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The Great Pyramid of Giza (29°58′41″N, 31°07′53″E) is the oldest and last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is generally believed the Great Pyramid was built as the tomb of Fourth dynasty Egyptian king Khufu (also known under his Greek name Cheops and believed to have reigned from 2606-2583 BC), after whom it is sometimes called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu. Traditionally, the architect of the pyramid was HemInwo, a relative of Khufu.
Age and location
Believed by mainstream egyptologists to have been constructed in approximately 20 years, the most widely accepted estimate for its date of completion is c. 2580 BC. This date is confirmed by archæological findings, since extensive excavations have revealed no civilisation (of sufficient population size) older than the fourth dynasty in the area.
In 1984, the Edgar Cayce Foundation, endeavoring to research the claim that the pyramids were about 10,000 years old, funded the "David H. Koch Pyramids Radiocarbon Project". The project took organic material from several places in the core of the pyramid of Giza and other pyramids so as to date their radiocarbon. This yielded results averaging 374 years earlier than the accepted date by egyptologists but much more recent than 10,000 years. A second dating in 1995 with new material obtained a date about one hundred years earlier than the historic record but with dates scattered by 400 years. This put forward interesting questions on the origin of the wood; massive quantities of wood were used and burned, and possibly old wood was used. Most of the pyramids of the old kingdom have this anomaly. Dating of more short-lived material around the pyramid (cloth, small fires, etc) yield dates nearer historical records.
An astronomical study, by Kate Spence (see below), suggests a date of 2467 BC.
However, authors such as Graham Hancock, John Anthony West, Robert Buval, and Boston University geology professor Robert Shoch in particular, have provided compelling proof that the orientation of the Giza plâteau aligns with astronomical features of the night sky that would have been observed circa 10,000 BC. This earlier date, as well as water erosion studies, namely of the Great Sphinx and surrounding enclosure, predate pharonic Egypt by seven millennia. If true, these purported astronomical observations would be the oldest known in the world, but attributing the pyramid's construction to this time frame (to an ancient civilisation that allegedly was destroyed with the abrupt end of the last Ice Age) contradicts modern scholarly views.
The Great Pyramid is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis adjacent to the outskirts of modern Cairo, Egypt in Africa. It is the main part of a complex setting of buildings that included a special walkway, two temples, three small pyramids (called the queens' pyramids), boat pits (with boats buried inside) and the mastabas for the nobles. Also there was a town for the workers along with their cemetery, bakeries, a beer factory and a copper smelting complex. More buildings and complexes are being discovered by the The Giza Mapping Project.
• Sea Peoples
• Ramesses III
• Ramesses IV
A few hundred metres south-west of Khufu's Great Pyramid lie the slightly smaller Pyramid of Khafre, one of Khufu's successors who is believed to have built the Great Sphinx, and a few hundred metres further south-west is the Pyramid of Menkaure, Khafre's successor, which is about half as tall. Khafre's pyramid appears the tallest on some photographs as it is somewhat steeper and built on higher terrain.
The Great Pyramid differs in its internal arrangement from the other pyramids in the area. The greater number of passages and chambers, the high finish of parts of the work, and the accuracy of construction all distinguish it. The walls throughout the pyramid are totally bare and uninscribed, but there are inscriptions — or to be more precise, graffiti — made by the workers on the stones before they were assembled. All the five relieving chambers are inscribed. The most famous inscription is one of the few that mentions the name of Khufu; it says "year 17 of Khufu's reign". Although alternative theorists have suggested otherwise, given its precarious location it is hard to believe it could have been inscribed after construction; even Graham Hancock accepted this, after Dr Hawass let him examine the inscription. Another inscription refers to "the friends of Khufu", and probably was the name of one of the gangs of workers. Though this doesn't offer indisputable proof Khufu originated the construction of the Great Pyramid or when building began, it does however clear any doubt he at least took part in some phase of its construction during his reign.
There are three chambers inside the Great Pyramid. These are arranged centrally, on the vertical axis of the pyramid. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built. This chamber is the largest of the three, but totally unfinished, only rough-cut into the rock.
The middle chamber, or Queen's Chamber, is the smallest, measuring approximately 5.74 by 5.23 metres, and 4.57 metres in height. Its eastern wall has a large angular doorway or niche, and two narrow shafts, about 20 centimeters wide, extending from the chamber to the outer surface of the pyramid, but blocked by limestone "doors" at several points. Egyptologist Mark Lehner believes that the Queen's chamber was intended as a serdab—a structure found in several other Egyptian pyramids—and that the niche would have contained a statue of the interred. The Ancient Egyptians believed that the statue would serve as a "back up" vessel for the Ka of the Pharaoh, should the original mummified body be destroyed. The true purpose of the chamber, however; remains a mystery.
When considering the time it would have taken to build the Great Pyramid alone, it is worth noting that the construction of the entire Giza plateau is believed to have been accomplished by three pharaohs in less than a hundred years starting with Khufu who reigned from 2606-2583 BC and ending with Menkaure 2548-2530 BC (76 years). To apply the Great Pyramid labor formula (which only provides for the physical act of dropping the stones in place) to the entire Giza plateau would require stones, even the 80-200 tonne variety some of which were quarried over 500 miles away in Aswan, to be placed ten hours a day, 365 days a year for approximately 76 years - not every few minutes, but every few seconds. This feat becomes even more impessive given beginning with king Snefru who ruled from 2630-2606 BC (leaving a span of 100 years between the beginning of his reign and the end of Menkaure's in 2530 BC), three other massive pyramids were built: the Step Pyramid of Saqqara (believed to be the first egyptian pyramid), the Bent Pyramid, and the Red Pyramid of Dashur.
• Pharaoh
Herodotus speculated that the stone blocks used in the Great Pyramid's construction were maneuvered into place by raising them up a succession of short wooden scaffolds. Another possibility proposed by the ancient scholar Diodorus Siculus was that the giant blocks were dragged along a system of ramps to the necessary height. More recently, Mark Lehner speculated that a spiralling ramp, beginning in the stone quarry to the southeast and continuing around the exterior of the pyramid, may have been used. In Lehner's model, the stone blocks may have been drawn on sleds lubricated by water. Another source claims milk was a lubricant.
The most precisely cut stone blocks were reserved for the outside. Once in place their corners were smoothed to give an almost shiny outer appearance of the geza pyramid. For the inner core, the blocks were cut with less precision, since there are gaps big enough to introduce an arm. These gaps were filled with rubble, mixed with gypsum. Recent studies by Gilles Dormion and Jean Patrice Goidin suggest the existence of cavities filled with sand, that could amount to 10 to 15% of the volume of the pyramid. This could reduce the amount of work required of the contruction.
See:
• List
of Cities in Egypt
• Cairo
• Sharm
El Sheikh
• King Tut - Tutankhamun
•
Nile
• Egyptian Hieroglyph
• Mummy
• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Khufu Pharaoh
List of Egypt-related topics
Egyptian pyramids
Giza Necropolis
History of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Old Kingdom
Veneration of the dead
Egyptian soul
Archaeology
Archaeoastronomy
Pyramid
• Egyptology
• Sarcophagus
• Map of Egypt
• Economy of Egypt
• Giza
• Great Sphinx of Giza
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