I understand that because of earthquakes and settling of masonry above the gable, the north wall of the King's Chamber complex was thrust towards the Grand Gallery, opening the gable and cracking the granite roof beams.

Antipating the loading problems with respect to the Grand Gallery, it appears the builders decided to spead the load using a gable, and below this attempting to 'tie' the north wall to the south wall using granite beams in tension.
By the time Khufu was built they must have gained an appreciation of the forces at work inside large stone structures through experience and presumably realised that the forces near the periphery of the pyramid were much smaller, yet they constructed a massive gable above the entrance. The use of such gables cannot therefore be claimed to have had purely practical purpose. Might we see here a kind of marriage between "stress analysis" and symbolic form; architectural features hidden within the pyramid intended for gods or powers to read?

The Queen's Chamber has the same form as the King's. The former appears designed in whole numbers of cubits (although I know there are some on this board who would question this). The King's Chamber, from floor to gable appears to measure 40 cubits and has a floorplan of 20 X 10 cubits. If this true then the idea that the relieving chambers have an additional symbolic function may not be so ridiculous. They made the undersides of the beams flat, to form four more additional ceilings. Would anyone with the data know if their vertical spacings correspond to course heights?

poundr17

ps. It's a bit off-topic but I came across this :-

Excerpt from "In and About Amoy" (Pitcher.1912, p.297-8).

“Twenty-five miles west of Amoy there is a famous bridge...There are natives who will tell you that man could not have lifted, by any imaginable machinery, to their present position those immense stones of which it is made. The only conclusion they can come to is, the gods must have done the work".
“The bridge is called ‘The Po-lam Bridge’—a place much frequented by foreigners residing in Amoy. It is 200 yards or more long, built upon solid stone piers each about twelve feet high. Some of the stones laid on these piers are of great length and weight. One of them is seventy feet long, five feet thick and four feet wide, weighing something like 107 tons. It always has been a question: How were they put in place?”

The author does not mention the unsupported lengths of the slabs (I believe made of granite). Has anyone run across this before?