The history of the pyramid of Cheops. Pyramid of Pharaoh Cheops

The Pyramid of Cheops is a legacy of the ancient Egyptian civilization; all tourists who come to Egypt try to see it. It strikes the imagination with its grandiose size. The weight of the pyramid is about 4 million tons, its height is 139 meters, and its age is 4.5 thousand years. It still remains a mystery how people built the pyramids in those ancient times. It is not known for certain why these majestic structures were erected.

Legends of the pyramid of Cheops

Shrouded in mystery, ancient Egypt was once the most powerful country on earth. Perhaps his people knew secrets that are still inaccessible to modern humanity. Looking at the huge stone blocks of the pyramid, which are stacked with perfect accuracy, you begin to believe in miracles.

According to one of the legends, the pyramid served as a storehouse of grain during the great famine. These events are described in the Bible (Book of Exodus). Pharaoh had a prophetic dream that warned of a series of lean years. Joseph, son of Jacob, sold into slavery by his brothers, managed to unravel Pharaoh's dream. The ruler of Egypt instructed Joseph to organize the harvesting of grain, appointing him as his first adviser. The storehouses must have been huge, given that many peoples were fed from them for seven years when there was a famine on Earth. A slight discrepancy in dates - about 1 thousand years, the adherents of this theory explain by the inaccuracy of carbon analysis, thanks to which archaeologists determine the age of ancient buildings.

According to another legend, the pyramid served to transfer the material body of the pharaoh into upper world Gods. Surprising fact is that inside the pyramid, where the sarcophagus for the body stands, the mummy of the pharaoh was not found, which the robbers could not take away. Why did the rulers of Egypt build such huge tombs for themselves? Was it really their goal to build a beautiful mausoleum that testified to greatness and power? If the construction process took several decades and required huge labor costs, then the ultimate goal of building a pyramid was vital to the pharaoh. Some researchers believe that we know very little about the level of development ancient civilization, the mysteries of which are yet to be discovered. The Egyptians knew the secret eternal life. It was acquired by the pharaohs after death, thanks to the technology that was hidden inside the pyramids.

Some researchers believe that the pyramid of Cheops was built by a great civilization even older than the Egyptian one, about which we know nothing. And the Egyptians only restored the existing ancient buildings, and used them at their own discretion. They themselves did not know the intention of the forerunners who built the pyramids. The Forerunners could be the giants of the Antediluvian civilization or the inhabitants of other planets who arrived on Earth in search of a new homeland. The gigantic size of the blocks from which the pyramid is built is easier to imagine as a convenient building material for ten-meter giants than for ordinary people.

One more interesting legend I would like to mention the pyramid of Cheops. It is said that a secret room is hidden inside the monolithic structure, in which there is a portal that opens paths to other dimensions. Thanks to the portal, you can instantly find yourself at a selected point in time or on another inhabited planet in the Universe. It was carefully hidden by the builders for the benefit of the people, but will soon be found. The question remains whether modern scientists will understand ancient technologies in order to take advantage of the discovery. In the meantime, archaeological research in the pyramid continues.

In the era of antiquity, when the heyday of the Greco-Roman civilization began, ancient philosophers compiled a description of the most outstanding architectural monuments on Earth. They were called "Seven Wonders of the World". They included hanging gardens Babylon, the Ear of Rhodes and other majestic buildings built before our era. The Pyramid of Cheops, as the oldest, is in the first place in this list. This wonder of the world is the only one that has survived to this day, all the rest were destroyed many centuries ago.

According to the descriptions of ancient Greek historians, a large pyramid shone in the rays of the sun, casting a warm golden sheen. It was lined with meter-thick limestone slabs. The smooth white limestone, decorated with hieroglyphs and drawings, reflected the sands of the surrounding desert. Later locals dismantled the lining for their dwellings, which they lost as a result of devastating fires. Perhaps the top of the pyramid was decorated with a special triangular block made of precious material.

Around the pyramid of Cheops in the valley there is a whole City of the dead. Dilapidated buildings of the mortuary temples, two other large pyramids and several smaller tombs. A huge statue of a sphinx with a broken nose, which has recently been restored, is carved from a gigantic monolithic block. It comes from the same quarry as the stones used to build the tombs. Once upon a time, ten meters from the pyramid was a wall three meters thick. Perhaps it was intended to protect the royal treasures, but could not stop the robbers.

Construction history

Scientists still cannot come to a consensus on how the ancient people built the pyramid of Cheops from huge boulders. According to the drawings found on the walls of others, it was suggested that workers cut each block in the rocks, and then dragged it to the construction site along a ramp made of cedar. History does not have a single opinion about who was involved in the work - the peasants for whom there was no other work during the flood of the Nile, the pharaoh's slaves or hired workers.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the blocks had to be not only delivered to the construction site, but also raised to a great height. The Pyramid of Cheops before construction was the tallest building on Earth. Modern architects see the solution to this problem in different ways. According to the official version, primitive mechanical blocks were used for lifting. It is terrible to imagine how many people died during the construction by this method. When the ropes and straps holding the block broke, it could crush dozens of people with its weight. It was especially difficult to install the upper building block at a height of 140 meters above the ground.

Some scientists suggest that ancient people had the technology to control the earth's gravity. Blocks weighing more than 2 tons, from which the pyramid of Cheops was built, could be moved with this method with ease. The construction was carried out by hired workers who knew all the secrets of the craft, led by the nephew of Pharaoh Cheops. There were no human casualties, backbreaking labor of slaves, only building art that reached the highest technologies that are inaccessible to our civilization.

The pyramid has the same base on each side. Its length is 230 meters and 40 centimeters. Amazing accuracy for ancient uneducated builders. The density of the masonry stones is so great that it is impossible to stick a razor blade between them. An area of ​​five hectares is occupied by one monolithic structure, the blocks of which are connected by a special solution. There are several passages and chambers inside the pyramid. There are ventilation openings facing different directions of the world. The purpose of many interior spaces remains a mystery. The robbers took out everything of value long before the first archaeologists entered the tomb.

The pyramid is currently listed cultural heritage UNESCO. Her photo adorns many Egyptian tourist brochures. In the 19th century, the Egyptian authorities wanted to disassemble the huge monolithic blocks of ancient structures for the construction of dams on the Nile River. But the costs of labor far outweighed the benefits of work, so the monuments of ancient architecture still stand today, delighting the pilgrims of the Giza Valley.

- Oh Osiris, I don't want to die! - Who wants to? Osiris shrugged. - But I ... I'm still a pharaoh! .. Listen, - Cheops whispered, - I will sacrifice a hundred thousand slaves to you. Only let me perpetuate one of my lives! - One hundred thousand? And you're sure they'll all die in the construction? - Rest assured. Such a pyramid, as I conceived... - Well, if so... Perpetuate, I don't mind.

The Pyramid of Cheops

No one remembers Cheops alive. Everyone remembers him only dead. He was dead a hundred, and a thousand, and three thousand years ago and always, always will be dead - the pyramid immortalized his death.

1. What is called the first wonder of the world?
Already in antiquity, the pyramids of Giza were considered one of the seven "wonders of the world." The largest of the pyramids was built by Pharaoh Khufu (2590 - 2568 BC), in Greek his name was Cheops. At present, the height of the pyramid is 138 m, although originally it was 147 m: the upper stones fell during earthquakes. The pyramid is made up of 2.5 million limestone blocks of various sizes, weighing an average of 2.5 tons. Initially, it was lined with white sandstone, which was harder than the main blocks, but the lining was not preserved. At the base of the pyramid lies a square with a side of 230 m, oriented to the cardinal points. According to some legends, the corners of the square symbolize Truth, Reason, Silence and Depth, according to others, the pyramid is based on four material substances from which the human body is created.
The greatest creations of antiquity among the pyramids include only the pyramid of Cheops, also called the Great Pyramid.
At a distance of about 160 meters from the pyramid of Cheops, the pyramid of Khafre rises, the height of which is 136.6 meters, and the length of the sides is 210.5 meters. A part of the original cladding is still visible on its top.
The Pyramid of Menkaure, which is even smaller, is located 200 meters from the Pyramid of Khafre. Its height is 62 meters, and the length of the sides is 108 meters. But the most famous Egyptian monument in the world after the pyramid of Cheops is the figure of the sphinx, vigilantly guarding the city of the dead.
The three pyramids are part of the complex, which also consists of several temples, small pyramids, tombs of priests and officials.
The smaller pyramids located to the south were probably intended for the wives of the rulers and remained unfinished.

2. How was the pyramid of Cheops built?

Its height is 146.6 m, which roughly corresponds to a fifty-story skyscraper. The base area is 230x230 m. On such a space, five of the largest cathedrals in the world could easily fit simultaneously: St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, as well as Florence and Milan Cathedrals. From the building stone that went to the construction of the pyramid of Cheops, it would be possible to build all the churches in Germany, created in our millennium. The young pharaoh Cheops ordered the construction of the pyramid immediately after the death of his father Snefru. Like all previous pharaohs since the time of Djoser (approximately 2609 -2590 BC), Cheops wanted to be buried after his death in a pyramid.
The ivory statue of Pharaoh Cheops is the only surviving image of the pharaoh. On the head of Cheops is the crown of the Ancient Egyptian kingdom, in his hand is a ceremonial fan.
Like his predecessors, he believed that his pyramid should exceed all other pyramids in size, splendor and luxury. But before the first of more than two million blocks that made up the pyramid was cut in a quarry on the east bank of the Nile, complex preparatory work was carried out. First, it was necessary to find a suitable site for the construction of the pyramid. The weight of the huge structure is 6,400,000 tons, so the ground had to be strong enough so that the pyramid would not sink into the ground under its own weight. The construction site was chosen south of the modern Egyptian capital of Cairo, on a ledge of a plateau in the desert seven kilometers west of the village of Giza. This solid rocky platform was able to support the weight of the pyramid.
First, the surface of the site was leveled. To do this, a waterproof shaft of sand and stones was built around it. In the resulting square, a dense network of small channels was cut down, intersecting at right angles, so that the site looked like a huge chessboard. The channels were filled with water, the height of the water level was marked on the side walls, then the water was let down. Stonemasons cut down everything that protruded above the smooth surface of the water, and the channels were again laid with stone. The base of the pyramid was ready.
Over 4,000 people - artists, architects, masons and other craftsmen - carried out these preparatory works for about ten years. Only after that it was possible to proceed with the construction of the pyramid itself. According to the Greek historian Herodotus (490 - 425 BC), construction continued for another twenty years, about 100,000 people worked on the construction of the huge tomb of Cheops. Only 1600 talents were spent on radishes, onions and garlic, which were added to the food of construction workers, i.e. approximately $20 million. Data on the number of workers are questioned by many modern researchers. In their opinion, there simply would not be enough space on the construction site for so many people: more than 8,000 people would not be able to work productively without interfering with each other.
Herodotus, who visited Egypt in 425 BC, wrote: "The method used was to build in steps, or as some call it rows or terraces. When the construction of the base was completed, the blocks for the next row above the base were raised from the main level with devices made of short wooden levers; on this first row there was another that raised the blocks one level higher, thus, step by step, the blocks were raised all Higher and higher. Each row or level had its own set of mechanisms of the same type that easily moved loads from level to level. The completion of the construction of the pyramid began at the top with the highest level, continued down, and ended with the lowest levels closer to the ground.
During the construction of the pyramid, Egypt was a wealthy country. Every year from the end of June to November, the Nile overflowed its banks and flooded the adjacent fields with its waters, leaving a thick layer of silt on them, which turned the dry sand of the desert into fertile soil. Therefore, in favorable years, it was possible to harvest up to three crops a year - grain, fruits and vegetables. So, from June to November, the peasants could not work in their fields. And they were glad when every year in mid-June a scribe of the pharaoh appeared in their village, compiling lists of those who wanted to work on the construction of the pyramid.

3. Who worked on the construction of the pyramid?
Almost everyone wanted this work, which means that it was not forced labor, but voluntary labor. This was due to two reasons: each construction participant received housing, clothing, food and a modest salary while working. Four months later, when the waters of the Nile left the fields, the peasants returned to their villages.

In addition, every Egyptian considered it his natural duty and honor to participate in the construction of the pyramid for the pharaoh. After all, everyone who contributed to the fulfillment of this grandiose task hoped that a particle of the immortality of the god-like pharaoh would touch him too. Therefore, at the end of June, endless streams of peasants rushed to Giza. There they were placed in temporary barracks and united in groups of eight people. You could start work. Having crossed in boats to the other side of the Nile, the men were heading to the quarry. There they cut down a stone block, hewed it with a sledgehammer, wedges, saws and borers and got a block of the required size - with sides from 80 cm to 1.45 m. Using ropes and levers, each group installed its block on wooden skids and on them along the log flooring she dragged him to the banks of the Nile. The sailboat transported workers and a block weighing up to 7.5 tons to the other side.

4. What was the most dangerous job?
On the roads lined with logs, the stone was dragged to the construction site. Here came the turn of the hardest work, since cranes and other lifting devices had not yet been invented. Along an inclined entrance 20 m wide, built of bricks from the Nile silt, skids with a stone block were pulled to the upper platform of the pyramid under construction with the help of ropes and levers. There, the workers laid the block in the place indicated by the architect with an accuracy of a millimeter. The higher the pyramid rose, the longer and steeper the entrance became, and the upper working platform became more and more reduced. So the work got harder and harder.
Then came the turn of the most dangerous work: the laying of the "pyramidon" - the upper block nine meters high, dragged upward along an inclined entrance. How many people died doing just this job, we do not know. So, twenty years later, the construction of the body of the pyramid was completed, which consists of 128 layers of stone and is four meters higher than the Strasbourg Cathedral. By this time, the pyramid looked about the same as it looks now: it was stepped mountain. However, the work did not end there: the steps were laid with stones, so that the surface of the pyramid became, although not quite smooth, but already without protrusions. At the end of the work, the four triangular outer faces of the pyramid were faced with slabs of dazzling white limestone. The edges of the plates were fitted so precisely that even a knife blade could not be inserted between them. Even from a distance of several meters, the pyramid gave the impression of a giant monolith. The outer slabs have been polished to a mirror finish with the hardest grinding stones. According to eyewitnesses, in the sun or moonlight, the tomb of Cheops mysteriously sparkled like a huge crystal glowing from within.

5. What's inside the pyramid of Cheops?
The pyramid of Cheops is not made entirely of stone. Inside it there is a branched system of passages, which, through a large passage 47 m long, the so-called large gallery, leads to the pharaoh's chamber - a room 10.5 m long, 5.3 m wide and 5.8 m high. It is entirely lined with granite, but not decorated with any ornament. Here stands a large empty granite sarcophagus without a lid. The sarcophagus was brought here during construction, as it does not pass through any of the passages of the pyramid. There are such chambers of the pharaohs in almost all Egyptian pyramids ah, they served as the last resting place of the pharaoh.
There are no inscriptions or decorations inside the Cheops pyramid, except for a small portrait in the passage leading to the Queen's chamber. This image resembles a photograph on a stone. On the outer walls of the pyramid there are numerous curvilinear grooves of large and small sizes, in which, at a certain angle of illumination, one can distinguish an image 150 meters high - a portrait of a man, apparently one of the deities ancient egypt. This image is surrounded by other images (the trident of the Atlanteans and Scythians, a flying bird, plans of stone buildings, pyramid rooms), texts, individual letters, large signs resembling a flower bud, etc. On the north side of the pyramid there is a portrait of a man and a woman with their heads bowed to each other. These huge images were painted just a few years before the main pyramid was completed and installed in 2630 BC. top stone.
Inside the pyramid of Cheops there are three burial chambers located one above the other. The construction of the first chamber was not completed. It is carved into the rock. To get into it, you need to overcome 120 m of a narrow descending corridor. The first burial chamber is connected with the second horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high. The second chamber is called the "queen's chamber", although according to the rite, the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids.
The queen's chamber is overgrown with legends. It is associated with a legend according to which the pyramid was the main temple of a certain Supreme Deity, a place where ancient secret religious rites were held. Somewhere in the depths of the pyramid lives an unknown creature with the face of a lion, which holds in its hands the seven keys of Eternity. No one can see him, except for those who have undergone special rites of preparation and purification. Only to them did the Great Priest reveal the secret Divine Name. The person who owns the secret of the name became equal in its magical power to the pyramid itself. The main sacrament of initiation took place in the royal chamber. There, the candidate, tied to a special cross, was placed in a huge sarcophagus. The person receiving the initiation was, as it were, in the gap between the material world and the divine world, inaccessible to human consciousness.
From the beginning of the horizontal corridor, another one goes up, about 50 m long and more than 8 m high. At the end of it is a horizontal passage leading to burial chamber pharaoh, finished with granite, which houses the sarcophagus. In addition to the burial chambers, voids and ventilation shafts were found in the pyramid. However, the purpose of many rooms and various hollow channels has not been fully figured out. One of these rooms is a room where there is an open book on the table about the history and achievements of the country during the period when the construction of the pyramid was completed.
The purpose of the underground structures at the foot of the pyramid of Cheops is also unclear. Some of them were opened in different time. In one of the underground structures in 1954, archaeologists found the oldest ship on Earth - a wooden boat, called the sun, 43.6 m long, disassembled into 1224 parts. It was built of cedar without a single nail and, as evidenced by traces of silt preserved on it, before the death of Cheops, it was still floating on the Nile.

6. How was the burial of the pharaoh?
After death, the carefully embalmed body of the ruler was placed in the burial chamber of the pyramid. The internal organs of the deceased were placed in special hermetic vessels, the so-called canopies, which were placed next to the sarcophagus in the burial chamber. So, the mortal remains of the pharaoh found their last earthly refuge in the pyramid, and the "ka" of the deceased left the tomb. "Ka", according to Egyptian ideas, was considered something like a double of a person, his "second self", which left the body at the time of death and could freely move between the earthly and the afterlife. Leaving the burial chamber, "ka" rushed to the top of the pyramid along its outer lining, so smooth that none of the mortals could move along it. The father of the pharaohs, the sun god Ra, was already there in his solar boat, in which the deceased pharaoh began his journey to immortality.
Recently, some scientists have expressed doubt that the Great Pyramid was indeed the tomb of Pharaoh Cheops. They put forward three arguments in favor of this assumption:
The burial chamber, contrary to the customs of that time, does not have any decorations.
The sarcophagus, in which the body of the deceased pharaoh was supposed to rest, was only roughly hewn, i.e. not completely ready; lid is missing.
And, finally, two narrow passages through which air from outside enters the burial chamber through small holes in the body of the pyramid. But the dead do not need air - this is another weighty argument in favor of the fact that the pyramid of Cheops was not a burial place.
7. Who first entered the pyramid of Cheops?
The entrance to the pyramid of Cheops was originally located on the north side, at the level of the 13th row of granite slabs. Now it is closed. You can get inside the pyramid through a manhole left by ancient robbers.
For more than 3500 years, the interior of the Great Pyramid was not disturbed by anyone: all the entrances to it were carefully walled up, and the tomb itself, according to the Egyptians, was guarded by spirits ready to kill anyone who tried to enter it.
That's why the robbers came here much later. The first person to penetrate the pyramid of Cheops was Caliph Abdullah al-Mamun (813-833 BC), son of Harun al-Rashid. He dug a tunnel to the burial chamber in the hope of discovering treasures there, as in other tombs of the pharaohs. But he did not find anything except the droppings of bats that lived there, the layer of which on the floor and on the walls reached 28 cm. After that, the interest of robbers and treasure seekers in the pyramid of Cheops disappeared. But they were replaced by other robbers. In 1168, after R. Chr. part of Cairo was burned and completely destroyed by the Arabs, who did not want it to fall into the hands of the crusaders. When the Egyptians then set about rebuilding their city, they removed the shiny white slabs that covered the outside of the pyramid and used them to build new houses. Even now, these plates can be seen in many mosques in the old part of the city. From the former pyramid, only a stepped body remained - this is how it now appears before the enthusiastic gaze of tourists. Together with the lining, the pyramid also lost its top, the pyramidon, and the upper layers of the masonry. Therefore, now its height is no longer 144.6 m, but 137.2 m. Today, the top of the pyramid is a square with sides of about 10 m. This site in 1842 became the venue for unusual festivities. The Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV, known for his love of art, sent an expedition to the Nile Valley led by archaeologist Richard Lepsius in order to acquire ancient Egyptian art objects and other exhibits for the Egyptian Museum being created in Berlin (it was opened in 1855).

Powerful, surrounded by mystery .. - this is the pyramid of Cheops that stood for 4500 years

) and Heliopolis millennia before the founding of Cairo. For over three thousand years (before the construction of the cathedral in Lincoln, England, c. 1300)

The Great Pyramid was the tallest building on earth. Since 1979, like many other pyramids of the complex " Memphis and its necropolises - the region of the pyramids from Giza to Dahshur", is a part world heritage UNESCO.

Pyramid age

architect Great Pyramid considered Hemiun, vizier and nephew of Cheops. He also bore the title "Manager of all construction sites of the pharaoh." It is assumed that the construction, which lasted twenty years (the reign of Cheops), ended around 2540 BC. e.

unknown , Public Domain

The existing methods of dating the time of the beginning of the construction of the pyramid are divided into historical, astronomical and radiocarbon. In Egypt, it was officially established (2009) and the date of the start of the construction of the pyramid of Cheops is celebrated - August 23, 2560 BC. e. This date was obtained using the astronomical method of Kate Spence (University of Cambridge). However, this method and the dates derived from it have been criticized by many Egyptologists.

Dates according to other dating methods: 2720 BC. e. (Stephen Hack, University of Nebraska), 2577 B.C. e. (Juan Antonio Belmonte, University of Astrophysics in Canaris) and 2708 BC. e. (Pollux, Bauman University). The radiocarbon method gives a range from 2680 BC. e. until 2850 BC e. Therefore, there is no serious confirmation of the established “birthday” of the pyramid, since Egyptologists cannot agree on exactly what year the construction began.

The first mention of the pyramid

The complete absence of a mention of the pyramid in Egyptian papyri remains a mystery. The first descriptions are found in the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC) and in ancient Arabic legends. Herodotus reported (at least 2 millennia after the appearance of the Great Pyramid) that it was erected under a despot pharaoh named Cheops (Greek. Koufou), who ruled for 50 years, that 100 thousand people were employed in the construction. for twenty years, and that the pyramid is in honor of Cheops, but not his grave. The real grave is a burial near the pyramid. Herodotus gave erroneous information about the size of the pyramid, and also mentioned the middle pyramid of the Giza plateau, that it was erected by the daughter of Cheops, who sold herself, and that each building stone corresponded to the man to whom she was given.

Appearance

The pyramid is called "Akhet-Khufu" - "Horizon of Khufu" (or more precisely "Related to the sky - (this is) Khufu"). Consists of blocks of limestone and granite. It was built on a natural limestone hill. After the pyramid has lost several layers of lining, this hill is partially visible on the eastern, northern and southern sides of the pyramid.

Despite the fact that the Pyramid of Cheops is the tallest and most voluminous of all Egyptian pyramids, Pharaoh Snefru nevertheless built the pyramids in Meidum and Dahshut (Broken Pyramid and), the total mass of which is estimated at 8.4 million tons.

Rigelus, CC BY-SA 3.0

Initially, the pyramid was lined with white limestone, harder than the main blocks. The top of the pyramid was crowned with a gilded stone - a pyramidion (ancient Egyptian - "Benben"). The cladding shone in the sun with a peach color, as if "a shining miracle, to which the sun god Ra himself seemed to give all his rays."

In 1168, the Arabs sacked and burned Cairo. The inhabitants of Cairo removed the lining from the pyramid in order to build new houses.

Franck Monnier, Public Domain

Side concavity

When the sun moves around the pyramid, you can notice the unevenness of the walls - the concavity of the central part of the walls. Perhaps the reason for this is erosion or damage resulting from the fall of the stone cladding. It is also possible that this was deliberately done during construction.

Franck Monnier, Public Domain

As Vito Maragioglio and Celeste Rinaldi note, the pyramid of Menkaure no longer has such a concavity of the sides. I.E.S. Edwards explains this feature by the fact that the central part of each side was simply pressed inward from a large mass of stone blocks over time.

Vivant Denon, Dominique, Public Domain

As in the 18th century, when this phenomenon was discovered, today there is still no satisfactory explanation for this feature of architecture.

Tilt angle

It is not possible to accurately determine the original parameters of the pyramid, since its edges and surfaces are currently mostly dismantled and destroyed. This makes it difficult to calculate the exact angle of inclination. In addition, its symmetry itself is not perfect, so deviations in numbers are observed with different measurements.

In the literature on Egyptology, Peter Janoshi, Mark Lehner, Miroslav Werner, Zahi Hawass, Alberto Sigliotti came to the same results in measurements, who believe that the length of the sides can be from 230.33 to 230.37 m. Knowing the length of the side and the angle at the base, they calculated the height of the pyramid - from 146.59 to 146.60 m. The slope of the pyramid is 51 ° 50 ", which corresponds to a seked (an ancient Egyptian unit of tilt, which is defined as the ratio of half the base to the height) of 5 ½ palms. Taking into account the fact that there are 7 palms in one cubit (qubit), it turns out that with such a chosen seked, the doubled ratio of the base to the height is 22/7, a well-known approximation of the number pi from antiquity, which, apparently, happened by chance, since other pyramids had chosen other values ​​for seked.

Franck Monnier, Public Domain

The study of the geometry of the Great Pyramid does not give an unambiguous answer to the question of the original proportions of this structure. It is assumed that the Egyptians had an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe "Golden Section" and the number pi, which were reflected in the proportions of the pyramid: for example, the ratio of height to half the perimeter of the base is 14/22 (height \u003d 280 cubits, and the base \u003d 220 cubits, half-perimeter of the base \u003d 2 ×220 cubits; 280/440 = 14/22). For the first time in world history, these values ​​were used in the construction of the pyramid at Meidum. However, for pyramids of later eras, these proportions were not used anywhere else, as, for example, some have height-to-base ratios, such as 6/5 (Pink Pyramid), 4/3 (Chefren's Pyramid) or 7/5 (Broken Pyramid).

Some of the theories consider the pyramid astronomical observatory. It is claimed that the corridors of the pyramid accurately point in the direction of " polar star» of that time - Tuban, the ventilation corridors of the south side - to the star Sirius, and from the north side - to the star Alnitak.

Internal structure

The entrance to the pyramid is at a height of 15.63 meters on the north side. The entrance is formed by stone slabs laid in the form of an arch, but this is a structure that was inside the pyramid - the true entrance has not been preserved. The true entrance to the pyramid was most likely closed with a stone plug. A description of such a cork can be found in Strabo, and its appearance can also be imagined based on the surviving slab that closed the upper entrance to the Bent Pyramid of Snefru, the father of Cheops. Today, tourists enter the pyramid through a 17-meter gap, which was made in 820 by the Baghdad caliph Abdullah al-Mamun 10 meters lower. He hoped to find the pharaoh's untold treasures there, but found only a layer of dust half a cubit thick.

Inside the pyramid of Cheops there are three burial chambers located one above the other.

Yucatan, CC BY-SA 4.0

Funeral "pit"

A descending corridor 105 m long, inclined at 26° 26’46, leads to a horizontal corridor 8.9 m long leading to the chamber 5 . Located below ground level in a rocky limestone base, it was left unfinished. The dimensions of the chamber are 14 × 8.1 m, it is elongated from east to west. The height reaches 3.5 m, the ceiling has a large crack. At the southern wall of the chamber there is a well about 3 m deep, from which a narrow manhole (0.7 × 0.7 m in cross section) stretches southward for 16 m, ending in a dead end.

john and edgar morton, Public Domain

Engineers John Shae Perring and Richard William Howard Vyse cleared the floor of the chamber in the early 19th century and dug a 11.6 m deep well in which they hoped to find a hidden burial chamber. They were based on the evidence of Herodotus, who claimed that the body of Cheops was on an island surrounded by a channel in a hidden underground chamber.

Their excavations turned up nothing. Later research showed that the chamber was left unfinished, and it was decided to arrange the burial chambers in the center of the pyramid itself.

Photos taken in 1910

john and edgar morton, Public Domain

john and edgar morton, Public Domain

Ascending Corridor and Queen's Chambers

From the first third of the descending passage (after 18 m from the main entrance) upwards at the same angle of 26.5 ° there is an ascending passage to the south ( 6 ) about 40 m long, ending at the bottom of the Great Gallery ( 9 ).

At its beginning, the ascending passage contains 3 large cubic granite “plugs”, which, from the outside, from the descending passage, were masked by a block of limestone that fell out during the work of al-Mamun. Thus, for the previous approximately 3 thousand years, it was believed that there were no other rooms in the Great Pyramid, except for the descending passage and the underground chamber. Al-Ma'mun failed to break through these plugs and simply hollowed out a bypass in the softer limestone to the right of them. This passage is still in use today. There are two main theories about plugs, one of them is that the ascending passage has plugs installed at the beginning of construction and thus this passage was sealed by them from the very beginning. The second asserts that the present narrowing of the walls was caused by an earthquake, and the plugs were previously located within the Great Gallery and were used to seal the passage only after the burial of the pharaoh.

Franck Monnier, GNU 1.2

An important mystery of this section of the ascending passage is that in the place where the traffic jams are now located, in a full-size, albeit shortened model of the pyramid passages - the so-called test corridors north of the Great Pyramid - there is a junction of not two, but three corridors at once, the third of which is the vertical tunnel. Since no one has been able to move the traffic jams so far, the question of whether there is a vertical hole above them remains open.

Jon Bodsworth, Green Copyright

In the middle of the ascending passage, the construction of the walls has a peculiarity: the so-called “frame stones” are installed in three places - that is, the passage, square along the entire length, pierces through three monoliths. The purpose of these stones is unknown. In the area of ​​the frame stones, the passage walls have several small niches.

john and edgar morton, Public Domain

A horizontal corridor 35 m long and 1.75 m high leads to the second burial chamber from the lower part of the Great Gallery in a southerly direction. . Behind the western wall of the passage there are cavities filled with sand.

The second chamber is traditionally called the "Queen's Chamber", although according to the rite, the wives of the pharaohs were buried in separate small pyramids. The "Queen's Chamber", lined with limestone, has 5.74 meters from east to west and 5.23 meters from north to south; its maximum height is 6.22 meters. AT east wall chambers have a high niche.

Grotto, Grand Gallery and Pharaoh's Chambers

Another branch from the lower part of the Grand Gallery is a narrow almost vertical shaft about 60 m high, leading to the lower part of the descending passage. There is an assumption that it was intended for the evacuation of workers or priests who were completing the "sealing" of the main passage to the "King's Chamber". Approximately in the middle of it there is a small, most likely natural extension - the "Grotto" (Grotto) of irregular shape, in which several people could fit from strength.

Jon Bodsworth, Green Copyright

Grotto ( 12 ) is located at the "junction" of the masonry of the pyramid and a small, about 9 meters high, hill on a limestone plateau lying at the base of the Great Pyramid. The walls of the Grotto are partially reinforced with ancient masonry, and since some of its stones are too large, there is an assumption that the Grotto existed on the Giza plateau as an independent structure long before the construction of the pyramids, and the evacuation shaft itself was built taking into account the location of the Grotto. However, taking into account the fact that the shaft was actually hollowed out in the already laid masonry, and not laid out, as evidenced by its irregular circular section, the question arises of how the builders managed to accurately reach the Grotto.

Jon Bodsworth, Green Copyright

The large gallery continues the ascending passage. Its height is 8.53 m, it is rectangular in cross section, with walls slightly tapering upwards (the so-called “false vault”), a high inclined tunnel 46.6 m long. 1 meter wide and 60 cm deep, and on both side protrusions there are 27 pairs of recesses of unclear purpose. The deepening ends with the so-called. The “Big Step” is a high horizontal ledge, a platform of 1 × 2 meters at the end of the Great Gallery, directly in front of the entrance to the “entrance hall” - the Anterior Chamber. The site has a pair of recesses similar to the ramp recesses, recesses at the corners near the wall (the 28th and last pair of BG recesses). Through the "entrance hall" the manhole leads to the burial chamber "King's Chamber" lined with black granite, where an empty granite sarcophagus is placed. The lid of the sarcophagus is missing. Ventilation shafts have mouths in the "King's Chamber" on the southern and northern walls at a height of about a meter from the floor level. The mouth of the southern ventilation shaft is badly damaged, the northern one appears undamaged. The floor, ceiling, walls of the chamber do not have any decorations or holes or fasteners of anything related to the time of the construction of the pyramid. The ceiling slabs have all burst along the southern wall and do not fall into the room only due to the pressure of the overlying blocks by the weight.

john and edgar morton, Public Domain

Above the "King's Chamber" there are five discharge cavities discovered in the 19th century with a total height of 17 m, between which lie monolithic granite slabs with a thickness of about 2 m, and above - a gable ceiling of limestone. It is believed that their purpose is to distribute the weight of the overlying layers of the pyramid (about a million tons) in order to protect the "King's Chamber" from pressure. In these voids, graffiti was found, probably left by workers.

ventilation ducts

From the "Chamber of the King" and the "Chamber of the Queen" in the northern and south directions(first horizontally, then obliquely upwards) the so-called "ventilation" channels 20-25 cm wide depart. as the lower ends of the channels of the "Queen's Chamber" are separated from the surface of the wall by about 13 cm, they were discovered during tapping in 1872. The upper ends of these channels do not reach the surface of about 12 meters. The upper ends of the channels of the "Queen's Chamber" are closed with stone "Gantenbrink Doors", each with two copper handles. Copper handles were sealed with plaster seals (not preserved, but traces remained). In the southern ventilation shaft, the “door” was discovered in 1993 using the Upuaut II remote-controlled robot; the bend of the northern shaft did not allow this robot to detect the same "door" in it. In 2002, using a new modification of the robot, a hole was drilled in the southern "door", but behind it a small cavity 18 centimeters long was found and another stone "door". What lies next is still unknown. This robot confirmed the presence of a similar "door" at the end of the northern channel, but they did not drill it. A new robot in 2010 was able to insert a serpentine television camera through a drilled hole in the southern “door” and found that the copper “handles” on the other side of the “door” were designed in the form of neat hinges, and individual badges were applied in red ocher on the floor of the “ventilation” shaft. Currently, the most common version is that the purpose of the "ventilation" ducts was of a religious nature and is associated with the Egyptians' ideas about the afterlife journey of the soul. And the "door" at the end of the channel is nothing more than a door to afterworld. That is why it does not go to the surface of the pyramid. Pyramid of Queen Meritites (G1b)

Pyramid of Cheops (Khufu)
Great Pyramid of Giza
Arab. الهرم الأكبر or هرم خوفو
English Great Pyramid of Giza, Pyramid of Khufu or Pyramid of Cheops

Statistical data

• Altitude (today): ≈ 138.75 m
• Sidewall Angle (Now): 51° 50"
• Side rib length (original): 230.33 m (calculated) or about 440 royal cubits
• Side rib length (now): about 225 m
• The length of the sides of the base of the pyramid: south - 230.454 m; north - 230.253 m; west - 230.357 m; east - 230.394 m
• Base area (originally): ≈ 53,000 m² (5.3 ha)
• Side surface area of ​​the pyramid (originally): ≈ 85,500 m²
• Base perimeter: 922 m
• The total volume of the pyramid without deducting the cavities inside the pyramid (initially): ≈ 2.58 million m³
• Total volume of the pyramid minus all known cavities (originally): 2.50 million m³
• Average volume of stone blocks: 1.147 m³
• Average weight of stone blocks: 2.5 t
• The heaviest stone block: about 35 tons - is located above the entrance to the "King's Chamber".
• The number of blocks of the average volume does not exceed 1.65 million (2.50 million m³ - 0.6 million m³ of rock base inside the pyramid = 1.9 million m³ / 1.147 m³ = 1.65 million blocks of the specified volume can physically fit in the pyramid, without taking into account the volume of the solution in the interblock seams); reference to a 20-year construction period * 300 working days per year * 10 working hours per day * 60 minutes per hour results in a paving (and delivery to the construction site) speed of about a block of two minutes.
• According to estimates, the total weight of the pyramid is about 4 million tons (1.65 million blocks x 2.5 tons)
• The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rocky elevation with a height in the center of about 12-14 m and, according to the latest data, occupies at least 23% of the original volume of the pyramid

Research history

Recent Research

There is a version that tries to explain the exact fit of individual blocks during the construction of the pyramid by the fact that the blocks were created from a concrete-like material by gradually raising the formwork and making blocks right on the spot - hence the accuracy of the fit. This version was proposed by a French chemist, Professor J. Davidovits. Professor Davidowitz in the middle of the twentieth century developed a method for creating the so-called geopolymer concrete. Davidowitz suggested that his discovery might have been known to the builders of the pyramids. Subsequent studies disproved this theory.

There are also non-scientific works on the pyramids by some researchers, such as Erich von Däniken and Christopher Dunn (The Enigma of the Ancient Egyptian Machines, 1984), based on the outdated information of Sir William Flinders Petrie from The Pyramids and Temples of Giza (1883).

Around the pyramid

pharaoh boats

Near the pyramids, seven pits were found with real ancient Egyptian boats disassembled into parts.

The first of these ships, called "" or "Solar Boats", was discovered in 1954 by the Egyptian architect Kamal el-Mallah and archaeologist Zaki Nur.

The boat was made of cedar and did not have a single trace of nails for attaching elements. The boat consisted of 1224 parts, they were assembled by the restorer Ahmed Youssef Mustafa only in 1968.

The dimensions of the boat are: length - 43.3 m, width - 5.6 m, and draft - 1.50 m. A museum of this boat is open on the south side of the Cheops pyramid.

8 158

Many articles and books have been written about the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops, considering it from the standpoint of a modern materialistic view, not taking into account that it was built during the period of the previous highly developed civilization, the knowledge of which has not reached us. The Pyramid of Cheops, with its enormous size, involuntarily raises the question of the methods of its construction. The hypotheses put forward in this regard are far from the truth.

The pyramid of Cheops, built about 4600 years ago, is located on stone plateau Libyan desert. The stones for its construction were delivered mainly from the quarries of the Maccatim Highlands, which is located east of the Nile River. The construction of the pyramid was carried out under the guidance of the famous architect Khafre for 20 years. According to ancient sources, peasants took part in its construction only three months a year, in their free time from field work, when the Nile flooded. But this does not exclude the conduct of work by a small number of specialists who prepared the scope of work for thousands of seasonal peasant builders.

The purpose of the construction of the pyramid-tomb.

The word "pyramid" in literal translation from Greek - "the fire that is inside." By "fire" here one must understand the presence of an ordered energy flow both inside and outside the pyramid. Similar energy flows can be observed in crystals (quartz, diamond...), in trees, etc. Above the top of the pyramid (tree ...) a vertical energy flow is formed, which is sometimes called a cosmic channel (pillar). In the morning, at dawn, this energy flow can be seen above the top of the pyramid with the naked eye. The energy flows at the top of the pyramid of Cheops are connected with the energy flows of neighboring pyramids, forming a channel-energy connection between them. In nature, a similar energy connection is observed in trees of crystals (druze), etc. At the same time, the formation of an additional domed energy shell, a collective aura, is observed above them. Until now, the pyramid has been considered as a material body without taking into account its energy properties, just as in medicine the physical body of a person is studied without taking into account his other six subtle bodies.

The pyramid, like the physical body of a person, is only a material frame for subtle energy systems. The legends say that the Great Stone is located in the pyramid, which arrived from the Cosmos to the Earth. He has great energy and magical power. Similar stones are found in the Kaaba mosque (Mecca, Saudi Arabia) in the Himalayas, and earlier was with Emperor Tatslau in Atlantis, who is buried in Taimyr. These are stones of spiritual centers and centers of civilization.

In order to create energy vertical columns of space communication (flows) on Earth, humanity has used a variety of technical solutions in all millennia. For example, in the mountainous regions, the tops of the mountains were arranged in the form of pyramids, tents, sphinxes and other structures, and under them - tombs. In flat places, artificial architectural ground or underground structures were created (mounds, pyramids, labyrinth drawings ...)

The pyramid has calculated characteristics to obtain the necessary types of energy flows. The larger the pyramid, the more powerful its energy flow. Above the top of Mount Everest (Himalayas) is one of the most powerful energy flows on Earth.
There are tombs of Ancient Egypt both in mountainous (near Lake Victoria) and in flat places (near the Nile Delta). Their construction was carried out mainly during the heyday of the ancient civilization, which had a high technical level of development ( air Transport(vimanas, chariots), eternal lamps, energy, laser, nuclear, sound weapons, etc.).

Start of construction.

The pyramid of Cheops has a height of about 150 meters with a base length of one side of 250 meters. It was built on the western bank of the Nile, near the city of Cairo.
The famous architect Khafre did not build this pyramid on a bare spot. Here were very ancient squat pyramids made of monolithic stone, which were called "remnants" by modern experts. One of the ancient pyramids with its energy flows and underground passages(built about 14,000 years ago) Chefren used it for its intended purpose, increasing its height and re-planning the internal passages and rooms. This ancient pyramid had a powerful foundation and special entrances to the dungeons for underground work.

The Pyramid of Cheops, like the ancient one, is oriented towards spiritual centers (Shambhala is in the east, and Thule is in the north), since the north pole was located 12,000 years ago in northwestern Canada near the border with America. The geographic north pole is constantly migrating around the globe.

Using the ancient pyramid as a base for a new one, the builders achieved a significant reduction in labor and material costs, and a reduction in the construction period. Now no one remembers more ancient builders, although more than half of the volume of the Cheops pyramid is made up of stones ancient pyramid. The original monolithic pyramid (remnant) had its own burial chamber with other dungeons. During the construction of the pyramid, Khafre made a new redevelopment of the dungeons. Therefore, some voids from the ancient pyramid that did not fit into the new layout do not find a logical explanation from the researchers.

Therefore, in this article, only the main general facts and figures relating to the Great Pyramid as a whole will be given.

Date of construction and geometric dimensions

According to the generally accepted opinion, the Great Pyramid was built in the 2560-2580s BC as a tomb for the reigning pharaoh of the IV dynasty Cheops (Khufu). Despite some difficulties in explaining the possibility of building it in the required time frame with the technology available at that time, this version is nevertheless considered the main one and has quite numerous confirmations in the form of inscriptions found inside the Pyramid and the Pit of the Solar Boat with it.

The Pyramid of Cheops is the largest of the Egyptian pyramids.

• Altitude (today): ≈ 138.75 m
• Height (originally): ≈ 146.5 m
• Angle: 51° 50"
• Side face length (original): 230.33 m (calculated) or about 440 King's cubits
• Side face length (now): about 225 m
• The length of the sides of the base of the pyramid: south - 230.454 m; north - 230.253 m; west - 230.357 m; east - 230.394 m.
• Base area (originally): ≈ 53,000 m² (5.3 ha)
• Area of ​​the pyramid: (originally) ≈ 85,500 m²
• Perimeter: 922 m.
• The total volume of the pyramid without deducting the cavities inside the pyramid (initially): ≈ 2.58 million m³
• Total volume of the pyramid, after subtracting all known cavities (initially): 2.50 million m³
• The average size of the observed stone blocks of the rough masonry: 1.27 m in width and depth, 71 cm in height (according to Petrie)
• Average weight of rough masonry stone blocks: 2.5 t
• Heaviest rough stone block: 15 t
• The heaviest stone block (known; granite; above the entrance to the King's Chamber): 90 tons
• Number of blocks: about 2.5 million (provided that the pyramid is not of the infill type)
• Estimated total weight of the pyramid: about 6.25 million tons (possibly about 6 million tons according to microgravimetry)
• The base of the pyramid rests on a natural rocky elevation in the center (in the area of ​​the Grotto) more than 9 m high.
• Materials used in the construction (from known ones): limestone from the Giza Plateau - rough masonry, Tursky white limestone - interior walls, ventilation shafts and exterior cladding, Aswan granite - Prechamber, King's Chamber, unloading chambers (partially), traffic jams; Sinai - sarcophagus. Also found inside and quartz sand.
• the pyramidion of the pyramid was not found, the stones of its fastening, too.
• The True Entrance is located traditionally, i.e., on the northern side. He is the only known one.

The difference in the thicknesses of the layers of the pyramid masonry

Despite the fact that the pyramid was built in layers, the thickness of the layers is different and varies from 60 cm to one and a half meters.

The reasons for this are not exactly known, there are several hypotheses, the simplest says that large blocks were laid in eras when an excess amount of labor appeared on the laying of layers of rough masonry. What can be connected, for example, with the release of it after the completion of a certain laborious stage of building some complex internal infrastructures or a season for harvesting blocks, etc. The scheme requires careful analysis.

The current state of affairs and appearance after the disappearance of the cladding

The Great Pyramid now has faces concave inward. This often gives rise to various theories and speculations, but it should be remembered that the building lost several meters of facing on each side, and the nature of its looting into stone does not give reason to believe that the faces were not originally flat.

Perhaps the observed picture is simply a consequence of the most profitable extraction of stone.

The question of using the pyramid for its intended purpose

Since the most ancient times, the question has been sharply raised - was the pyramid of Cheops used for its intended purpose? There is still no single answer to this question. On the one hand, there is almost complete certainty that the pyramid was completely finished by the builders. On the other hand, what we see inside it, for example, the obviously not of the best quality sarcophagus in the King's Chamber, the unfinished floor in the Queen's Chamber, or the picture of continuous incompleteness in the Underground Chamber - everything suggests that the pharaoh in these famous the premises could hardly be buried at all. Herodotus also claimed that Cheops was buried elsewhere, on an island surrounded on all sides by water. On the third hand, traces of obvious breaking of traffic jams and shutters of the Antechamber indicate that the pyramid was carefully sealed for some reason. The official point of view of science on this matter suggests that crackers visited the pyramid no later than the first 500-600 years from the moment it was built. But what they found, who they were, and whether they found anything at all is completely unknown. In the volume of the Great Pyramid, the volume of all known and explored rooms is less than 1 percent, and it is already known that in addition to the explored ones, there are several unknown sealed rooms in it.

Blocks and Careers

Egyptologists believe that the pyramids of Giza were built from natural stone, which was mined in three quarries. The actual construction of the pyramids is made of nummulite limestone of the Mokattam formation. The quarries were located in close proximity to the pyramids. The lower parts of the pyramids of Khafre and Mykerin were faced with granite from the Aswan quarry, which is located in southern Egypt at a distance of 934 kilometers along the Nile (700 kilometers in a straight line). Several rows of granite cladding have been preserved at the pyramid of Menkaure. Middle and upper parts of two great pyramids were lined with limestone from the Tours quarry, which is located on the east bank of the Nile south of Cairo at a distance of 13-17 kilometers from the pyramids. The number of pyramid facing blocks (granite and limestone) that have come down to us is relatively small. Therefore, we can simply agree that stone from the Tur and Aswan quarries was used in the construction of the pyramids. The opinion that the pyramids were built of nummulite limestone is not fully true. The lower rows of the pyramids are composed of solid limestone from the Moqattam Formation. Higher up, blocks of soft limestone dominate, in which there are no nummulites. It is fundamentally. That is, when describing blocks of pyramids in the specialized literature, it seems to remain “behind the scenes” that most of them are carved from soft limestone.

The lower rows of the pyramids (approximately 1-7/10 rows) are built from blocks carved from hard limestone. The first row of the pyramid of Cheops (thickness 1.5 m) is carved from a layer of strong limestone, having the greatest thickness - 1.5 m. In the upper rows of the pyramids, blocks carved from soft limestone predominate (or cast blocks indistinguishable from them. - the statement requires proof, Supervisor 03:05, 22 May 2011 (UTC)). When developing a quarry, it was necessary to fulfill one condition: the time elapsed from the moment of opening soft limestones to cutting building blocks from them should be minimal. That is, soft limestones had to be cut into blocks before they hardened from contact with air. In addition, after cutting blocks of soft limestone, it took some time for them to harden and not crumble during transportation. These requirements correspond to the cyclic nature of quarrying. Its section was being developed, the area of ​​which was approximately 1.5 times larger than the area of ​​a number of blocks, on which the construction of the pyramid was stopped. Blocks were cut from layers of hard and soft limestone and stored "by layer", that is, according to their vertical dimensions. After removing all the limestone from the area of ​​the site, it began to be laid into the body of the pyramid. The sequence of laying blocks of different thicknesses (and, accordingly, different weights) was determined by the ratio of labor costs for their lifting. This ensured the ranking of rows of blocks according to their thickness.

base of the pyramid

The rocky base of the pyramid of Cheops, according to modern calculations, occupies from 23% of the volume of the pyramid, or about 600,000 cubic meters. The minimum figures were obtained when determining the height of the rock in terms of an average level of 12.5 meters. new exploration work is required to clarify these data. A revision of most of the old works with calculations of the stone used during construction is also required. In addition, there are estimates of 10-12% of the volume of the pyramid, which is occupied by a solution that holds the blocks together.

The directions to the north of the side faces were drawn out so precisely that due to the sphericity of the Earth and the colossal size of the Pyramid, its northern side turned out to be 20 cm shorter than the southern one. (the exact dimensions of the pyramid are known from the preserved pits of the supporting corner stones)

Sources

[http://supernovum.ru/public/index.php?doc=171 | Mining and Geological Aspect of Giza Pyramid Construction Technology]

[http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/31/95/86/PDF/PyramidsSR.pdf Geological and Geomorphological study of the original hill at the base of Fourth Dynasty Egyptian monuments.]