MJ Thomas Wrote:

> The only thing that clearly sets Khufu’s pyramid
> aside from its companions is its having passages
> and chambers with shafts high up in the
> superstructure.
> And this is based on the not unreasonable
> assumption that no other pyramid has passages and
> chambers (with or without shafts) high up in its
> superstructure.

There's also the bifurcation of the sides. The existence of the grotto and the fact that a tunnel was cut through existing structure to connect it to the rest of the passages. The natural fissure just to the north may be unique among the pyramids (though one at Khafre's would not be surprising). Moveable doors at the King's Chamber are not repeated in other pyramids. It's the only pyramid with air shafts. It's size sets it apart (except for Khafre's) to the degree that the others could have been built using the methods usually attributed to them.

While there are natural caverns at some other pyramid, I believe this is the only one to have them incorporated into the structure (in two places no less- - at the grotto and in the descending passage.). This is the only pyramid in which "foreign" sand has been found. Of course, if it existed elsewhere there would be a very low probability it would be known, but this is so incredible it always bears repeating. It's (the pair) is the last of the great pyramids. After these, time and effort put into pyramids plummeted.

It's part of the only series of pyramids known to have an alignment with the seasons. These point SW toward Heliopolis. There are large post holes around the area. I believe the girdle stones in the ascending passage are unique to this structure.

There are many more things that make it unique but they may be coincidental.

> Though it is not known for certain how the 4th-5th
> Dyn pyramids were built (i.e. raising the blocks
> into place) I see no reason to invoke anything
> beyond ramps, ropes, levers/fulcrums, mass
> manpower, and sheer guts and determination to
> achieve the impossible.
> As to its purpose, I can’t see it as being
> anything more than part of a job creation scheme,
> a tomb for the king/pharaoh, and a monument to the
> king/pharaoh.
> Can you say what, in your view, other purposes it
> served?

Ramps were not the primary means for lifting stones of the Great Pyramid. They are simply ruled out by the lack of evidence for them. Sure, it's not impossible, nothing is impossible, they could have been made of sand and paved with tefla and they just blew away over time. But there's no evidence for ramps. The actual evidence loudly says there were no ramps. The quarry is a U-shaped pit to the south. The tops of the U ramp up toward the pyramid but it is far too close to continue upward at a manageable angle.

Levers and fulcrums are a virtual impossibility. There simply isn't time to lever these up the sides.

Manpower and guts alone can not move a mountain. The size of this mountain is so great that they would starve if they tried.

> > > Sorry, I can’t see where a “greater
> > availability
> > > of water” comes into this.
> > > Please could you elaborate?
> > > Thanks.
> > >
> > > MJ

This is what I'd like to know as well and is the crux of the whole matter, I believe. This area appears to have been a critical farming area to the ancients. It is the "horizon" from which the herbs came. Not only does water account for how it might have been built but may also be much of the reason it was built. It's not only this pyramid that is heavily associated with water but some of the South American and Egyptian pyramids to the south. Even some of the large mounds have been found to have underground streams.

The water has dried up and now lies close by under the surface. The annual rainfall has decreased as well. There was probably a western arm of the Nile which flowed by this point but today it's headwaters are being pumped to water the thirsty cities of north Africa. The Sahara has moved ever closer to the Nile and has brought its sand right onto the Giza Plateau. Still the water runs deep under this area coming from far to the south.

Long in the past there was a fiord (probably just to the west of Giza) running all the way back to Aswan. As this filled in the limestones of Giza had plenty of time develop caverns. These caverns remained when the river changed directions and flowed east of Giza.

I think Make-Work is a modern concept. It's difficult to imagine ancient peoples doing work that had no purpose. Most ancient people had little choice but to toil continuously for the bare necessities of life and would hardly be eager to move around piles of rock just to stay busy. There were possibly several sufficient reasons to build these and it wouldn't be surprising if they even had some fun at it but it seems improbable that they were intended as a means to keep people busy or merely as a tomb for a single god.

Among its other functions, perhaps the Great Pyramid served as a launcher for many Pharoahs. It wasn't so much a tomb as a place where people came to see a new God be launched.






____________
Man fears the pyramid, time fears man.