ANCIENT MYSTERIES
• BY MARTIN RUGGLES or thousands of years, scientists from
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around the world have tried to un- derstand how the ancient Egyptians erected their giant pyramids, espe- cially the Great Pyramid at Giza. Now, an ar- chitect and researcher at the Norwegian Uni- versity of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim says he has discovered a previ- ously unappreciated dimension to the problem—the extraordinarily precise plan- ning and direction that such a massive struc- ture would have required. Is it possible that millennia ago the monument’s architects were the first to use a technique now consid- ered essential to the construction of modern skyscrapers?
According to Ole J. Bryn, in a new scien- tific paper, prior researchers have been so preoccupied, if not overwhelmed, by the lo- gistics of dealing with the massive weight and sheer numbers of stone blocks involved that they have virtually overlooked other major problems that would have faced the ancient builders: How, for instance, did the Egyptians know exactly where to put the enormously heavy building blocks? And how was the master architect able to communi- cate detailed, highly precise plans to a work force of 10,000 illiterate men?
These were among the questions that confronted Bryn when he began his examina- tion of the Great Pyramid. The so-called Khufu pyramid, better known as the Pyramid of Cheops, consists of 2.3 million limestone blocks weighing roughly 7 million tons. At 146.6 meters high, it held the record as the tallest structure ever built for at least 4000 years.
What Bryn discovered was actually quite simple. The Egyptians, he believes, must have invented the modern building grid by separating the structure’s measuring system from the physical building it- self, thus introducing “toler- ance,” as it is called in today’s engineering and architectural professions.
why its dimensions are what they are.
Ole J. Bryn
According to Bryn, “the Egyptian pyra- mids are the only true pyramids in the world culminating in an Apex point [which im- plies] the need for extreme precision on a grand scale. To aim for a point 146.6 meters (280 Royal Cubits) up in the sky with only a plumb line and a string implies a crucial need for numerous points of measure. These points, says Bryn, have to be evenly distrib- uted over the face of the pyramid in order for the geometry to be carefully controlled.” In his scientific article published in May
2010 (Retracing Khufu’s Great Pyramid in the Nordic Journal of Architectural Re- search, vol 22, no. 1/2, 2010), Bryn discusses aspects that can explain the construction of a multitude of the Egyptian pyramids by taking the building grid, and not the phys- ical building itself, as the starting point for the analysis.
Early Theories
Khufu’s Great Pyramid (purportedly built between 2606-2573 BC) on the Giza plateau is arguably the most studied structure in the history of mankind. Its immense size, so- phistication, and endurance has nurtured a great number of theories, some more plau- sible than others, on how it was built and
In one of the earliest theo- ries, the historian Herodotus, claimed Egyptian priests told him the Great Pyramid was de- signed so that the area of each face was equal to the square of its height.
During the nineteenth cen-
The Baptism of Jesus, Leonardo da Vinci
tury, as the Great Pyramid was measured and re-measured, a number of explorers, Egyptol- ogists, and early scientists suggested explana- tions concerning its shape and size. For ex- ample in 1859 John Taylor, an English publisher and Egyptologist, introduced a theory that included and square roots. In his model, the perimeter was twice times the height. He went on to claim that the Great Pyramid was intended to, “make a record of the measure of the Earth.” In 1863 French Architect Viollet-le-Duc introduced the use of the 3-4-5 triangle to ex- plain the structure’s geometry. The mathe- matical theory related to this triangle had been developed 2000 years earlier by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, and bears his name—the much celebrated Pythagorean Theorem.
Other theories claimed that the exterior slope angle could be formed with the vesica pisces; that the Great Pyramid’s geometry is an accurate representation of the northern hemisphere; that it incorporates the Greek “Golden section,” etc. And while some of these ideas have fallen by the wayside, to this day, none solve the crucial engineering chal- lenge, which is how to build a massive four- sided building whose four sides meet at a pre- determined apex point. “The great pyramid,
Planning the Pyramids A New Theory Shows these Architects Were Way Ahead of Their Time 32 ATLANTIS RISING • Number 85 Subscribe or Order Books, DVDs and Much More!
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