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-Short Attention Span Theater-
French Architect Claims to Have Solved Pyramid Secret
2007-04-01
Hey, you engineers. Go to this site The Pyramid Secret and download this (I had to download some software before it would run). Whether you agree or not, it's incredible to watch this. Maybe over your morning coffee, it takes some time.
A French architect claimed Friday to have uncovered the mystery about how Egypt's Great Pyramid of Khufu was built — with use of a spiral ramp to hoist huge stone blocks into place. The construction of the Great Pyramid 4,500 years ago by Khufu, a ruler also known as Cheops, has long befuddled scientists as to how its 3 million stone blocks weighing 2.5 tons each were lifted into place.

Ending eight years of study on the subject, architect Jean-Pierre Houdin released his findings and a computerized 3-D mockup showing how workers would have erected the pyramid at Giza outside Cairo.

The most widespread theory had been that an outer ramp had been used by the Egyptians, who left few traces to help archeologists and other scientists decode the secret to the construction.

Houdin said he had taken into account the copper and stone tools available at the time, the granite and limestone blocks, the location of the pyramid and the strength and knowledge of the workers. According to his theory — shown in a computer model — the builders put up an outer ramp for the first 140 feet, then constructed an inner ramp in a corkscrew shape to complete the 450-foot structure.

Houdin also postulated that King's Chamber was hoisted into place through a system of counterweights. Houdin said he plans to verify his theories through non-invasive tests on site.
Posted by:Sherry

#7  dem frogs sure look mega geeky in dem goggles.
Posted by: RD   2007-04-01 19:08  

#6  I do have a small beef with the spiral ramp theory. It would seem that straight ramps would be much easier and fit the shape of the pyramid Bette, but then again, I haven't wayrd 8 years of my life on this.

Not to mention the problems with maintaining a steady pull while going around 90-degree turns.
Posted by: xbalanke   2007-04-01 17:37  

#5  Good god. Better and wasted.
Posted by: Mike N.   2007-04-01 12:29  

#4  What a moron. It took him 8 years to figure out that they used ramps.

I do have a small beef with the spiral ramp theory. It would seem that straight ramps would be much easier and fit the shape of the pyramid Bette, but then again, I haven't wayrd 8 years of my life on this.
Posted by: Mike N.   2007-04-01 12:28  

#3  Hardly new. Been doing it since 1999 on the computer based game Pharaoh. Building ramps, moving stone, making pyramids the old fashion way. The guy is a day late and a dinar short.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2007-04-01 08:51  

#2  I would be more impressed if they used Real-Time 3D for a mock-up of the fifty-foot Michael Jackson robot.
Posted by: Excalibur   2007-04-01 08:38  

#1  Wasn't anybody aware that Gambian President Yahya Jammeh figured all this out in his free time while he was coming up with a cure for AIDS? He proved it by building a full-scale model in his courtyard all by himself one evening.
Posted by: gorb   2007-04-01 03:59  

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