Jean-Pierre Houdin Theory
3D Unveils the Mystery of the Great Pyramid
The secret of the construction of the pyramid of Khufu in Egypt
has always held people in fascination. Numerous theories have been
put forward but none has yet stood up to analysis. Eight years ago,
the architect Jean-Pierre Houdin had a flash of intuition and
developed a revolutionary theory. Considering Khufu' monumental
undertaking as the first industrial construction project in history,
he turned to Dassault Systčmes technology to test his hypotheses and
feed his thought processes. So it was that he joined the 'Passion
for Innovation' programme. Having demonstrated the validity of the
theory with the aid of their scientific 3D solutions, Dassault
Systčmes invite you to enjoy an extraordinary journey through time
and space. Relive the Great Pyramid construction project in
real-time 3D!
For full details visit
http://www.3ds.com/introduction/revealed/
PS
New Mysteries Within the Great Pyramid
Is There a Lost Spiral Tunnel Inside?
4 - 27 - 2009 Over the last two decades French engineer
Jean-Pierre Houdin has done practically nothing else but eat, sleep
and work on developing computer graphics in his attempt to solve the
mystery of how the Great Pyramid was built. His final results
contain a number of ingenius construction solutions that no one else
has thought of before. But serious questions remain about his design
interpretations. Has Houdin used the right facts to come up with
inaccurate conclusions?
The French engineer visualizes that the Giza monument was built
in three major stages:
In stage one, a straight ramp was slowly constructed, up which
the ancient laborers dragged over a million and a half blocks that
went into the Pyramid as far as the one-third level of the King’s
Chamber. Also at this time, as the structure slowly rose, the
beginning of an internal spiral ramp was begun, twisting around just
inside the outer edge of the core masonry.
In stage two, the peculiar design of the Grand Gallery, Houdin
believes, was utilized for operating a series of counterweights and
control mechanisms to help move the huge granite blocks—some
weighing over seventy tons each—that were positioned into the
ceiling and relieving chambers above the King’s Chamber.
Finally, in stage three, the blocks that had been employed to
build the outside straight ramp were now taken away one by one and
moved up through the internal spiral ramp. These blocks, probably
over a million in number, were used to construct the upper
two-thirds of the Pyramid. As the monument continued to rise
skyward, the inside spiral ramp also continued to lengthen all the
way to the apex. By the time of the Pyramid’s completion, the
outer straight ramp was completely dismantled and removed, while the
inside spiral ramp—its purpose now finished— was sealed shut so
that no evidence of its existence was visible from the outside. And,
Houdin is convinced, it remains there hidden to this day, waiting to
be rediscovered.
As impressive as this scenario may be, it has a few fundamental
flaws. Let us examine it more closely, stage by stage.
In the first portion of the Pyramid’s building process, Houdin
relies on the conservative historians’ old standby, the straight
ramp, to explain how the stone blocks were moved and placed into the
monument. Other engineers have long discounted the use of such a
ramp, because even at a modest gradient of seven percent, such an
incline would have put too much strain on the existing labor force
in hauling multi-ton loads uphill on a continuous basis over a long
period of time.
Then there was the added problem that, as the ramp extended
farther out as the Pyramid got higher, the ramp width at the top
would have gotten increasingly narrower, leaving less and less room
for the hundreds of haulers to be able to adequately maneuver their
individual stones. Even with Houndin’s dependence on such a ramp
for only building up to the one-third level, nevertheless the major
problems of utilizing such an incline would still have become very
apparent.
The engineer’s solution as to what happened to the straight
ramp—that its constituent blocks eventually became incorporated
into the Pyramid itself—is a clever idea, and it helps to solve a
major mystery for which conservative Egyptologists have had no
answer. If a straight ramp was utilized, the experts have never
found any trace of it on the Giza plateau. With Houdin’s theory,
at least, he proposes one possible solution as to what may have
happened to it.
But there is, in fact, an even simpler answer that also fits the
facts, which is this—there never was a straight ramp to begin
with. If no evidence of a ramp was ever detected, it is because no
such ramp was ever employed in the building of the Great Pyramid.
In the second stage of construction, Houdin tries to explain that
the reason for the unique design of the Grand Gallery was because
its only purpose was to aid in moving and raising the huge granite
blocks that were placed above the King’s Chamber.
The shortcoming here with this explanation is that, as a typical
engineer, Houdin approaches the design features of the Great Pyramid
from a purely functional viewpoint. Houdin himself admits that he
has no background in ancient Egyptian history, art, religion or
mythology. His very first visit to the Pyramid did not take place
until long after he completed his theories. As a result, a whole
dimension of essential architectural symbolism based on the
complexities of Egyptian belief systems is missing from his
consideration and computation. In reality, there are any number of
other purposes to the design features of the Grand Gallery that have
nothing to do with functionality from an exclusively engineering
perspective.
What aspect of modern Egyptology Houdin unfortunately does
embrace is the prevailing conservative belief that the Pyramid was
nothing more than a royal tomb. Any alternative concepts—for
example, that the monument was instead used for other more religious
purposes—are not even considered, and other more expansive design
possibilities are ignored.
As for the idea of using the Grand Gallery for a counterweight
mechanism, there is one basic problem that emerges—and one that
once again conservative historians have relied on but for which
there is no proof. In Houdin’s own video graphics of the supposed
counterweight system, we are shown hundreds of virtual laborers
grappling with huge virtual ropes that are pictured as being a yard
or two in diameter and extending hundreds of feet in length. From an
engineering standpoint, this would have been the only type of rope
that could have had the capacity of handling the tremendous weights
of the granite blocks, without stretching, unraveling and breaking.
However, from an archaeological perspective we have to ask, where
would all this rope have come from? When diggers opened the boat pit
discovered on the south side of the Great Pyramid, they found
preserved within a few samples of much smaller rope remains four
thousand years old that had been used for Khufu’s solar boat
rigging. But nothing like the proposed super-ropes for hauling large
stone blocks have ever been found, and for good reason. The land of
the Nile has never had an abundant supply of fibrous plant material
to manufacture huge ropes on a scale that would have been necessary
for moving massive numbers of stone blocks, especially in the
exertion of pulling large weights up an incline. In the last
analysis, Houdin’s virtual mega-ropes exist only in cyberspace,
but never were they present in the past real world of the ancient
Egyptians.
Now we come to the most intriguing part of Houdin’s
construction theory that is the crownpiece of his third stage of
building—the existence of an internal spiral ramp up through the
entire length of the inside of the Pyramid monument. He pictures it
as a very long corridor that when completed was perhaps a mile in
length. It snaked its way upward at a seven percent gradient, making
as many as fourteen turns around the circumference, just inside the
first layers of core masonry. According to Houdin’s proposed
reconstruction, the corridor’s floor would have to have been wide
enough to accommodate the width of the stone blocks being moved, as
well as the workers handling them. The ceiling of the ramp corridor
was most likely corbelled, which means the walls were inclined
inward and high.
But here again we are confronted with several difficulties in
this interpretation. First of all, a ramp by any other name is still
a ramp. A seven percent gradient, and extending a mile long, would
impose nearly impossible feats of strength and endurance on the part
of the stone haulers. Add to this the cramped quarters of
surrounding walls on either side through which to try to maneuver
large blocks using hundreds of men. Then envision this activity
going on in an enclosed atmosphere with hardly any light and little
air, and the working conditions would have worsened even more, to
the point of being impractical.
A third obstacle becomes apparent when we consider how to turn
the blocks around the corner at the end of each incline and into the
beginning of the next incline going up. Houdin tries to get around
this problem by proposing that, at each corner turn, the corridor
opened to an outside ledge where the laborers— using a system of
wooden levers and supports—turned the stones ninety degrees before
taking them back inside through the next corridor length. However,
no evidence for any such openings exist in the present masonry. One
possibility was thought to be what is called the Niche, which can be
seen today about two-thirds of the way up the Pyramid’s northeast
corner. But a closer inspection of the Niche by several observers
produced no results of any opening.
There would also have been the problem, toward the end of the
corridor circuit near the apex of the Pyramid, where the ramp
gradient would have had to have been more sharply inclined in order
to avoid the corridor height from the turn below. Calculations show
that, at this point, the incline would have been far too steep for
any stones to even be budged out of place.
While it would not have worked as a ramp, nevertheless there is
evidence that Houdin’s proposed spiral corridor may actually
exist. In 1986, a French team of experts conducted a
microgravimetric survey of the Great Pyramid, which was much like
taking an x-ray of the inside of the monument. Examining the
structure from above, Houdin’s compatriots detected a definite
internal spiral design, looking exactly like an empty tunnel
twisting around near the edge of the exterior.
As a possible corroboration, modern-day digital images show the
faint outline of gradual spiral turns seen across the face of the
Pyramid when the core masonry is observed in certain angles of
light.
There are also reports of animals—indigenous cats, dogs and
foxes—which occasionally suddenly appear out of gaps among the
blocks high up on the monument’s outer surface. These creatures
are not observed climbing up the exterior beforehand, so they must
have reached these heights by an unknown means from somewhere
inside.
What we can conclude from all this is that, yes, there exists a
forgotten spiral tunnel within the Pyramid, but no, it was not used
as a ramp as Houdin suggests. Significantly, in a number of ancient
Egyptian temples—such as at Edfu and Dendera—there are hidden
spiral staircases that were utilized by the officiating priests and
priestesses as procession ways. During certain rituals and
ceremonies such features served the purpose of secretly
interconnecting several sacred chambers within the sanctuary,
located on different levels.
Similarly, especially if we regard the Great Pyramid as also once
having been a form of temple, a long spiral corridor that traversed
the entire length of the monument very likely connected its many
interior chambers. The high priests, priestesses and initiates—who
performed their special transformational processes within the
Pyramid—secretly passed through this lost corridor as part of
their religious functions over many ages of time.
Will this forgotten tunnel be opened again one day soon? Where
will it lead and what secrets could it reveal?
Copyright 2009. Joseph Robert Jochmans. All
Rights Reserved.
Website at:
www.forgottenagesresearch.com
Hany Halim - The Broken Vase Theory
“Intellectual Property Right” By the Egyptian Engineer/Tour
guide/ HANY HALIM patented in Egypt in 2002
IT has always puzzled me to see the amazing joints between the
stones of the pyramids, especially those used for the outer
cladding. Close inspection reveals that you cannot insert a pin or a
sharp razor blade in between the stones and I believe that they were
probably meant to be water-tight in order to prevent water Leakage
into the building.
They adhere perfectly to each other with no cement at all The
question that nagged me was how the Ancient Egyptians managed to do
that with such great precision?
NOT only this but also they had to be able to put ONE STONE EVERY
TWO MINUTES in its place continuously for 25 years working 10 hours
a day (see Calculations ).
HOW TO ACHIEVE this HIGH SPEED OF WORK TOGETHER WITH THIS VERY
HIGH PRECISSION??!!
THIS IS THE DIFFICULT QUSTION THAT PUZZELED THE MINDS of the
world for a long time with no logical, or generally accepted answer.
WELL now Let’s notice what happens if we break a vase into pieces
then try to fix it by putting the pieces back and gluing them.
If we do a good job, it will be difficult to tell where the cracks
of the joints are, we’ll probably see a hair-line crack where we
can’t insert a pin or a sharp razor blade. Isn’t this exactly the
same case as the cladding stones used in covering the pyramids? If
we follow the same technique to build the pyramids We would Break
the quarry into pieces, move it to the construction site and put the
pieces back next to each other as they were in the quarry, achieving
both the high speed and great accuracy.
SEE IT CAN Really WORK...
I found many proofs and evidence that support my Theory and it was
generally accepted by all those who read or new about it, I had no
disagreement at all in the last 5 years.
For full details visit
http://www.hanyra.com/index_files/page0008.htm
Steven Martin's Theory
An alternate theory that is simple and practical -
submitted by our visitor Steven Martin (sketches © Steven Martin)
Note: Click on each image to enlarge
Hypothesis of Construction of the Pyramids
of the Valley of Giza
by Carlos Eduardo Rodríguez Varona
The
following hypothesis tries to demonstrate the probable technology
(skill) used for the construction, specifically the elevation
(increase) and location to certain height, of the constructive
elements that compose the Egyptian pyramids of Gizeh's valley, in
specific Keops's pyramid. There is exposed a theory that uses two
types of ramps: those of static character, placed inside the body of
the pyramid, constructed with the body of this one; and smaller
others of dynamic character, located on the steps of the levels, of
structure flexible and changeable, easy to move and maneuver with
regard to the previous ones. Presenting both an angle of inclination
almost void in the slope.
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