Great Pyramid Research Articles

Preliminary Stability and Resistance Analysis of the Cheops Boat

The Cheops Boat is the most complete, largest, and one of the oldest boats ever excavated, but it has received surprisingly little study by Naval Architects. The 43-m boat was constructed around 2500 BC and placed, disassembled, in a pit next to the Great Pyramid at Giza in Egypt. Since its discovery in 1954, there has been speculation about its original design, means of propulsion, and purpose. This article presents previously unpublished results of the first tank testing of a model of the Cheops Boat and some preliminary conclusions about the design, propulsion, and function of the original. It is shown that the stability characteristics of the boat make it suited for carrying lightweight cargo and people in the protected waters of the Nile. Towing tests have shown that the boat can be safely rowed in a variety of wind and current conditions. Windward sailing calculations have shown that, if fitted with sail, then boats such as the Cheops Boat perform well downwind, but sail no closer than a beam reach. During the 1954 clearing of debris from the Giza Plateau, it was noticed that the Great Pyramid's north and west enclosure walls were 23.6m from the base of pyramid, but the south wall was 5mcloser to the base. Careful inspection revealed that the south wall had been built in an asymmetrical location to conceal two boat pits beneath it. The two pits were end to end, one covered by 41 massive limestone blocks and the other by 40. When the eastern pit was opened, the remains of the disassembled boat were revealed. Figure 1 shows photographs of some of the pieces as they were removed from the pit. Remarkably, the 4500-year-old cedar had been so well preserved that it was possible to reassemble this boat like a kit. Even the rope was preserved, and looked like what could be bought today.

Sustainability problems of the Giza pyramids

The Pyramids complex in Giza consists of three main pyramids in addition to the famous Sphinx and small queen’s pyramids. Recently, the pyramids of Cheops (Khufu), Chephren (Khafre) and Mykerinos (Menkaure) on the Giza plateau have been threatened by a rising groundwater table resulting from water leakage from the suburbs irrigation canals, and mass urbanization surrounding the Giza pyramids. The pyramids at Giza suffer from a lot of Geo-environmental and structural problems. The main objectives of this study are (1) to assess the current status of the preservation of this unique and high valuable archaeological site, (2) to analyze the various actions that cause the destruction of the pyramid complex, in particular the weathering activities and strong seismic event, and (3) to determine the geochemical and engineering properties for construction materials using different types of tools and advanced analytical and diagnostic techniques. Structural stability analysis requires good assessment of present conditions of major materials used such as stones and structural mortar. The paper shows a thorough analysis of the current condition of the Great Pyramids at Giza. The work includes a discussion and analysis of the natural character and source of the pyramids building stones, geological context, damage survey, petrographic investigation, and physical and mechanical characterization of the stones and structural mortars, by means of laboratory and in situ testing. The results are displayed, described and analyzed in the paper in the context of potential threats to the monuments. The experimental study indicates the dependence of mechanical geological properties on the physical properties and the mineral composition of the studied building materials. The physical and petrographic characteristic of the stones are related. The modeling of properties indicates a reliable relationship between the various visible pores and uniaxial compression force parameters that can be applied to predict and characterize limestone elsewhere.

Return of the master architect

Long before architecture became a profession, the ‘architect’ was the ‘chief carpenter’, from the Greek word architekton. Architecture as a profession was formalised in the UK in 1834 and the USA in 1857. Prior to that, architects and engineers were pretty much as one, a great example being Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, often cited as the first architect but just as often referred to as the Chief Engineer of the Roman Empire. Vitruvius described the need for architecture to be well built (firmitas), useful in its purpose (utilitas) and beautiful to look at (venustas) – sentiments I think we can all align with today. In my opinion, the Great Pyramid, which I have been fortunate to study for TV shows, represents the birth of modern architecture. I refer to ‘modern architecture’ as the Great Pyramid is the epitome of a complex three-dimensional design conceived and created using method-led off-site manufacturing and construction techniques – to the extent that even 4500 years later we cannot determine how Hemiunu, its engineer/architect, actually did it. Fast forward to 2014, which is the year Frank Gehry said, ‘Let me tell you one thing. In this world we are living in, 98% of what gets built and designed today is pure s**t’. Whether you agree with this vulgarity or not, the construction industry needs a shake-up and that shake-up has now arrived. It’s called PropTech or ConTech. ConTech refers to the digital transformation of the construction industry. With that transformation, two tectonic shifts are about to occur: 1. It will become the greatest time in history to be an engineer (that’s an article for another day). 2. The master architect will return to rival the feats of Hemiunu and Vitruvius.

Magic Numbers of the Great Pyramid: A Surprising Result

Recently attention has been drawn to the frequently observed fifth power of the golden mean in many disciplines of science and technology. Whereas in a forthcoming contribution the focus will be directed towards Fibonacci number-based helical structures of living as well as inorganic matter, in this short letter the geometry of the Great Pyramid of the ancient Egyptians was investigated once more. The surprising main result is that the ratio of the in-sphere volume of the pyramid and the pyramid volume itself is given by π⋅φ5, where φ = 0.618033987⋅⋅⋅ is nature’s most important number, the golden mean. In this way not only phase transitions from microscopic to cosmic scale are connected with φ5, also ingenious ancient builders have intuitively guessed its magic before.

How They Moved and Lifted Heavy Stones to Build the Great Pyramid

We present a new feasible theory about how the ancient Egyptians moved and lifted heavy stones and how they built the Great Pyramid of Giza around 2500 BC, from the viewpoint of energy management taking account of the vast quantity of the stones needed for the Pyramid. We give our solutions to the following three mysteries of the Pyramid: 1) How they could overcome the difficulty in making the four straight edges of the Pyramid meet in one point, high up in the sky? 2) Why all of chambers and passages (the King’s and the Queen’s chambers, the Grand Gallery and other passages), except the Subterranean chamber, are away from the central axis about seven meters eastwards? 3) For what purpose they dug the Subterranean Chamber, thirty meters deep?

The Giza pyramid: learning from this megaproject

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the contemporary relevance of the management of the Great Pyramid of Giza project. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses evidence from the literature from many disciplines concerning both the objectives and construction of the pyramid. It relates this to recent discussion concerned with the issues faced in megaproject management, which are core to the discussion of success and failure. Findings The analysis shows the significance of the “break-fix model” of megaproject management and how having a sequence of megaprojects builds management through a learning process. It demonstrates the significance of innovation arising from the experience of previous projects in solving major technical challenges and illustrates the importance of the organisation and ethical management of a substantial workforce. Research limitations/implications There is very limited reliable documentary evidence from the time of the construction of Giza (c.2560 BCE). Many sources concerning ancient Egypt are still widely contested. However, the use of research from a combination of disciplines demonstrates the relevance of the project and the importance of learning from history to contemporary project management. Originality/value The authors believe that this is the first paper to analyse the Giza pyramid project from a project management perspective. This was arguably the most significant construction project of ancient history and the paper explains the lessons, which can be learned, which are very significant to today’s megaprojects.

Development of high-definition muon telescopes and muography of the Great Pyramid

Abstract Several muon telescopes have been developed in the last years at CEA-Saclay. Benefitting from 15 years of R&D on Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs) and from several recent innovations, these telescopes yield unprecedented resolution for real-time instruments, and allow for high-definition muography imaging. As a first application, three of them were deployed around Khufu's Pyramid from 2015 to 2017, showing very good performance and stability in harsh conditions. They also provided the first-ever detection of internal structures of a pyramid from the outside, and participated in the discovery of a large void above the Grand Gallery.

Joining General Relativity to Particles Physics through Complex Numbers and Autism

Autistics and the plane of complex numbers suggest that if the accelerating expansion of our universe and the anti-universe succeeded a coasting expansion 8.8 billion years after the Big Bang, an accelerating contraction will start in 3.8 billion years. Mirroring the expansion phase, a coasting contraction of the two universes in cosmic space will come up in 12.6 billion years. The end of the fourth section of 8.8 billion years will host two Big Crunches, two White Holes, and a new Big Bounce. The reason for that paradox solves the “cosmological constant problem” and joins general relativity to particle physics. The z-plane and autism can also help us cross science with the arts and religion; retain the search for truth, beauty, and goodness by our descendants; and reach the message of progress buried in the Ark of the Covenant, the Great Pyramid, and Giza’s Sphinx: A selfish brain hides a selfless heart.

Triple oxygen isotope signatures of evaporation in lake waters and carbonates: A case study from the western United States

Evaporation can increase the δ18O values of lake waters and carbonates by several per mil. If not accounted for in geological studies, this can lead to substantial misinterpretation of δ18O values in terms of paleoclimate and paleoelevation. Evaporation also leads to a lowering in residual waters of Δ17O, a measure of the departure of δ′17O from a characteristic relationship with δ′18O. We present new triple oxygen isotope data from waters and carbonates from lakes and their source rivers in the western United States (Bear Lake, Great Salt Lake, Lake Tahoe, Mono Lake, and Pyramid Lake). Consistent with predictions from steady-state isotopic mass balance models, the data illustrate marked lowering of Δ17O in closed basin lakes and freshwater lakes relative to their source rivers. The evaporation slope in triple oxygen isotope space (λlake) is similar for these lakes, averaging 0.5229 and ranging between 0.5219 and 0.5239. Moreover, models and data both show that the evaporation slope correlates with Δ17O, meaning that the slope can be estimated on the basis of the measured Δ17O value of the carbonate. We show how triple oxygen isotopes in lake waters and carbonates and ‘clumped isotopes’ (Δ47) in carbonates can be combined to reconstruct the δ18O values of primary (unevaporated) catchment precipitation (δ18Orucp). We use our lacustrine carbonate data as a test case for this approach, and find that δ18Orucp values closely approximate independently-measured δ18O values of catchment precipitation. However, the δ18Orucp values are consistently higher than δ18O of catchment precipitation by ∼2‰, which may reflect present incomplete understanding of a number of triple oxygen isotope parameters used in the calculation, such as the fractionation exponent for carbonate-water equilibrium, the evaporation slope λlake, and the Δ17O values of unevaporated meteoric waters. In conclusion, triple oxygen isotope analysis of lake waters and lacustrine carbonates is a promising new method for studying evaporation in fossil lake systems, but will benefit from additional research into triple oxygen isotope systematics relevant to meteoric waters, lake systems, and carbonate–water fractionation.

Shallow geophysical techniques to investigate the groundwater table at the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

Abstract. The near-surface groundwater aquifer that threatened the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt, was investigated using integrated geophysical surveys. A total of 10 electrical resistivity imaging, 26 shallow seismic refraction, and 19 ground-penetrating radar surveys were conducted in the Giza Plateau. Collected data for each method were evaluated by state-of-the art processing and modeling techniques. A three-layer model depicts the subsurface layers and better delineates the groundwater aquifer and water table elevation. The resistivity of the aquifer layer and seismic velocity vary between 40 and 80 Ωm and between 1500 and 2500 m s−1, respectively. The average water table elevation is about +15 m, which is safe for the Great Sphinx, but it is still subjected to potential hazards from the Nazlet El-Samman suburb where the water table elevation reaches 17 m. A shallower water table at the Valley Temple and the tomb of Queen Khentkawes, with a low topographic relief, represents severe hazards. It can be concluded that a perched groundwater table is detected in the elevated topography to the west and southwest that might be due to runoff and capillary seepage.

The great pyramids of America: A revised history of U.S. business groups, corporate ownership, and regulation, 1926–1950

Research Summary: Control‐magnifying (pyramidal) business groups—multiple tiers of partially‐owned listed affiliates and fully‐owned private affiliates, a dominant organizational form around the world—are virtually absent in America today. Using newly‐assembled historical data, we show that such groups were ubiquitous in the U.S. economy in the 1930s. They came under attack because of their economic and political sway: Some New Deal reforms—proscriptions against public utilities pyramids, intercorporate dividend taxes, and rules governing investment companies—were explicitly aimed at deterring existing groups and preventing new ones from forming. Others, for example, estate taxes and securities law reforms, may have also worked against them. No single reform triggered the immediate dissolution of groups; they broke up under an ongoing anti‐big business sentiment. These events offer lessons for policymakers today. Managerial Summary: Most listed U.S. firms are “standalone”—they do not control, and are not controlled by, other listed firms. Control‐magnifying (pyramidal) business groups—multiple tiers of partially‐owned listed affiliates and fully‐owned private affiliates (e.g., Samsung or Tata)—are ubiquitous around the world but virtually absent in United States. In such groups, the combination of multiple tiers and partial ownership enables control over vast corporate empires. Using newly‐assembled historical data, we show that the U.S. corporate ownership as we know it today is a recent phenomenon: pyramidal groups were common in United States of the 1930s. President Roosevelt, who regarded their economic and political power as excessive, initiated a sequence of reforms which appears to have worn these groups down and probably also kept new ones from forming. JEL CLASSIFICATION: G3, G34, G38, N22.

Architecture of the Great Pyramid of Giza Concept and Construction

Egyptian culture of the old kingdom was locally and regionally simple and efficient; belief was in the sky and humanism was regulated by Ma’at as the key concept in Egyptian mentality. IUNU was the capital of the black land KEMET where ”IUNU UNIVERSITY” is located. Physics were well studied; was already known; the right angle triangle of members 3, 4, and 5 with the 53o angle was in use. Supremacy was integrated on earth by multiple interpretations in architecture. The great pyramid of Giza was and still the best magnificent structure ever built on earth without having contemporary science’s final word been said. Massive lime stone blocks are now arranged there in a huge massive number of about two and half million pieces; their weight could reach 6.5 million tons. Conceptually there was a strong belief that symbolism connects hot spots on the Egyptian soil as it represented the known world, as well as the main stars were connected in multiple constellations on the dome of the observed sky. Pyramids of Giza plateau, Saqqara plateau, and Abusir plateau were all examples of that concept. Other pyramids of Iunu era were also related to the same concept. Structurally the Giza axis coincided on the Giza plateau. Giza plateau was a part of the Moqattam plateau during the Eocene formation. Pyramids on the worked out surface of the plateau were built with the local lime stone. Pyramids’ blocks were extracted, shaped and transported to its definite place within the precinct of the plateau. Chiseled pieces of stone - as waste from shaping blocks - were thrown out on the northern edge of the plateau. Constructional perception of what and why the Khufu pyramid took that shape shows some facts; two hundred courses composed the total existed mass where each group of courses composed a layer. Each layer started with thicker course and ended in thinner ones. Higher layers got lesser courses. So far, one should start thinking now why there were layers; why thicker and thinner courses existed. In the mean time as mortar was not in use by that time, pyramids –as in Saqqara- were formed in inclined walls, as shown in the adjacent photo. In addition, inclined walls must have formed the whole structure of Khufu pyramid.

Exploring the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid Through the Logos Heuristics

After detecting a primary triangulation through the crossing of two 18-mile (diameter) identical circles around a shared 14-mile baseline in ancient Egypt, the author hypothesizes that, in the 26th century before the Common Era, Pharaoh Khufu replaced with hope the general fear for the catlike goddess that preceded Giza’s Sphinx. Khufu changed the monstrous head of a monumental lioness on Giza’s plateau into the coarse head of the respected Horus-Pharaoh that guarded the southern lily plant and the northern papyrus. The Sphinx’s new symbolic head, or classical conservation in the finite first attention, joined flexible quantum computing in the ambiguous creativity of its body and the infinite second attention. The changed Sphinx and the Great Pyramid that followed its transfiguration point silently at the union of classical and quantum computing in the Third Attention that recreates natural systems, dreams, and social progress.

Electromagnetic properties of the Great Pyramid: First multipole resonances and energy concentration

Resonant response of the Great Pyramid interacting with external electromagnetic waves of the radio frequency range (the wavelength range is 200–600 m) is theoretically investigated. With the help of numerical simulations and multipole decomposition, it is found that spectra of the extinction and scattering cross sections include resonant features associated with excitation of the Pyramid's electromagnetic dipole and quadrupole moments. Electromagnetic field distributions inside the Pyramid at the resonant conditions are demonstrated and discussed for two cases, when the Pyramid is located in a homogeneous space or on a substrate. It is revealed that the Pyramid's chambers can collect and concentrate electromagnetic energy for the both surrounding conditions. In the case of the Pyramid on the substrate, at the shorter wavelengths, the electromagnetic energy accumulates in the chambers providing local spectral maxima for electric and magnetic fields. It is shown that basically the Pyramid scatters the electromagnetic waves and focuses them into the substrate region. The spectral dependence of the focusing effect is discussed.

What Is a Ruin? The Western Definition

What Is a Ruin? The Western Definition

The attraction of the pyramids: virtual realization of Hutton's suggestion to improve Maskelyne's 1774 Earth density estimate

Abstract. Charles Hutton suggested in 1821 that the pyramids of Egypt be used to site an experiment to measure the deflection of the vertical by a large mass. The suggestion arose as he had estimated the attraction of a Scottish mountain as part of Nevil Maskelyne's (1774) “Schiehallion Experiment”, a demonstration of Isaac Newton's law of gravitational attraction and the earliest reasonable quantitative estimate of Earth's mean density. I present a virtual realization of an experiment at the Giza pyramids to investigate how Hutton's concept might have emerged had it been undertaken as he suggested. The attraction of the Great Pyramid would have led to inward north–south deflections of the vertical totalling 1.8 arcsec (0.0005∘), and east–west deflections totalling 2.0 arcsec (0.0006∘), which although small, would have been within the contemporaneous detectable range, and potentially given, as Hutton wished, a more accurate Earth density measurement than he reported from the Schiehallion experiment.

Essential Design of the Great Pyramid Encoded in Hemiunu’s Mastaba at Giza

The architect of the “Great Pyramid”1 at Giza is believed to have been Khufu’s half-nephew Hemiunu. While it is possible that Hemiunu conceived its design because he was both vizier and head of this king’s works, there is no direct proof of it to date. Absent the unlikely discovery of unequivocal written evidence, whether he was involved may never be known with certainty. Here, I present evidence that Hemiunu himself was the likely brain behind the essential features of the Great Pyramid. The side length, height, the small indent into the core masonry on all four side centers, and even the factors five and eight which relate this pyramid with its smaller version at Meydum and which had significant theological meaning at the time are all embedded in the two original side lengths of Hemiunu’s rectangular mastaba G4000 in the west cemetery. Furthermore, it appears that even the expanded sides of his mastaba enshrined key interior features of the Great Pyramid like the dimensions of the King Chamber and the shaft leading from it to the outside towards its presumed target in the northern night sky, the circumpolar star region centered around alpha-Draco Thuban. Unmistakable numerical clues embedded in the dimensions of Hemiunu’s mastaba suggest that all this was done with intent, which thus lends compelling support to the notion that Hemiunu was the architect of the Great Pyramid attributed to Khufu.

Hemiunu Used Numerically Tagged Surface Ratios to Mark Ceilings inside the Great Pyramid Hinting at Designed Spaces Still Hidden Within

In 1883, W. M. Flinders Petrie noticed that the vertical thickness and height of certain stone courses of the Great Pyramid2 of Khufu/Cheops at Giza, Egypt markedly increase compared to those immediately lower periodically and conspicuously interrupting a general trend of progressive course thinning towards the summit. Having calculated the surface area of each course, Petrie further noted that the courses immediately below such discrete stone thickness peaks tended to mark integer multiples of 1/25th of the surface area at ground level. Here I show that the probable architect of the Great Pyramid, Khufu’s vizier Hemiunu, conceptualized its vertical construction design using surface areas based on the same numerical principles used to design his own mastaba in Giza’s western cemetery and conspicuously used this numerical theme to mark the location of known spaces inside the Great Pyramid. The theme is not only consistent with some spaces proposed still awaiting proof but also suggests there are some still undiscovered.

The Lost Throne of Queen Hetepheres from Giza: An Archaeological Experiment in Visualization and Fabrication

In 1925, one of the greatest discoveries made at Giza revealed a small, unfinished chamber (labeled “G 7000 X”) more than twenty-seven meters underground, just east of the Great Pyramid. The Harvard University–Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition found there the deteriorated burial equipment, sarcophagus, and other objects belonging to Queen Hetepheres I, presumed consort of Snefru and mother of Khufu. Since the discovery of this rare Old Kingdom royal assemblage, the thousands of small fragments have remained in storage in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Meticulous documentation allowed the excavators to reconstruct some of the queen’s furniture. However, the most exquisite piece, her “second” chair or throne, made of cedar with hundreds of faience inlays and completely gilded, was never reconstructed. This paper describes an interdisciplinary collaboration initiated by the Giza Project at Harvard University to create a full-scale reproduction of Hetepheres’s second chair in modern cedar, faience, gold, gesso, and copper. The goals for this visualization experiment were to reconstruct the excavation history, the iconography, and to document, insofar as possible, the ancient workflow the Egyptians used to construct this Old Kingdom masterpiece. The final results produced a new museum display object and research/teaching tool.

Top stories: Dancing Ph.D. students and unearthing the Great Pyramid’s secrets—with cosmic rays

Top stories: Dancing Ph.D. students and unearthing the Great Pyramid’s secrets—with cosmic rays