Talking Pyramids

Some discussion has taken place recently over the topic of Djedefre’s pyramid being built at a more elevated level than that of Khufu with the release of the History Channel special “The Lost Pyramid”.

Now a paper written by Suzanne Raynaud, Henri de la Boisse, Farid Mahmoud Makroum, & Joel Bertho entitled “Geological and Geomorphological study of the original hill at the base of Fourth Dynasty Egyptian monuments.” examines the practice of using existing natural hills upon which to build pyramids. The focus of the paper is on the monuments of Giza and Abu Roash.

From the paper’s abstract:

“Rock foundations of the Kephren and Kheops pyramids are examined in comparison with other Fourth Dynasty monuments: the Sphinx, Queen Kentkawes’ mastaba and the Abu Rawash pyramid. This study is based on geological and geomorphological observations, visual observation, and photomontages. Results, correlated with those of former studies, demonstrate the existence of natural hills used as substrata in the construction of the two great pyramids. The minimum volume of these hills can be estimated at 12% and 23% respectively of the volumes of the Kephren and Kheops pyramids. The use of worked rock hills appears to be a characteristic of the construction methods under the Fourth Dynasty.”

The author’s concluded that the study’s results showed that an original hill of large volume exists underneath the mastaba of queen Khentkawes, the pyramid of Khafre and the pyramid of Khufu. For Khentkawes, the original hill forms about 64% of the total volume of the monument, for Khafra’s pyramid it’s about 11.5% and about 23% for the pyramid of Khufu.

Download the PDF: Pyramids SR (5.6 MB)

Source: EEF

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Tags: djedefre, Giza, Theory