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....Now, in corridor (A) it is evident that there could have been a strong downward thrust and the girdle-stones served to break the pressure of the blocks, forming the upper part of the corridor, on those in the lower part. In fact the girdle-stones served to prevent the pavement, sides and ceiling from forming uninterrupted sliding planes in the masonry: that is, they served to bond the inclined courses of the corridor with the horizontal ones in the rest of the nucleus masonry. All the blocks in the northern part of corridor (A) are girdle-stones and this is logical as the maximum thrust was here. From this point upwards the girdle-stones become farther apart and finally disappear at the south end where there was the minimum thrust, and in any case opposed by the girdle-stones lower down.

Maragioglio. L’architettura delle piramidi menfite, Parte IV, 1965, 116.