The Great Pyramid

Who built it?

The Great Pyramid is an enigma. The current consensus is that it was built by the Pharaoh Khufu of the 4th Dynasty, around 2500 BC. The evidence for this is a series of quarry marks found on some of the stone blocks in the "relieving chambers" above the King's chamber within the superstructure of the monument, which  use phrases like "friends of Khufu". Also the great Greek historian Herodotus, who visited the site in the 5th century BC, was informed by Egyptian priests of the time that the Great Pyramid had indeed been built by Khufu. Although this is by no means conclusive proof, it seems reasonable to assume this attribution to be true, especially when examined in conjunction with various carbon dating estimates of organic material found within the mortar in this structure, which point to roughly the correct time period.

What was its original purpose?

This question is a litlle harder to answer. If you visit Giza and marvel at this unique structure, the same question will nag away in your mind. You will also be told by almost anyone you ask that this construction was built as a tomb, to house the body of the dead Pharaoh. This, I'm afraid, is more speculation than fact, and there are a multitude of facts which suggest that this was NOT the reason for building it.

For one, when the King's chamber, deep in the heart of the superstructure, was first penetrated in the 9th century, no mummy was found, no treasure was found, no inscriptions were found, in fact, not one single trace of a burial was found. Egyptologists dismiss these facts by claiming that the mummy and treasure had been removed by "grave-robbers" before Al Mamoon first reached the inner confined of the King's Chamber. Well I have to say this logic seems seriously flawed to me - firstly, absence of evidence doesn't prove the theft, the evidence could equally not have been there in the first place - secondly, Mamoon was the first to climb the ascending passage because he had to tunnel around 3 enormous granite plugs blocking its entrance, and thirdly, this still doesn't explain the lack of inscriptions of any kind, which is completely contrary to the features of other known Egyptian tombs.

Also, there are other features in the structure which are completely inexplicable in the context of the "tomb theory", for example the so-called "air shafts". Without going into too much detail, there are 2 pairs of shafts, one pair leading from the King's chamber to the outside of the pyramid (although because the casing stones are now all missing, it is impossible to say whether or not these would have originally reached the outside of the pyramid), and another more intriguing pair of shafts connected with the Queen's chamber. These were definately not designed as air shafts, because neither of them reaches the outside of the pyramid, and both were originally sealed for the final 5 or so inches to the Queen's chamber. What is more incredible is the discovery, about three quarters of the way to the exterior, up one of these shafts of  a limestone block, fitted with corroded copper handles, by a robot designed by the German engineer, Rudolph Gantenbrink in 1993.

How was it built?

This is perhaps the hardest question of all to answer. There can be no doubt that such a construction  using modern technology would be, if not impossible, then highly unlikely to succeed. It would require the combined and co-ordinated skills of thousands of experts, massive modern cranes, an enormous quarrying operation, precise measuring techniques, expertise from all around the world - in short, it would be the greatest architectural construction of modern times. And that's IF it could be achieved. And that's a big IF.

In modern times, attempts have been made to prove how the pyramid could have been constructed using only the methods and tools available to the ancient Egyptians, but these have all been miniscule in comparison, and mostly complete failures. Most of these attempts have been no more than publicity exercises, designed to reinforce the orthodox views, and in my opinion prove that some other form of construction technology was originally used.

The orthodox opinion regarding construction methodology has been the suggestion that the builders used enormous ramps to drag the stones up to their positions in the body of the pyramid. Theories have been put forward for straight ramps leading up to the pyramid, but these don't stand up to close scrutiny. For one thing, given the height of the pyramid at 147m, and the reasonable assumption that any gradient steeper than 1 in 10 would render the dragging of the stones almost impossible, the straight ramp would have to reach a length of  almost 1.5 kilometres, more than 3 times as massive as the pyramid itself, and of such a size that it would have had to be constructed of material no less stable than the same limestone of the pyramid itself.

The other popular suggestion for building methodology is the use of a spiral ramp, which encircled the pyramid as its height rose during consruction. Although this method would have required less material, it too is unlikely because as the construction increased in height, the ramp would completely encase the outside of the pyramid, making it impossible to check the precise accuracy of the sides, corners, and alignments. There is also a big question mark over the stability of such a ramp, not to mention exactly how so many people were able to work effectively dragging heavy stones in such a relatively confined space.

It seems to me that we should adopt a different approach to the construction techniques of the ancient Egyptians - rather than putting ourselves in their shoes and asking how we would achieve this without all our modern technology, instead looking at the very real possibility that they may have had at their disposal some technology unknown to us. This is not an easy way out of the argument, and I am not suggesting aliens and the like, but the basic facts are these - the Great Pyramid IS there - the construction has been achieved. That fact needs explaining. And it hasn't been explained yet.