Clive Wrote:
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> You must realize that a Rc ruler was equivalent to
> us possessing a laptop, they were precious items
> and crafted to precision...beyond the width of
> seed.

Since quite a number of these survive, would you point me to several pictures of these and explain about the precision that they exhibit in their markings?


> Where issues arise is the use of the Rc when they
> constructed the initial groups of pyramids up to
> and including the IVth Dyn. The question is...was
> the Rc measure used to relay information for
> others to understand ratios and numerical count
> used by the designers, or were these pyramids
> built haphazardly.

Pyramids are awfully easy to build, and they'd been doing fitted stones of far more complex design (large statues, temple buildings, etc) since before the 1st Dynasty. There is no need for complex ratios and as we see, the design actually evolves over time (with some notable failures).

> The Giza site demonstrates the world’s greatest
> achievements with stone, including the use of
> granite that other nations were unable to carve.

You may be thinking of the "Red Pyramid", which is compsed of granite. Giza's mostly limestone. Only the King's chamber is granite. The Red Pyramid's interior shows that they were doing far more sophisticated work with granite in the Old Kingdom than just carving out a king's chamber and sarcophagus. Take a look at the corbels in the second picture in the Wikipedia article [en.wikipedia.org]

They were the earliest ones carving in granite, certainly -- but by the time of the pyramids of Giza they had lots of pyramid practice and lots of granite carving practice.

> So...is the length critical, and a very important
> question, was the number of divisions to the Rc
> (28) for a specific reason?

28 is the number of fingertip widths from the back of your elbow to the tip of your longest finger. It's a direct measurement. Try it on your own body and you'll come up with something very close -- the average is 28. If you're telling that illiterate stoneworker to cut a block and it needs to be 20 finger widths long, it's pretty easy to stand there and measure out what you want. Your "ruler" is with you all the time.