MJ Thomas Wrote:
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> Hello Don,
>
> You asked, 'Was the Great Pyramid ever really a
> complete pyramid shape ?'
>
> Anthony opines, 'Almost certainly, based on the
> level of finishing of the remaining casing
> stones.'
>
> These few casing stones are at the base of the
> Pyramid.
> The Pyramid has 203 extant courses.
> If it had been completed, then it would have had
> something like 217 courses.
> I fail to see how a handful of well finished
> casing blocks at base level can tell us that the
> remaining 216 or so courses were equally
> finished.
That is generally the result when one focuses on one pyramid instead of all of them.
The dressing of the casing stones was the last part of the project, after the pyramid was completed structurally. It is also reported that they were dressed from the top down (which makes sense, since the shavings and debris would damage already finished blocks if they did them from the bottom up). The first order of business, however, would be to begin near the entrance (making it perfect from a close inspection as one entered the pyramid proper) and would expand the dressing around the pyramid based on time available before the king's death. Since the blocks we see are far removed from the entrance, and near the bottom, it is almost certain that the pyramid itself was structurally completed, and in all likelihood, finished from a dressing point as well.
> There is evidence (so I believe) that a lot of the
> Pyramid's casing was stripped off and used in
> buildings in and around what is now Cairo.
> But even this doesn't tell us that the Pyramid was
> completed.
See above. The evidence for this sequence of completion is available in the two pyramids that sit next to Khufu's on the plateau.
> Compare Khufu's pyramid to Khafre's.
> The latter still has a very noticable covering
> (casing) at its top (I've yet to learn how many
> courses are involved).
> I suggest that this is evidence - albeit
> circumstantial - that Khufu's pyramid was not
> completed.
You are incorrect in that conclusion then, for reasons clearly cited above.
> If we look closely at the interior of Khufu's
> pyramid in and around the King's Chamber area
> (particularly the Antechamber) we see
> comparatively shoddy workmanship (see Petrie).
> Is this evidence that the "site foreman" wasn't
> around when this part of the Pyramid was being
> constructed?
Of course not. It is evidence that the fine dressing of this part of the pyramid was not important to the builders.
> Or could it be that at this stage the Pyramid was
> being completed in a tearing hurry?
See above.
> And what is the most likely reason for such a
> thing happening?
> A King shuffling off his mortal coil before his
> tomb was finished, perhaps...
Not likely, for the reasons cited above.
Anthony
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.