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?
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Tags: Archaeological Institute of America, Bob Brier, Dieter Arnold, Infrared Thermography, Internal Ramp, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, Mark Rose, Rainer Stadelman, The Secret of the Great Pyramid
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 Swiss Mummy Project has been reviewing all of the studies performed on mummies in the last three decades and has compiled a wealth of data about how the ancient Egyptians lived and died. They discovered that in addition to bad dental health, the ancients suffered from a wide range of maladies which we normally associate with modern life.
So, what did the mummies have to say about living well?
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Tags: Bob Brier, Forensic Mummy Studies, Frank Ruhli, Gino Fornaciari, Mummies, Mummification, Natron, Ramesses II, Ronald Wade, Swiss Mummy Project, Tao II
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.
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Tags: Bob Brier, Dassault Systemes, Infrared Thermography, Internal Ramp, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass
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.
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Tags: Bob Brier, Dassault Systemes, Hemienu, Henri Houdin, Internal Ramp, Jean-Philippe Lauer, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, Ludwig Borchardt, The Great Pyramid, The Secret of the Great Pyramid
The University of Zurich’s Swiss Mummy Project, headed by anatomist and paleopathologist Dr. Frank Ruhli , has succeeded in mummifying a human leg. Well, two legs, actually. Ok, to be honest, the test subject didn’t go so well, so I guess it was one leg after all.
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Tags: Bob Brier, Forensic Mummy Studies, Frank Ruhli, Genetic Mapping, Mummification, Natron, Ronald Wade, Swiss Mummy Project, Tutankhamun, Zahi Hawass
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?
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Tags: Bob Brier, Dassault Systemes, Grand Gallery, Hemienu, Henri Houdin, Imhotep, Internal Ramp, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu, Khufu's Pyramid, King's Chamber, Nefermaat, Snefru, The Great Pyramid, The Secret of the Great Pyramid, William M. Flinders Petrie
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.
Tags: Archaeology, Bob Brier, Giza Pyramids, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, Pyramids
How was the Great Pyramid of Khufu built?
