephantine Island, Aswan .....78

Figure 67. Queen's Chamber Dimensions in Cubits ......81

Figure 68. Forming the Angle 26.5 degrees ....82

Figure 69. Construction Jigs? .....82

Figure 70. The Angle 21 deg 41 min ......83

Figure 71. Floor Plan of King's Chamber .....83

Figure 72. Controlling Pyramid Slopes during Building .....84

Figure 73. Viewing and Setting Proportions ..85

Figure 74. Diorite Hammer and Copper Device found in QC (S) &endash; Collage ....86

Figure 75. Star-sight Simulation ....87

Figure 76. Competing ideas for the "horned" tool ....87

Figure 77. Introducing the Method of Squares ...89

Figure 78. Finding the Area of a Circle using the Method of Squares .....90

Figure 79. KC (N) and the Pyramid Slope .....93

Figure 80. Queen's Chamber Shafts Viewed as Proportions ......94

Figure 81. Slope and Proportion Pattern ......94

Figure 82. Prefabricating Khufu's Shafts .....97

Figure 83. Pyramid Building Job Trees ......102

Figure 84. Bored Man Waits for Bread to Prove, 4th Dynasty, Cairo Museum ......108

Figure 85. Work and Energy Parameters - Khufu's Great Pyramid ......111

Figure 86. Archetypal Old Kingdom Pyramid Design .....115

Figure 87. Burial Chambers ......116

Figure 88. Pyramid Construction Sequence ........117

Figure 89. Ramps and Ramp Theories .........122

Figure 90 Raising Stones - cribbing ........126

Figure 91 Raising Stones Using Rockers ...........127

Figure 92 Parallel Teams Raising Stones ..........128

Figure 93 Parallel Working - Great Pyramid .......129

Figure 94 Synthesis without Reduction .......132

Figure 95. Behaviour Diagram for Designing and Planning the Great Pyramid Complex ...135

Figure 96. Entrance to the Queen's Chamber, Great Pyramid .........140

Figure 97. Building a Model of a 26.5 degree Passage ........141

Figure 98. Full-scale Model of Sliding Plug Stones ........142

Figure 99. Rules for Corbelling .........143

Figure 100. Grand Gallery showing Corbels .......143

Figure 101. Grand Gallery Virtual Model .......144

Figure 102. Starting to Build the Grand Gallery ..........144

Figure 103. Grand Gallery VR Construction Sequence ........145

Figure 104. Hunting Palette, Louvre ......147

Figure 105. Gebel-el Arak Dagger, Louvre ......148

Figure 106. "Towns" Palette" ~3150BC.......149

Figure 107. Hunters' Palette, 3250-3100BC........150

Figure 108. Detail from the Hunters' Palette .......150

Figure 109. Animals Palette, 3300-3100BC........151

Figure 110. The Narmer Palette ~3150BC .....152

Figure 111. Royal Insignia - Khasekhemwy and Snefru......154

Figure 112. Stelae for Djet and Khufu..........155

Figure 113. 3rd and 5th Dynasty Statues .........155

Figure 114. 5th/6th Dynasty Pairs ........156

Figure 115. Accroupi the Scribe.......156

Figure 116. Unnamed scribe.........157

Figure 117. Rahotep and Nofret, 4th Dynasty........157

Figure 118. Pygmy, and Family, 4th Dynasty ........158

Figure 119. Ancient Egyptian Psyche? .......158

Figure 120. Canonical Form.........161

Figure 121. Reluctant Student.......162

Figure 122. Nile Crocodile, Tomb of Ti, 5th Dynasty, 2400BC. ....162

Figure 123. Herding Donkeys, Tomb of Ti ......163

Figure 124. Preparations for a Feast, Tomb of Ti .....163

Figure 125. Herding Birds, Tomb of Ti .......164

Figure 126. Princess Nefretiabet, Funerary Slab, 4th Dynasty........164

Figure 127. Young Woman Grinding Corn, 4th Dynasty.......165

Figure 128. Two Men Preparing Barley Paste, 4th Dynasty..........165

Figure 129. Girl Mixing Barley Paste, 4th Dynasty........166

Figure 130. Model of Funerary Barge..........167

Figure 131. Model Nile Passenger Boats......168

Figure 132. Military Rowing Boat and Sail Boat......169

Figure 133. Houses, Farms and Ploughing... 170

Figure 134. Art from Gozo and Malta, 4th Millennium BC .....171

Figure 135. By the River Nile .......175

Figure 136. Modern Hamlet Scene in Upper Egypt ........176

Figure 137. Self-reinforcing Beliefs ......180

Figure 138. Fourth dynasty Rock-cut Tombs at Aswan .........181

Figure 139. Household God, Bes, Ptolemaic Period, at Denderah .........183

Figure 140. Temple Columns and Capitals, Hathor's Ptolemaic Temple at Denderah. .....183

Figure 141. Decline of the Golden Age .......192

Figure 142. Pyramids at the Louvre .......193

Figure 143. Pyramids of the Future? .........194

Table of Graphs

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Graph 1. Evolution in Pyramid Chamber Construction 29

Graph 2. Progressive Pyramid Slope by Angle and Ratio. 38

Graph 3. Variations in the Height of the Annual Inundation, ~3050BC to ~2467BC 79

Graph 4. Precessional Wander of Thuban's Heliacal Culmination 90

Graph 5. Culmination Dates by Shaft in the Great Pyramid 92

Graph 6. Work Needed to Raise Khufu's Pyramid by Tier 104

Graph 7. Manpower to Build Khufu's Pyramid 105

Graph 8. Work Associated with Other Necropolis Features 105

Graph 9. Khufu's Great Pyramid - Annual Manpower Estimates 106

Graph 10. Estimated time to Complete Khufu's Great Pyramid 107

Graph 11. Calculated Times to Raise Tiers of the Great Pyramid 118

Graph 12. Comparative Rates of Setting Stones - Great Pyramid 118

Graph 13. Instantaneous and Cumulative Rates of Setting Stone &endash; Proportional Manpower, Great Pyramid 119

Graph 14 Instantaneous and Cumulative Rates of Setting Stone &endash; Constant Manpower, Great Pyramid 120

Graph 15. Volumes of Truncated Pyramid and Notional Desert Ramp. (Figures for Great Pyramid) 121

Graph 16 Parallel Paths needed on Ramps - Great Pyramid 123

Graph 17. Comparing the Volumes of a Truncated Pyramid and a Helical or Zigzag Ramp 124

Graph 18 Bar Chart for Constructing the Great Pyramid Complex 134

Table of Tables

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Table 1. 4th - 6th Dynasty Pyramids. Slope Angles and Ratios 37

Table 2. Putative Annual Ceremonies, ~2450BC 61

Table 3. Measuring Pyramid Slopes in Seked. 77

Table 4. Calculating pi for Old Kingdom Pyramids 88

Table 5. Elevation Angles of Stars, ~2575BC 91

Table 6. Patterns in Khufu's Shafts 93

Table 7 Comparing the Star Shaft and the Prime Number Theories 96

Table 8. Energy Utilization Data 113

Table 9. Designing the Pyramid Complex Akhet Khufu 137

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