Hello RLH,

The "Girdle Stones" and the " Girdled Section" of the Ascending Passage are intriguing.
My understanding of them is that they could not be forced wider (east side-west side).
This makes sense to me as far as the lower end of the Passage is concerned because then it couldn't be forced apart as the granite blocks slid or were manoeuvered into place.
Which suggests that this arrangement would prevent the granite blocks from bursting into the Descending Passage, in which case perhaps we can scrap the point I made earlier about a battering-ram effect.

M & R suggest (so I believe) that this "girdling" was done to bond the Ascending Passage into the body of the Pyramid.
Previous to M & R the view was that the Ascending Passage was a late edition that resulted in the lower end of it being tunnelled down through already laid courses.
Perhaps somebody with access to M & R's book will elaborate on this.

Hmmm. I'm rambling.
I best stop here and get my thoughts (what few I have left) together

Regards,

MJ