Discover the New Khufu’s Pyramid Building Theory by Jean-Pierre Houdin:

Visit the Dassault Systemes website to experience Khufu Reborn.

Download the study carried out by Jean-Pierre Houdin, which has some very interesting observations: 34 Clues in Support of the Theory (7mb PDF)

Enter Khufu Reborn and if you are still wanting more, try the original: Khufu Revealed.

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Fellow bloggers Keith Payne from EmHotep & Marc Chartier from Pyramidales will be there along with Kate Bourdet from Dassault Systèmes to report on the event.

I thought it would be fun to speculate a bit in the mean time.

A 'teaser' Jean-Pierre sent me ten days ago

I’ve received several emails over the past year or so from Jean-Pierre hinting that something big is coming. Though he has been keeping everything surrounding the project veiled in secrecy it’s possible to pick up a few hints he’s left along the way.

The Sneferu Connection?
At the end of last year Jean-Pierre was working on the Dashur pyramids and told me he had discovered how the pyramids of Sneferu were constructed. Could there be a connection to this new revelation about his son Khufu’s pyramid?

What about Djedefre?
How does Khufu’s son Djedefre relate to the Great Pyramid’s construction? Does Djedefre fit into the puzzle somehow?

Relieving Chambers?
There is some disagreement among architects and Egyptologists over the function of the low-ceiling spaces above the King’s chamber known as the ‘Relieving chambers’. I get the feeling that Jean-Pierre has some exciting developments to share with us in this department.

The Sphinx?
Exactly a year ago today Jean-Pierre sent me an email doubting the Sphinx’s connection with Khafre and told me to store it safely as a witness for when the Sphinx Enigma will be over, presumably at the release of ‘Khufu Reborn’. As usual Jean-Pierre was very careful with his responses, never saying too much but always leaving little hints about what might be coming…little crumbs to keep me intrigued.

One of the Talking Pyramids ‘Friday Photos’ I posted created some excitement with Jean-Pierre telling me that a clue was staring me in the face in the center of the picture.

Can you figure it out?

Click to enlarge for a closer view

… or perhaps we will all have to “wait like everyone else.”

Extras:
Dassault Systèmes ‘Khufu Revealed’ – Jean-Pierre Houdin’s theory in 3D
Video: Fly through the internal ramp in 3D.

Related posts:

1. Khufu Reborn: the Adventure Continues Dassault Systèmes has released the next 3D interactive experience of...
2. How Were the Egyptian Pyramids Built? – Part 5 Houdin’s Internal Ramp French Architect Jean-Pierre Houdin has a revolutionary...
3. More Evidence of Secret Passages in the GP National Geographic has posted a video to their YouTube channel...

One of interest to readers of Talking Pyramids is a keynote lecture by Mark Lehner, ‘Khentkawes of Giza: New Light on a Well-Known Site’.

Here is an extract:

Four seasons of work (www.aeraweb.org) at the monumental tomb and town of Khentkawes I at Giza has shed new light on the place of this queen’s giant mastaba tomb in the quarry and construction sequence of the necropolis, and has revealed a heretofore unknown valley complex. The AERA team has cleared and re-mapped a second approach ramp and valley complex excavated by Selim Hassan in 1932 at the interface between the Khentkawes Town and Menkaure Valley Temple. As the features and details of this interface come into greater focus, they shed new light on the relationships between the two royal layouts, and on a possible hiatus and reoccupation of the Khentkawes Town. Evidence from this interface, the houses of the Khentkawes Town, and AERA’s main excavation site, HeG, south of the Heit el-Ghurob, may contribute to the discussion of climate change and the Old Kingdom.

Another is Carolyn Routledge, Curator of Egyptology, Bolton Museum who is giving a session entitled “A Newly Identified Fragment from the Pyramid of Pepy I”:

During research undertaken as part of the new Ancient Egypt Gallery at the World Museum in Liverpool, it was possible to identify a previously unprovenanced relief fragment as belonging to the pyramid of Pepy I. This paper will present the results of the research related to this relief fragment. First, the basic elements of the relief will be reviewed including a correction to Kurt Sethe‘s transcription of the text as recorded in his Die altägyptischen Pyramidentexte. Second, the provenance history of the relief fragment will be presented, tracing the relief from the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries, when the text seems to have been recorded in situ, until it arrived in Liverpool in 1973. Finally, the original location of the relief in the antechamber of the pyramid will be discussed as Jean Leclant‘s team did not include the fragment in their recent publication of the pyramid of Pepy I, Les Textes de la Pyramide de Pépy Ier.

You can view the full programme (PDF 136 kb) and also the extracts (PDF 364kb) from the EES website.

Here is the live Twitter feed of the event:

See the EES website for more information.

Image of the British Museum by Barry Smyth Some rights reserved

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The last poll asked what theory you favoured to explain the construction of the Great Pyramid. Among the choices were the traditional single straight ramp, the external spiral ramp and the concrete theory.

The most popular choice was Jean-Pierre’s Internal Spiral ramp theory.

Here are the results:

Now, on to the next poll:

Which pyramid would you most like to see open?

It’s time for a new poll and this time I am asking what pyramid you’d most like to see opened next.

We’ve seen how there have long been plans to open some of the pyramids that are still closed and I’ve mentioned previously that Zahi Hawass has stated that he wanted to open all the pyramids by 2009. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. We’ve also seen how the declared dates of opening of the chambers of Sneferu’s ‘Bent’ pyramid and the ‘Black’ pyramid of Amenemhet III at Dahshur have been repeatedly pushed back and delayed.

Personally, I’d love to see the internal chambers of the Bent pyramid opened to the public so I have kicked off the poll by registering my interest in that pyramid.

Which pyramid would you most like to see open?

Related posts:

1. More Dashur Pyramids To Open to the Public The 'Black' pyramid of Amenemhet III Fresh in the news...
2. Secret Chamber Discovered in the Great Pyramid Corners of the internal ramp Breaking in the news this...
3. Update on the Great Pyramid’s Secret Chamber Corners of the internal ramp Theories on how the ancient...

Now the Giza Archives Project has moved into the virtual arena with the release of Giza 3D!

However, this is not the first time the project has used 3D immersive technology to explore the possibilities of ‘Virtual Egyptology’. About four years ago the Giza Archives Project developed a presence in the online virtual platform Second Life with an exhibit featuring ten mastaba-tombs of Cemetery G2100 at Giza.

A scene from the tomb of Merib in Giza Archives 'Cemetery G 2100' in Second Life

Now, with the help of Dassault Systèmes, the 3D software company that worked with Jean-Pierre Houdin to create ‘Khufu Revealed’, a fully immersive interactive experience of the tombs of the Giza Plateau will be created for both specialists and the general public.

According to the Dassault Systèmes website, the partnership will “imagine new forms of multi-platform experiences, whether individual or collective, through Internet devices or through more complex virtual and augmented reality systems, using game consoles, 3D screens or even movie theaters willing to create new kinds of archeological immersive interactions…” and “…will result in new forms of scientific inquiry and communication. Virtual archaeology, using the power of scientific simulation tools and 3D immersive experiences, raises new questions, offers new hypotheses and allows us to simulate them in virtual environments.

Unlike attempts by other companies to recreate ancient Egyptian artefacts and environments in 3D, this real-time virtual reconstruction of the Giza Plateau is accurately replicated by using actual archaeological data. As such, it has great potential as an educational research tool.

As Peter Der Manuelian put it:

“These tools and approaches offer new dimensions to Egyptological research, allowing for innovation and enhanced knowledge sharing. In Dassault Systèmes we found a company partner devoted to both scientific accuracy and technological creativity.”

Watch the video flythrough of the interactive application showing some of the tombs located at the Giza plateau:

References:
Giza 3D
Giza Archives Project
Virtual Giza
Giza Cemetery 2100 in SecondLife

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Leena at work on Cleopatra & Caesarion

It was fun to watch over the artist’s shoulder as the work progressed over the weeks. Observers soon became involved, I was finding photos of the subject taken by past travellers and sending them to Leena and making use of Twitter to attract more attention. Another follower, Hans also sent some photos which were used as references for the piece. One interested reader, Barry even travelled to the temple for Leena specifically to take photographs of the parts of the relief that were not clear on existing photos.

In case you missed it you can read all the posts starting from here and follow it all the way to the end here.

If you have been keeping an eye on the “Breaking News” section on the right side of this blog you’ve probably already noticed Leena has started a new artwork. This time the paints have been put aside in exchange for graphite & a scraper board and she is now tackling the Old Kingdom statue of Menkaure, Hathor and goddess of the Diospolis Parva nome. The graywacke statue dates to the Fourth Dynasty, 2720 BC and is currently housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Leena describes how she started this piece:

I have to admit I could not resist – I got my scraping board and started working on the Menkaure triad already.

First the sketch: First it had to be drawn, then transferred to the scraper board (by coloring the back of the drawing with graphite and re-drawing with a sharp pen so that the drawing transferred to the board). And because graphite may wear off while I work on this, I had to use the scalpel to do tiny nicks along the lines.

Watch the slideshow below to see the art grow…

Here is a photograph of the subject:

The Menkaure Triad in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

You can continue following the development of the Menkaure Triad as Leena keeps a journal of her progress on her blog, Ancient Egyptian Art.

Photos used with Leena’s permission, all rights reserved.
Photo of the Menkaure Statue triad is in the Public Domain.

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JSesh is an excellent tool to help you study the ancient Egyptian language and this new release brings the software up to version 3.0.

Here is what Serge said:

I have the pleasure to announce version 3.0 of JSesh. Thanks to M. Thomas’ work, the full Manuel de Codage (or, in other terms, the “extended library”) is now covered by JSesh (save a few signs here and there, which will be fixed in the near future). So JSesh 3.0 is essentially JSesh 2.13, but with complete X, Y and Z families. I thought however that a full coverage of the Manuel de Codage warranted a new version number.

Visit the JSesh website to read more about it and download the latest verison of the software.

Related posts:

1. JSesh Hieroglyphic Processor Update Serge Rosmorduc wrote in a message to the AEL discussion...
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