Mark Rose, the Archaeological Institute of America’s online editor, has written a well-timed editorial in Beyond Stone & Bone, Archaeology Magazine’s blog, regarding Jean-Pierre Houdin’s work with Khufu’s Pyramid.
If we can take physical samples from some of the most important and fragile “artifacts” in all of Egypt—royal mummies—then why can’t we allow Jean Pierre to conduct completely non-invasive work which may unravel one of humankind’s most abiding riddles: How was the Great Pyramid built?
If you are curious about how the Great Pyramid was built, and want to have the best theory to come along explained by one of its earliest advocates, then you are in luck.
Dr. Bob Brier, co-author with Jean-Pierre Houdin of “The Secret of the Great Pyramid”, will be delivering a free lecture, open to the public, at Poughkeepsie, NY, on January 27, 2010.
The Great Pyramid of Khufu has baffled professional Egyptologists and everyday people for millennia, but architect Jean-Pierre Houdin has proposed what many feel is the most likely, and certainly the most sensible, theory about the construction of Khufu’s Pyramid to date. This week France-5 of France Télévision aired a new documentary on Jean-Pierre Houdin’s work called Khéops Révélé.
There is no shortage of theories about how the Great Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu was constructed, but so far they have all failed in various respects. From ramps that are as large and difficult to construct as the pyramid itself, to ramps that by their nature would make its construction even more difficult, we can’t even really explain how the blocks were moved into place.
But a French architect by the name of Jean-Pierre Houdin may be changing that. He has put forth the first comprehensive explanation of how the Great Pyramid was built that stands the tests of physics and common sense, and his work continues to gain support from prominent architects, engineers, and Egyptologists.
Jean-Pierre has kindly agreed to work with Em Hotep! to put his theory into terms that are accessible to those of us who may not be professional architects or engineers, but who may be amateur and professional Egyptologists of varying degrees. In Part One we take a close look at the evolution of ramp theories, how they work and fail to work, and what was involved with building the only remaining Wonder of the Ancient World.
This is the story of two architects, separated by 4,500 years, both trying to solve the same problem—how to build a pyramid measuring 756 feet on each side of the base, 480 feet high, and consisting of 5.5 million tons of stone.
Our master builders have different goals, however. The first, Hemienu, was determined to build the greatest pyramid ever, and the second, Jean-Pierre Houdin, was equally determined to figure out how he did it.
Jean-Pierre Houdin and Bob Brier wrote a book—The Secret of the Great Pyramid—about this very subject in 2008 and the paperback edition is due to hit bookstores October 6, 2009. Ahead of the paperback, Em Hotep! is providing you with a multi-part primer to Houdin’s work, to be followed with an interview with the man himself.
But first, who are these two architects?
The complex of Djoser at Saqqara is more than just the first pyramid and template for all pyramid complexes that would follow.
Djoser’s complex is a highly integrated machine, an eternal representation of institutions, religions, and architecture culled from all corners of Egypt and incorporated into a stone microcosm intended to project the king’s world into the afterlife.
Ok, I realize that most of my posts have been about Dr. Hawass this week, and I promise the article on the Djoser Pyramid complex is nearing completion. But one does have to wonder why he might have a lovely new post on his blog about the Bent Pyramid at Dashur..
After all, as informative as it is, the new post doesn’t really contain anything new. Of course, he is currently blogging about the pyramids in the vicinity of Dashur. I think I might know why..
The Current issue of Archaeology (Volume 62 Number 4, July/August 2009) has a great article by Bob Brier regarding the theory first proposed by Jean-Pierre Houdin about the possibility of an internal ramp inside Khufu’s Pyramid.
The theory accounts for some anomalies in a microgravemetric survey couducted by French researchers in the 1980’s, and includes his trip up the side of the pyramid to explore the “niche”. He discovered an unexplored chamber right where you would expect one if his theory of an internal ramp was correct…
Archaeology was kind enough to put the entire article online. Read it here - Update: Return to the Great Pyramid.
The Sixth Dynasty rolled in like the thunderhead that portents a rising storm. There had been tension between the royal line from which Teti descended and the one which had just vacated the throne. Court officials had grown accustomed to wealth. Provincial nobles were flexing their will to independence. Famine. Waves of refugees. Ongoing religious reform. Teti’s agenda could be summarized in two words–damage control.
Originally commissioned by President Anwar Sadat to memorialize the soldiers who died in the October 1973 War, the President himself would die within sight of the memorial, which would become his final resting place.
This modern-day pyramid symbolizes the eternal spirit of the Egyptian people and their long, complex history.
The King is dead, long live the King.
The death of Pharaoh Unas prompted the most fragile transfer of power in the Old Kingdom to date, but it would hardly be the last, or the worst. Without an heir, or at least one who ascended to the throne, the fact that the crown passed from one dynasty to another peaceably amidst a time of growing turmoil is a testament to what remained of Egypt’s institutions.
Pharaoh Userkaf is one of the many Egyptian kings who have left very few clues regarding his biography and reign. Well, he did leave a pyramid and a few temples from which we have been able to extract a couple of details.
Actually, these structures contain some intriguing clues about Userkaf and his times, and a shadow of things to come.
When Pharaoh Khufu set out to trump his father’s pyramid at Meidum he set the bar higher than would ever be achieved again. Khufu had a reputation for being a cruel and despotic ruler, and ignoring all other speculation about how the Great Pyramid was built, the sheer logistics of completing the project within the presumed timeframe suggests in the very least a classic overachiever. Whatever else may be true of Khufu, the man knew how to get things done.
The second pyramid built on the Giza Plateau, and the second largest in Egypt, Khafre’s Pyramid takes advantage of its superior location to steal the limelight on the plateau.
Possibly symbolic of a second son who was not his father’s first choice to reign, Khafre’s Pyramid steps forward from the plateau’s horizon as if to say “I will have my day in the sun…”
Perhaps it would be a stretch to call Menkaure’s Pyramid modest, but it is significantly smaller than those of Khufu and Khafre. He is recalled much more fondly than his autocratic grandfather and seems to have been less vain than his statue-happy father, although more of his statues survived intact and are of such exquisite craftsmanship as to suggest that maybe quality over quantity was Menkaure’s trademark.
How was the Great Pyramid of Khufu built?
