Cognitive Labs

Egypt to copyright the pyramids...

Labels: pyramid, pyramidtext, Zahi Hawass

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