The Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Gaza or Khufu is a true masterpiece and has rightly earned the title of a “Wonder”. It was built with such precision that today’s technology cannot yet replicate it. There are so many interesting facts about this Pyramid that it continues to confound archaeologists, scientists, astronomers and tourists alike.

It’s probably safe to say that The Great Pyramid has endured in-depth studies (both expert & amateur) more often than any other structure on Earth; yet the debate rages on about its construction method and original purpose. Upon completion of practically every in-depth study, invariably new ideas, theories, or beliefs arise that are outside the traditionally accepted wisdom of the “modern” Egyptologist.

Having made that point abundantly clear, there are many facts about The Great Pyramid that most archeologists, scientists, mainstream Egyptologists, and even astronomers agree upon; though they are in and of themselves remarkable:

·                 The pyramid is estimated to have around 2,300,000 stone blocks that weigh from 2 to 30 tons each and some blocks that weigh over 50 tons.

·                   The Great Pyramid of Khufu is precisely aligned with the Constellation of Orion.

·                The base of the pyramid covers 55,000 sq. meters (592,000 sq. feet) with each side greater than 20,000 sq. meters (218,000 sq. feet) in area.

·           The interior temperature is constant and equals the average temperature of the earth, 20 Degrees Celsius; that’s 68 Degrees Fahrenheit.

·                   The original outer layer or covering was composed of 144,000 casing stones, all of them highly polished and flat to an accuracy of 1/100th of an inch, compare that precision to the smoothness “equal or better to that of your reading glasses”; the stones were about 100 inches thick and weighed approximately 15 tons each.

·       The cornerstone foundations of The Great Pyramid have “ball and socket” construction capable of dealing with heat expansion and even earthquakes.

·        The mortar used is of an unknown origin (yes, the builders did use a form of cement from time to time). It has been analyzed and its chemical composition is known but it can’t be reproduced. It is stronger than the stone and still holding up today.

·                 It was originally covered with casing stones (made of highly polished limestone). These casing stones reflected the sun’s light and made the pyramid shine like a jewel. However these stones are no longer a part of the structure because they were “borrowed” by Arabs to build mosques after an earthquake in the 14th century loosened many of them. It has been calculated that the original pyramid with its casing stones would act like gigantic mirrors and reflect light so powerfully that it would be visible from the moon like a shining star on earth.  Appropriately, the ancient Egyptians called the Great Pyramid “Ikhet”, meaning the “Glorious Light”.  How these blocks were transported and assembled into the pyramid is still a mystery.

·               With the mantle or casing stones in place, the Great Pyramid could be seen from the mountains in Israel and probably the moon.

·              The Great Pyramid is the most accurately aligned structure in existence and faces true north with only 3/60th of a degree of error. In other words, The Great Pyramid is off by 3 minutes of arc; the best modern science can achieve is 6 minutes off. You see, since the pyramid was built, there has been a movement of the North Pole. At the time of its erection (assuming it was built during the reign of Khufu – in the vicinity of 2500 BC) the Great Pyramid was only .001 off True North.

·          The Great Pyramid is located at the center of the land mass of the earth. The east/west parallel that crosses the most land and the north/south meridian that crosses the most land intersect in two places on the earth, one in the ocean and the other at the Great Pyramid.

·              The four faces of the pyramid are slightly concave; a characteristic held by no other pyramid.   The curvature designed into the faces of the pyramid exactly matches the radius of the earth.

·                  The centers of the four sides are indented with an extraordinary degree of precision forming the only 8 sided pyramid, this effect is not visible from the ground or from a distance but only from the air, and then only under the proper lighting conditions.  In fact this phenomenon is only detectable from the air at dawn and sunset on the spring and autumn equinoxes, when the sun casts shadows on the pyramid.

·          The granite coffer or “casket” located in the “King’s Chamber” is too big to fit through the passages, so it must have been put in place during construction. The coffer was made out of a block of solid granite. This would have required bronze saws 8 or 9 ft. long set with teeth of sapphires. The hollowing out of the interior must have required tubular drills of the same material applied with a tremendous vertical force.  In fact, microscopic analysis of the coffer reveals that it was made with a fixed point drill that used hard jewel bits with a drilling force of 2 tons.

·           The Great Pyramid had a swivel door entrance at one time. It is reported that when the pyramid was first broken into that the swivel door, weighing some 20 tons; was so well balanced that it could be opened by pushing out from the inside with only minimal force, but when closed, the door was so perfect a fit that it could scarcely be detected and there was not enough crack or crevice around the edges to gain a grasp from the outside.

·        The southern shaft in the “King’s Chamber” pointed to the star Al Nitak (Zeta Orionis) in the constellation of Orion, around 2450 BC.  You may recall that the Orion constellation was associated with the Egyptian god Osiris. No other star aligned with this shaft during that time in history.

·          The periphery or boundary of the Great Pyramid is 36,524.0 inches. Moving the decimal reveals the exact length of the earth year (365.24 days).

Khufu’s Pyramid, also known as The Great Pyramid of Giza, is the oldest and largest of the “Egyptian” built pyramids; rising to 481 feet (146 meters). Archaeologists say it was the tallest structure in the world for about 3,800 years.  It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.

Sources . . .  

http://www.ancient-code.com/25-facts-about-the-great-pyramid-of-giza/#sthash.9sNZaPI4.dpuf                                                                     http://www.gizapyramid.com/general.htm                                            http://www.network54.com/Realm/present_truth/pyramid.html                   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza

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