Cognitive Labs

A French archaeologist, Jean-Pierre Houdin, has been traveling the world breathlessly demoing his theory for how the Egyptians really built the pyramids.

His theory has received more attention than others recently because of his nifty 3D-demo produced by a French state-run software company (that looks a lot like SGI's Cosmo, circa 1996 - in fact)

The demo is unbearably creeky and slow and you can't drill down - in my book, it gets "gonged" but some people like it.

He claims that the Egyptians created an internal ramp and a sled and that this theory is the best way to explain the existence of Khufu's (Cheops') grand gallery - an open space formed by the convergence of massive stone blocks. Otherwise, it is difficult to envision how the Egyptians moved blocks weighing sometimes more than 100 tons into place.

Zahi Hawass, the Supreme Head of Antiquities (closest thing to Pharaoh in Egypt today, other than Mubarak) believes it's poppycock. "I receive a theory every day," he said.

One of the things to keep in mind is the phenomenal scale of building all over Egypt, which must have been even more impressive in ancient times than today. The colonnades of Karnak temple, representing reeds in the primordial swamp are unimaginably large and in some ways more impressive than the pyramids - as are the obelisks - mostly they have been removed from Egypt.

The Romans removed perhaps the largest obelisk in the 4th Century and used it to decorate the central grounds of the Hippodrome in Constantinople - the stadium used for chariot racing that could hold up to 120,000 spectators. In order to move it, a massive barge was created and towed from Upper Egypt up the Nile to the Delta, where it is speculated that it was embarked on a huge grain transport - perhaps specially built for the purpose - that dwarfed any vessel built up to at least the latter 17th Century, including Spanish galleons.

In the 19th Century, England and America did the same - planting obelisks in Trafalgar Square and Central Park and serving as the model for the Washington Monument.

Labels: 3D, Dassault, hawass, hippodrome, Khufu, obelisk, pyramid, SGI, theodosius

Acacia, Tamarisk, or Cedar of Lebanon statue of Ka-Hay

Archaeologists have discovered an Old Kingdom tomb in Saqqara, near the well-known step pyramid of King Djoser (said to be designed by the architect Imhotep). The tomb is mud-brick and in the mastaba (Arabic: birthing bed) style and belonged to an offical named Ka-Hay, "keeper of divine records," better described as temple scribe, and his wife.

Interestingly, the tomb contained wooden statues, which would have been painted to a life-like appearance. The tomb also held a seated statue of Ka-Hay and his wife (said to be unique in press reports) but in fact is reminiscent of the seated statue of the offical Ra-Hotep in the Cairo Museum.

Ka-Hay appears to have been an official of the time of Teti, around 4,300 years ago, whose pyramid is adjacent to the necropolis, or burial ground. Teti's pyramid contains Pyramid texts, with recitations allowing the King to travel amongst the imperishable stars. The pyramid texts were documented and translated into German by Kurt Sethe, but are poorly understood.

(Download a high resolution copy of these utterances) I suspect(know) that there are many more of these lesser mud brick tombs in the area, which either have been cataloged but not officially excavated, or remain undiscovered. The tomb contained a serdab with a statue - a kind of holding place for the 'ka'- which might be translated spirit - the ka could leave the tomb and enjoy the offerings left by relatives, or take off on nightly sojourns.

The announcement was made by Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Supreme Director of Antiquities.

Labels: hawass, kahay, mastaba, pyramidtext, tamarisk, teti