Pyramid Quest (39 page)

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Authors: Robert M. Schoch

Tags: #History, #Ancient Civilizations, #Egypt, #World, #Religious, #New Age; Mythology & Occult, #Literature & Fiction, #Mythology & Folk Tales, #Fairy Tales, #Religion & Spirituality, #Occult, #Spirituality

BOOK: Pyramid Quest
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Alford (2003, 2004) believes that the intact tomb of Khufu is hidden in a network of caves beneath the Great Pyramid. Alford says (personal communication to Robert Schoch, November 26, 2004):
In my view, the Subterranean Chamber played the role of a decoy burial chamber. Anyone entering the Pyramid and finding this room would have assumed that the king’s body and burial treasure had already been discovered and stolen. The real tomb, in my opinion, lies in the Grotto or its vicinity. . . . The Grotto was originally accessed by the Well Shaft (the lower section), whose entrance in the Descending Passage took the form of a camouflaging plate of stone—in effect, a secret door. I hypothesize that the king’s mummy (though not the coffin, as it would have been too big) was subjected to rituals in the Subterranean Chamber and then carried up the Well Shaft to be interred in the Grotto or its vicinity. Such a burial would have been ideal from a security point of view. . . . The purpose of the Grotto has always been something of a mystery. However, it strikes me that the position of this cave-like room—near the surface of the rocky outcrop of the Giza plateau—had pro-found symbolic importance, representing the primeval mound of the Egyptian creation myth—a most auspicious place for the pharaoh to be buried.”
The Grotto under the Great Pyramid, facing north, as seen in 1909. The stone-lined Well Shaft is on the right. (
From Edgar and Edgar, 1910, page 278.
)
GANTENBRINK’S EXPLORATIONS IN THE QUEEN’S CHAMBER
In 1993 Rudolf Gantenbrink used a small wheeled robot, that looked somewhat like a miniature military tank equipped with a video camera, to ascend the southern shaft originating in the Queen’s Chamber (DeSalvo, 2003, p. 60). The shaft goes straight back from the wall for about 7 feet, then ascends. The robot, named Upuaut 2, traveled about 200 feet up the 9-inch-square shaft, where it encountered a stone “door” with two copper “handles” and could go no farther. In September 2002, another robot (not associated with Gantenbrink), designed by iRobot of Boston, ascended the shaft to the door, drilled through the approximately 3 inches of the door, and looked through with a camera. Behind the first stone door was a small, empty space, and then another stone door (DeSalvo, 2003, p. 62). The same robot was later sent up the northern shaft of the Queen’s Chamber, where it encountered a stone door at 208 feet from the Queen’s Chamber very similar to the stone doors found in the southern shaft (DeSalvo, 2003, p. 63).
DIMENSIONS OF THE INTERNAL PASSAGES, CHAMBERS, AND COFFER OF THE GREAT PYRAMID
Note:
Unless otherwise stated, the following measurements (in British inches, as opposed to so-called pyramid inches), but not necessarily the descriptions, are from Kingsland’s compilation (1932, pp. 113-117), with the exception of those for the Chambers of Construction, which are from Bonwick (1877, pp. 45-46), and the measurements of the coffer found in the King’s Chamber, which are from Petrie (1885, p. 30).
All lengths of passages and chambers are floor lengths, unless otherwise stated. The value of the cubit used in the measurements that follow is the value adopted by Kingsland (1932), namely 20.612 British inches to a cubit. In some cases I believe that Kingsland’s numbers are overly precise, but rather than round them I have reported them as he published them.
DESCENDING PASSAGE
Length of missing portion of entrance due to removal of the casing: 124.2 ± .3
Vertical height of original entrance above the platform of the Great Pyramid: 668.3
Length from original entrance to point of intersection with the Ascending Passage: 1110.64
Length from point of intersection to the bottom of the passage where it meets the short horizontal passage to the Subterranean Chamber: 3036.804
Total original length of the Descending Passage: 4147.444
Vertical depth of foot of Descending Passage below platform level: 1164.578
Average width of Descending Passage: 41.6
Average height taken perpendicular to floor and roof of the Descending Passage: 47.4
Average true vertical height of Descending Passage: 52.8
HORIZONTAL PASSAGE FROM THE BASE OF THE DESCENDING PASSAGE TO THE SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBER
Total length of this passage: 350.75
Average height of the passage: 34 (0.91 meters, according to Pochan, 1978, p. 13)
Average width of the passage: 34 (0.80 meters, according to Pochan, 1978, p. 13)
Distance of “recess” or “niche” from the southern end of the horizontal passage (Pochan, 1978, p. 13): 1.45 meters
Approximate length parallel to the passage of the “recess” or “niche” off of this passage (Pochan, 1978, p. 13): 1.85 meters
SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBER
Approximate east-to-west length: 553.07
Approximate north-to-south width: 325.904
Approximate height at the western end: 5.5 feet
Approximate height at the eastern end: 12-16.5 feet
Length of southern “Blind Passage”: 53.5 feet
Average height of southern “Blind Passage”: 28
Average width of southern “Blind Passage”: 28
ASCENDING PASSAGE
Length from the intersection to the bottom of the Grand Gallery (75 cubits): 1,545.9
Horizontal length of Ascending Passage: 1,388.457
Vertical height of southern end of Ascending Passage above platform level: 850.396
Average width of Ascending Passage: 42.1
Average height of Ascending Passage perpendicular to floor and roof: 47.4
Average vertical height of Ascending Passage: 52.6
GRAND GALLERY
Length from north wall to south wall: 1,883.6
Horizontal length from north wall to south wall: 1,689.191
Length of the “Great Step” at the southern end: 61.32
Height of the “Great Step”: 36.0
Height of the lower portion of the Grand Gallery above the platform level: 850.396
Height of the top of the “Great Step” above the platform level (82 cubits): 1,690.184
Width of the Grand Gallery over the side ramps (4 cubits): 82.448
Width between the side ramps (2 cubits): 41.224
Width of the Grand Gallery at the roof (2 cubits): 41.224
Width of each ramp (1 cubit): 20.612
Average height of ramps: 23.5
Average height of Grand Gallery: 28.5 feet
ANTECHAMBER
Length of passage from Grand Gallery to Antechamber: 52.02
Height of passage (2 cubits): 41.224
Width of passage (2 cubits): 41.224
Length of Antechamber: 116.08
Average width of Antechamber at floor level (2 cubits): 41.224
Average width of Antechamber at roof: 65.0
Average height of Antechamber: 149.35
Height of wainscoting on the east: 103.35
Height of wainscoting on the west: 112.1
KING’S CHAMBER
Length of passage from Antechamber to King’s Chamber: 100.8
Average height of passage: 42.89
Average width of passage: 41.4
Length of King’s Chamber (20 cubits): 412.24
Width of King’s Chamber: (10 cubits): 206.12
Height of Granite walls in the King’s Chamber: 235.2
Vertical height of floor above the platform level (82 cubits): 1,690.184
QUEEN’S CHAMBER PASSAGE
Total length of passage: 1,524.811
Length from north wall of the Grand Gallery to the step in the passage: 1,307.0
Length from the step to the Queen’s Chamber: 217.811
Depth of the step (1 cubit): 20.612
Average width of the passage: 46.5
Average height of the passage at the northern end: 46.5
Average height of the passage at the southern end: 66.2
Vertical height of the northern portion of the passage above the platform level: 855.396
Vertical height of the southern portion above the platform level: 834.784
QUEEN’S CHAMBER
Length of the Queen’s Chamber (11 cubits): 226.732
Width (10 cubits): 206.12
Average height of the north and south walls (9 cubits?): 184.47(?)
Average height to the ridge of the roof: 245.1(?)
Height of Niche: 183.9 (Kingsland, 1932, p. 117, lists 193.8, but this is an error; on p. 77 he cites it as 183.89 inches, and Petrie, 1885, p. 24, gives a value of 184 inches)
Width of Niche at the base (3 cubits?): 61.74(?)
Width of Niche at the top (1 cubit?): 20.3(?)
Average depth of the Niche (2 cubits?): 41.07(?)
Height of the floor of the Queen’s Chamber above the platform level :834.784
COFFER IN THE KING’S CHAMBER
Outside length: 89.62
Outside width: 38.50
Outer height: 41.31
Inside length: 78.06
Inside width: 26.81
Inside depth: 34.42
Thickness at the northern end: 5.67
Thickness at the southern end: 5.89
Thickness of the eastern side: 5.87
Thickness of the western side: 5.82
Thickness of the bottom: 6.89
Volume of the inside: 72,030 cubic inches
Volume of the solid bulk of the granite: 70,500 cubic inches
Volume overall: 142,530 cubic inches
 
 
The volumes are calculated by Petrie (1885, p. 30), “omitting all notice of the attachments for the lid, employing the mean [average] planes.”
CHAMBERS OF CONSTRUCTION
Length of passage from the entrance at the top of the Grand Gallery (southeast corner) to Davison’s Chamber: 24.75 feet
Vertical height from the floor of the King’s Chamber to the top of Campbell’s Chamber: 69.25 feet
Length of Davison’s Chamber: 38 feet 4 inches
Width of Davison’s Chamber: 17 feet 1 inch
Height of Davison’s Chamber: 2 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 6 inches
Length of Wellington’s Chamber: 38 feet 6 inches
Width of Wellington’s Chamber: 17 feet 2 inches
Height of Wellington’s Chamber: 2 feet 2 inches to 3 feet 8 inches
Length of Nelson’s Chamber: 38 feet 9 inches
Width of Nelson’s Chamber: 16 feet 8 inches
Height of Nelson’s Chamber: 2 feet 4 inches to 4 feet 10 inches
Length of Lady Arbuthnot’s Chamber: 37 feet 4 inches
Width of Lady Arbuthnot’s Chamber: 16 feet 4 inches
Height of Lady Arbuthnot’s Chamber: 1 foot 4 inches to 4 feet 5 inches
Length of Campbell’s Chamber: 37 feet 10 inches
Width of Campbell’s Chamber: 20 feet 6 inches
Height of Campbell’s Chamber: 5 feet 10 inches to 8 feet 7 inches
DISPLACEMENT OF THE PASSAGES TO THE EAST
All of the passages and chambers in the Great Pyramid occur in approximately a north-south oriented vertical plane that runs through the structure. This plane, however, is not aligned with the central axis of the Great Pyramid but rather is displaced slightly to the east. This displacement is cited as 7.29 meters by Pochan (1978, p. 12); on the basis of the data of Petrie (1883), Kingsland (1932, p. 57) gives it as about 100 inches (2.54 meters) for the center of the King’s Chamber to about 287 inches (7.29 meters) for the center of the north entrance (original entrance). Davidson (see Davidson and Aldersmith, 1924) related his “displacement factor” to the displacement of the passages to the east of the central axis of the Great Pyramid, believing the two values to be numerically equal.
Pochan (1978, p. 12) explains the eastern displacement of the passage system as follows. “This displacement of the axis was necessary in order to avoid inundat ing the Subterranean Chamber, as each face’s hollow constituted a vast gutter capable of draining more than 2,000 cubic meters of water during a rainstorm.” I have never found this explanation tenable. Such storms were few and far between on the eastern edge of the Sahara; furthermore, the entrance to the Great Pyramid was apparently fitted with a tight stone door, so tight and inconspicuous that when knowledge of its exact location was lost, it could not easily be found again, resulting, for instance, in the forced passage of Al Mamoun (see hereafter). Such a tight-fitting door would hardly have let in enough water to inundate the Subterranean Chamber. Richard Proctor (1883) offers a better explanation for the eastern displacement of the passages, I believe. Proctor suggested that the partially completed Great Pyramid, built up to the level of the floor of the King’s Chamber, served as a pretelescopic observatory. The Grand Gallery, open to the south, was the primary sighting tube for observations, but the flat, square, top of the partial pyramid, aligned to the cardinal points, would also have been used to make observations.
An observer . . . should occupy the very centre of the square top of the, as yet, incomplete pyramid, so that the middle point of each side would mark a cardinal point, while the angles of the square would mark the mid-cardinal points. Also this central point ought not only to command direction-lines to the angles and bisections of the sides, but to be commanded, without obstruction, by direction-lines from these points. Thus the upper end of the Great Ascending Gallery [Grand Gallery] should not be exactly at the centre, but somewhat either to the west or to the east of the centre of the great square summit of the incomplete pyramid. (pp. 136-137)

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