It made me sad to even have to type that post heading. But let’s face it. It’s news to a lot of people.
Headlines of this sort have been drawing a lot of attention in recent days: Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid Of Giza Was Built. It’s significant news. The papyrus was actually published a while ago. It seems to be getting recycled because of some new TV shows on the pyramid. The papyrus has been named the “Diary of Merer.” The above news link summarizes its importance:
Merer described how the limestone was taken from Tora on boats, one of which was uncovered at the foot of the pyramids. Stone blocks were ferried across the Nile in a series of purpose-built canals that delivered them as close to the construction site as possible. They were then rolled over on special tracks. The same type of boats might have also been used to transport the granite from Aswan.
Basically, this is primary source evidence on how the blocks were moved to the job site.
In an effort to get you better information than the normal news outlets, here are two articles accessible online about the papyrus and its implications. Enjoy!
Colin Reader, “A Potentially Significant Dimension Recorded on an Old Kingdom Papyrus from Saqqara,” Journal of Ancient Egyptian Architecture 2 (2017): 9-17
Pierre Tallet and Gregory Marouard, “The Harbor of Khufu,” Near Eastern Archaeology 77:1 (2014): 3-13
I hope Ed Leedskalnin is let down easy with this news.
I saw the pyramids when I was in the service. It is interesting to me that the pyramids sit on the Giza Plateau which is about 100-200 feet above the Nile River and any canals would have ended pretty far from the pyramids/building site. So what was the point of building canals that really wouldn’t have taken you much closer to the site. I was also involved in heavy construction for over 40 years and if one takes into consideration the technique of “mastaba” construction, i could see how the pyramid might have been built. Essentially, the underlying mastabas would be built first, and the capstone would have been placed from the top down. However, the roller idea for putting the underlying stones in place seems stupid and of course, one wonders what kind of rigging was used to place the capstones. it appears that the stones are tightly fitted and there doesn’t seem to be any kind of attachment for rigging to place the stones. I’ve been on a number of precast concrete construction sites and there is always something built into the piece to allow for the attachment of rigging. Trying to roll heavy pieces into place without disturbing the alignment of the previous piece would be pretty tricky, not to mention having to roll the pieces up the walls of the plateau and onto the appropriate level of the pyramid for setting. If ramps were used to do this, one wonders where the material is that made up the ramps. If roads/ramps were constructed to ascend the plateau walls, wouldn’t there be some remains of what would have been pretty substantial construction. The same question remains regarding the remains of the “canals”. Anyway, the people who constructed the pyramids on the Giza Plateau were definitely smart and it appears that the initial knowledge that built the first pyramid, the Great Pyramid, deteriorated considerably as evidenced by the appearance of the last pyramid, which was noticeably inferior to the Great Pyramid. Here’s an interesting thought: we in modern times have a great deal of time speculating on how these structures were built. Might it be conceivable that the people who wrote the papyruses mentioned in the article were doing the same.
Hello, I originate from London England, but now live on a small island 5miles off the south coast the UK, the Roman invaders called it Vectis, but it is now commonly known as the Isle of Wight. I’m from a working class background, but that is not relevant to the question.
The Jews say there is no such thing as coincidence, but I have had many occurrences of this phenomena, one of which led me to where I now live, I wont tell you the story, as it is quite lengthy. I take the Jewish statement to mean that we are guided to such occurrences by supernatural forces; which could be divine or otherwise.
Have you encountered these sort of experiences, and how would you explain them. There are of course reasons for everything that happens in this material realm.
Thank you for being a voice of reason in this very confused world we inhabit.
Shalom.
I have a question completely unrelated to the topic,so,if you’re willing to share some thoughts that’d be greatly appreciated.
What is your opinion on the (supposed) lack of prohibitions concerning lesbianism in both the OT and the NT?