Anthony Wrote:
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> You are selecting one pyramid out of a hundred as
> your proof that the design convention is a
> non-starter as a theft deterrent.
Not at all, Anthony.
I am saying that the dimensions of the Ascending, Descending, and Queen's Chamber passages owe everything to a combination of convention, arithmetic, and geometry and nothing to a theft deterrent.
Whether this also applies to other pyramids of the 4th Dyn and early 5th Dyn (as you know, shortly after this time pyramid interiors became more 'standardised') is not clear to me (insufficient data available), but I do think it likely.
> I ask you to look at some of the pit-burials from
> the same time period. Long, deep shafts with the
> sarcophagus at the very bottom. You can get it
> in, but you can't get it out.
I am well aware of these shafts and other AE burial places.
They have no direct bearing on the sloping passages of Khufu's pyramid.
> Khufu's pyramid was an anomaly with regards to
> having a passage that descended even part-way to
> the entrance (for more than a few feet, anyway).
Khufu's pyramid doesn't have a passage descending to the entrance.
It does, however, have a passage descending from the entrance.
Are you considering the Ascending Passage and upper section of the Descending Passage as one passage?
> The design convention was to have a small passage
> that sloped down (much like we see leading to the
> Subterranean Chamber, the first contingency burial
> chamber in case of Khufu's early demise.)
As you know, I consider your "contingency burial chamber" hypothesis to be completely wrong.
> Getting
> tomb goods...especially large, heavy objects, back
> up a couple hundred feet of steeply sloping,
> low-ceilinged passages was a nightmare.
And what, pray, has this to do with the price of cocoa?
> Petrie
> undertook it to clear out that passage, and it was
> hard work for dozens of men working all day every
> day.
I presume you are talking about the lower end of the Descending Passage.
In which case I should point out that it was the Edgar brothers who had this part completely cleared.
Petrie removed just enough material to allow himself access to the Subterranean Passage and Chamber - which explains why his measurements of the length of the Descending Passage are treated with some caution (and on his advice, at that).
> That kind of work simply can't happen at an
> operating mortuary cult location, with priests and
> guards on duty. That is the environment around
> which Khufu's pyramid was planned and eventually
> executed. However, as I said, this pyramid was
> the exception, and this is just a visual for those
> who really don't know anything about the other
> pyramids, so they can get an idea of why the
> passages in pyramids were the size they were.
I remain unconvinced by your arguments that the dimensions (width and heights) of the pyramid's passages were intended in anyway to deter robbers.
MJ
