As Petrie's data clearly points out, the "virtual south end of the Grand Gallery floor" is at the same elevation above the pyramid's base as are the bottoms of the walls of the King's Chamber. In other words, the architects designed the line of the Ascending Passage to not end at the surface of the King's Passage level (+/- 1,693.5 inches above the pyramids base), but rather at a point about 4 to 5 inches below it. See Petrie Pyr & Temples pp. 75, 83, and 95.

The floor of the King's Chamber is at the same elevation as the King's Passage, but the King's Chamber walls extend down to the lower level of the design end of the Ascending (ie, Grand Gallery) Passage.

The point I am trying to make here is that when talking about the design of the King's Chamber one must take into account that there is a grander design scheme at play - at the very least, the design of the elevation of the King's Chamber floor and walls is intimately connected to the design of the pyramid as a whole.

I have proposed an explanation for this rather curious "floor and walls" design situation, an explanation which also includes why the Great Step was a part of the pyramid's design plan, and why the line of the Ascending (ie, Grand Gallery) Passage ends 61.7 inches south of the pyramid's central vertical axis.

I should make clear that these explanations fall within the context of an overall derivation which goes far in explaning the intended design rationale for the entirety of this pyramid's interior layout. (The full derivation can be found at [www.atara.net] )

In this pyramid, as in the Khafre, Red, and Bent Pyramids, many chamber wall locations are intimately connected to the pyramid's overall interior design derivation, while the locations of walls opposite the "derived" walls appear to be located with the desire for a chamber span of a whole (or whole and a half) bumber of royal cubits. I haven't had the time to do this, but I believe it would be quite interesting to see an in depth comparison dimensional survey of all AE pyramid chambers. Perhaps someone has already done this?

Best,


Lee Cooper





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2008 08:30AM by L Cooper.