The accuracy of the leveling and orienta-
tion to north of the Great Pyramid has long
been admired and the focus of much dis-
cussion as to how this could have been
achieved by the ancient builders. The ques-
tion is all the more puzzling in that the
accurate layout of the pyramid is a kind of
"chicken and the egg" problem. The survey
of a true square oriented to the meridian is
most accurately done on a leveled surface,
but where the surface is to be finely leveled
depends on the exact position of the true
square. This at least was the case with the
two largest Giza pyramids, for the fine level-
ing which is so admired was not carried out
over the entire area to be occupied by the
pyramid base, but only as a narrow panel
which would receive the lowest course of the
pyramid casing.

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