[anuvaad lambit hai]
[Devanaagaree mein upalabdh hai: मिस्री-ज्ञान-केंद्र.भारत]
The Flawed “Common Construction Theory” Of The Pyramids
1. The Common ‘Theory’
Many academic Egyptologists claim that there are no Ancient Egyptian records from any period which describes how the pyramids were built. Their error is that they have pre-determined the construction method, and are only seeking the records to affirm their pre-conceived theory. Therefore, they invented a theory. Their ‘invented’ theory is that:
a. The pyramid’s blocks consists of two types:
i. The core blocks which were built mostly of quarried local limestone blocks and cemented by a paper-thin layer of mortar.
ii. An outer casing stones made of fine-grained limestone, which were quarried from Tura on the east bank of the Nile and ferried across the Nile to the site.
b. To cut and shape the stone blocks, the Egyptians used the following,
i. copper chisels and possibly iron tools
ii. flint, quartz and diorite pounders
iii. large wooden crow bars
c. To transport the stone blocks, they used wooden sledges and rollers. Then the “quarried” stones were hauled up temporary ramps, which increased in both height and length as they were raised to the successive levels of the pyramid.
A. The Unidentified “Source” Of Quarried Blocks
Let us consider the following undisputed facts about the Khufu (Cheops) Pyramid of Giza. [Similar facts to those mentioned here are also applicable to all masonry pyramids.]
1. The Great Pyramid contains approximately 2.6 million building blocks, weighing from two to seventy tons apiece.
2. Almost none of the pyramid blocks match the Giza bedrock either chemically or mineralogically.
3. The bedrock of the Giza Palteau is made of strata, while the pyramid blocks contain no strata.
4. Strata and defects make it impossible to cut stone to perfectly uniform dimensions.
5. Geologists and geochemists cannot agree on the origin of the pyramid blocks. This alone shatters the common theory that the core masonry of the pyramid was quarried from local bedrock.
6. Natural stone consists of fossil shells which lie horizontally or flat in the bedrock as a result of forming sedimentary layers of bedrock over millions of years. The blocks of the masonry pyramids of Egypt show jumbled shells, which is indicative of manmade, cast stone. In any concrete, the aggregates are jumbled and, as a result, cast concrete is devoid of sedimentary layers. These pyramids essentially consisted of fossil shell limestone, a heterogeneous material very difficult to cut precisely.
7. The French scientists found that the bulk density of the pyramid blocks is 20% lighter than the local bedrock limestone. Cast blocks are always 20-25% lighter than natural rock, because they are full of air bubbles.
B. Cutting And Shaping Impossibilities
1. Stone or copper tools (which are a soft metal), used by Egyptians at that time, cannot cut large granite or millions of limestone blocks with paper-thin precision, and never within the times allotted for building these pyramids.
2. Limestone frequently splits during cutting. Faults and strata in bedrock assure that for every block cut to standard, at least one will crack or be improperly sized during quarrying.
>> Given the many millions of blocks of all these pyramids, there should be millions of cracked blocks lying nearby or somewhere in Egypt; but they are nowhere to be found.
In short: no rubbish of cracked blocks means no quarrying. Ancient historians who documented their visits to Egypt have not mentioned heaps of broken blocks.
3. To quarry stones, some suggested that the Egyptians may have heated the surface of the stone to a very high temperature with fire, then sprayed on water to make it split. This suggestion is invalid, because:
Firstly, this method results in providing irregular surfaces and not in making regular-shaped blocks. This method can only be used to reduce large pieces of sandstone, granite, or basalt into small, irregular, fragmented aggregates.
Secondly, heating with fire transfers limestone into lime at 704o (1,300o F). In other words, we no longer have solid pieces of rock. As such, producing pyramid blocks by heating limestone is impossible.
4. There are about ten standard block lengths throughout the pyramid. Similarly, limited numbers of standard sizes apply in other pyramids as well. Carving such highly uniform dimensions is impossible. However, having standardized concrete forming molds is a more logical conclusion.
5. Another affirming fact is how long some blocks are. It has been noted that the longest blocks in the pyramids always have the same length. This is extremely strong evidence in favor of the use of casting molds.
C. The Logistics Of The Fabricated Ramps’ Theory
Δ This is a total invention, but it has been repeated so many times that it became a fact, in most peoples’ minds.
Δ Herodotus never mentioned such ramps. His historical account described the typical stone causeway between the base of the pyramid and the Valley Temple. This causeway was a permanent feature which was, as Herodotus described, 3300′ (1006 m) long, 60′ (18 m) wide and 48′ (15 m) high, and not used to haul blocks.
Δ Many academicians want to believe that the only way to build the pyramid is by increasing both the height and length of a temporary ramp as it was raised to the successive levels of the pyramid.
Δ The people who are stuck on the ramps theory make reference to what appears to be a mud ramp, found at Sekhemket’s Complex in Saqqara. Even if it was a ramp, it was only 23′ (7 m) high. The constructed pyramids are much higher than that.
Δ The Danish civil engineer P. Garde-Hanson calculated that to build a ramp all the way to the top of the Khufu Pyramid would require 17.5 million cubic yards (13.4 million cubic meters) of material (7 times the amount needed for the pyramid itself). A workforce of 240,000 would have been needed to build such a ramp, within Khufu’s reign of 23 years.
Δ To dismantle the ramp at the completion of Khufu’s pyramid would have required a work force of 300,000 and a further eight years. Such a huge amount of rubbish is not visible anywhere in the vicinity and was never mentioned by earlier historians.
Δ After reaching such unbelievable figures, Garde-Hanson theorized a combination of a ramp and a lifting device. He theorized a ramp that would reach halfway up the pyramid. At such a level, about 90 percent of the material needed for the pyramid would have been used. The second element of his modified theory, i.e. the mysterious lifting device of some kind, was and still is an unresolved question.
Hypothetically, let’s we agree with Garde-Hanson’s theories and try to visualize the staggering figures: 4,000 year-round quarrymen producing 330 blocks per day. During inundation season, 4,000 blocks per day are transported to the Nile, ferried across, hauled up the ramp to the Giza plateau, and set into place in the core—at a rate of 6.67 blocks per minute! Imagine 6.67 blocks every 60 seconds!
This rate is impossible to achieve. This is another reason to disregard the validity of the quarrying and ramp theories.
Δ Building and removing such ramps would have been a much greater task than building any of the pyramids themselves. Therefore, as academicians dream up “primitive means” for Ancient Egyptians, they complicate their own unfounded theories.
Δ Δ Δ
2. The Forgotten Three Pyramids Of Snefru
Snefru, during his reign of 24 years, was able to build the two main pyramids at Dahshur as well as a third pyramid at Meidum. This means that he, in the course of his reign of 24 years, was responsible for the production of some nine million tons of stone—several times the quantity of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Even trying to calculate the logistics of such work using modern terms is overwhelming.
Δ Δ Δ
3. Summation Questions Refuting The Western-made “Common Theory”
By not having an open mind, these academicians made it difficult to come up with answers to many questions.
Based on the elements of the “common theory” of stone cutting, hauling, and hoisting, how can we logically answer the following questions:
1. Where did they get the huge quantity of materials required to build this and other pyramids? There is no physical evidence of such a source, whatsoever?
2. How did they manage to make the sloping sides of the pyramids absolutely flat?
3. How did they make the four sloping sides meet at a perfect point at the summit?
4. How did they make the tiers so level?
5. How did they cut the stones so that they fit together so precisely?
6. What tools did they use?
7. How could the required number of workers (estimated at 240-300,000 people) maneuver on the confined building site?
8. How did they cut the blocks so uniformly?
9. How did they place some of the heaviest blocks in the pyramid, at such great heights?
10. How were 115,000 casing blocks all made to fit to a hair’s breadth and closer, as was the case in Khufu’s pyramid?
11. How was all the work done in about 20 years?
All these questions invalidate the “common theory”. Common sense, along with physical evidence, lead to the conclusion that the blocks were manmade, as will be explained later on.
[An excerpt from Egyptian Pyramids Revisited by Moustafa Gadalla]
