MJ Thomas Wrote:
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> Hello Ronald,
>
> You write, 'Why does the QC (most probably)
> doesn't have such 'relieving chambers' then ? If
> the QC at first was meant to be the actual burial
> chamber (in case Khufu had passed away), why
> doesn't it bear such chambers ?'
>
> The obvious answers are:
>
> 1) the Queen's Chamber was never intended to be or
> act as the king's burial chamber,
You don't know that. Even Khufu/his architects couldn't know if the QC was going to be the final burial chamber while they were constructing it. Nobody could predict the exact moment of death of Khufu. That is why - indeed - the pyramid was designed from beginning to end. Every stage was foreseen, but Khufu's ultimate wish apparantly was to be buried in a chamber high up in the pyramid's body.
and therefore
> had no need to be the same in size and appearance
> as the King's Chamber.
>
> 2) The relieving chambers were introduced above
> the King's Chamber to resolve the problem of one
> of the ceiling blocks cracking during construction
> (see my post re Petrie's comment on this crack)
Possible, but why then 5 of such chambers ? I think one chamber had done the job in that particular case (the cracked ceiling block). The fact there are FIVE 'elevated cavities' ('relieving chambers', actually an odd term), forces me to give the most credit to gables placed high above the highest level of the GG to prevent them to penetrate the GG.
Thanks for your explanation.
Ronald.
> You write, 'I said that maybe the GP was not
> sufficiently pre-planned, but for the same money,
> the architects knew very well that, because of a
> pre-planned GG and a pre-planned height of the KC,
> the gables hàd to be elevated, to avoid damage.'
>
> As I have already explained (hopefully), the Grand
> Gallery's south end is - given its width and
> position relative to the KC - a small problem
> area, and the 'relieving' chambers are
> self-evidently far, far in excess of what was
> needed to resolve this problem.
> On the other hand, if you have a ceiling beam
> crack before the Chamber is finished and are not
> in a position (for whatever reason) to replace it,
> then the 'relieving' chamber is a simple and
> effective solution to the problem.
>
> It is possible, of course, that the Pyramid's
> architect foresaw the potential problem with
> spanning a 10rc gap with a single block and
> designed the 'relieving' chambers before work
> started on what was to become the King's Chamber.
>
> MJ