Ronald Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anthony Wrote:
> ------------------------------------
>
> > 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).
> > 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.) ...
>
>
>
> The fact that we have the Subterranean
> ('burial')Chamber, the Queen's ('burial')Chamber
> and the King's Chamber, of which three at least
> one is the result of the possibility of Khufu's
> early demise, indicates that, imo, these chambers
> were not planned in advance, but designed at and
> built from the very moment that the new situation
> (the survival of Khufu) occured. For such
> circumstance, the wonderful characteristic of the
> Ancient Egyptians, namely having been intuitive
> builders, was utterly suitable.
Hello Ronald,
It is not known what the Subterranean Chamber and Queen's Chamber were intended to be for.
The "contingency burial chamber" hypothesis is exactly that: a hypothesis, and one that does not, IMO, stand up to close scrutiny at all well.
> The most planning was needed not for the interior
> design, but for the quarrying, shaping,
> transport/supply and the placement of the
> stone-blocks forming the horizontal courses. After
> all, the very narrow core of the pyramid (the
> chambers and passages), represent only a tiny
> fraction of the overall stone mass.
It strikes me that here you are erroneously lumping the
designing of the Pyramid's interior in with the
planning required for the "quarrying, shaping, transport/supply and the placement of the stone-blocks forming the horizontal courses".
It is worth noting that the building of the upper Passages and Chambers, and the astonishing Grand Gallery were a very different and much more demanding proposition to the comparatively easier to build core of the Pyramid's superstructure.
MJ