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 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
A série ”De Hemienu a Houdin”, de Em Hotep!, que explora a obra e as teorias do arquiteto francês Jean-Pierre Houdin sobre como a Grande Pirâmide de Khufu foi construída, estará agora disponível em Português.
Isso foi possível através de uma parceria exclusiva com o escritor brasileiro José de Anchieta, que estará publicando os artigos em seu Web site O Antigo Egito para Leigos. Para sua facilidade, foram traduzidos os seguintes artigos:
Verifique regularmente em O Antigo Egito para Leigos e em Em Hotep! o próximo capítulo dessa saga histórica!
For my english readers, this is an announcement that the Hemienu to Houdin series is available in Portugues via special arangement with José de Anchieta of O Antigo Egito para Leigos.
Tags: Hemienu, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu, Khufu's Pyramid
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 Em Hotep! reference article on the Great Pyramid–the Pyramid of Pharaoh Khufu–has been updated and expanded. This article was one of the first written back in the days when Em! was running on WordPress.com’s free servers. As the scope of this website has grown, some of the earlier articles are out of date (or at least not as thorough as I want them to be), and so they are getting an overhaul.
I will be updating these articles when I have time and in the order of popularity. In other words, Khufu’s article was first because it continues to get hits throughout the day, every day. The Pyramid of Menkaure.. eh, maybe not so quickly.
This announcement is mainly for archival purposes. If you should have need of the text of the original article for some odd reason, let me know.
Tags: Khufu's Pyramid
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
It has been nearly a month now since Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced that in one month he would reveal “the exact reason why King Tut died.”
The title of the lecture was Mysteries of Tutankhamun Revealed. I was in attendance, and among the most exciting revelations were promises to reveal more revelations in the very near future.
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Tags: Forensic Mummy Studies, Genetic Mapping, Howard Carter, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, Supreme Council of Antiquities, The Great Pyramid, Tutankhamun, Tutankhamun Exhibition, Zahi Hawass
If I were a stockbroker and Nefertiti was a commodity, I would be advising my clients to buy. Dr. Zahi Hawass’ last year with the Supreme Council of Antiquities promises to be an interesting one, with robots crawling the Great Pyramid, mummies in CT scanners, and rumors of KV64.
But somehow Nefertiti seems to keep slipping back into the story.
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Tags: Altes Museum, Ankhesenamun, Bust of Nefertiti, Eighteenth Dynasty, Forensic Mummy Studies, Internal Ramp, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khufu's Pyramid, KV64, Mummies, Mutnodjmet, Nefertiti, New Kingdom, Repatriation, Secret Doors, Supreme Council of Antiquities, The Great Pyramid, Tutankhamun, Zahi Hawass
King Tut’s ET jewelry, News from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Ramesses II in the Quran, Seti I, more mummy forensics, museum coming attractions…
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Tags: Arkansas Art Center, Church of St. Mary, Cincinnati Museum Center, Coptic Cairo, Forensic Mummy Studies, Hanging Church, Islamic Egypt, Islamic History, Khufu's Pyramid, Louvre, Mummies, Qurna Temple, Ramesses II, Seti I, Supreme Council of Antiquities, The British Museum, The Great Pyramid, Tutankhamun
More than two thousand Egyptophiliacs lined up outside Clowes Memorial Hall for what Director of Operations Karen Steele informed me was a sold-out house.
It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say the event had the feel of a rock concert. We were there to see a star. What secrets would he reveal tonight? What announcements would he make?
Shemsu scoops the news for Heritage Key.
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Tags: Archaeology, Egyptian Tombs, Eighteenth Dynasty, Forensic Mummy Studies, Giza Plateau, Indianapolis, Indianapolis Children's Museum, Khufu's Pyramid, Mummies, Nefertiti, Osiris Shaft, Queen Tiye, Secret Doors, Valley of the Kings, Zahi Hawass
My interview with Zahi Hawass has been posted to Heritage Key!
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Tags: Archaeology, Cairo Museum, Egyptian Tombs, Egyptian Tourism, Forensic Mummy Studies, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Grand Egyptian Museum, Horemheb, Indianapolis, Islamic Egypt, Ka-Nefer-Nefer, Khufu's Pyramid, Memphis Necropolis, Mummies, National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Nefertiti, Osiris Shaft, Seti I, Suzanne Mubarak Children's Museum, Valley of the Kings, Zahi Hawass
The history of the ankh, the tomb of Horemheb, screaming mummies, and the Egypto-Jacko connection…
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Tags: Egyptian Tombs, Grand Egyptian Museum, Horemheb, Khufu's Pyramid, Luxor, Mummies, Valley of the Kings
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
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.
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Tags: Ancient Egypt, Cheops, Djedefre, Fourth Dynasty, Giza Plateau, Giza Pyramids, Hemienu, Jean-Pierre Houdin, Khafre, Khufu, Khufu's Pyramid, King's Chamber, Pyramid Complex, Pyramids, Queen's Chamber, Sarcophagus, Snefru, The Great Pyramid, Zahi Hawass
How was the Great Pyramid of Khufu built?
