Hermione Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Interestingly both shafts exit at the same
> level
> > if the casing isn't there.
> > If you believe Sakovich, then this would imply
> the
> > air shafts were used before
> > the casing was installed.
>
> A point that came up not so long ago -
> [
www.maatforum.com]
> According to a response to a query on this point that I saw on another forum, the apparent discrepancy is explained by the absence of the casing-stones.
That is incorrect. As I have said several times now, the reconstructed KCS shaft exits at the top of course 103 and the reconstructed KCS shaft exits at the top of course 102, as per Petrie's diagram. Gantenbrink's reckoning of the common shaft exits being at elevation 154c is only theoretical (gained from extending a 7:11 slope from the bottom of the KCN shaft at the 84c level to the surface of the pyramid). Nevertheless, this elevation is significant as a) it is a whole cubit elevation marked in the external course structure as the top of course 104, and b) it is the elevation at which the diagonal is 280 cubits, the same as the height of the pyramid.
One of the neglected factors in the geometry of the shafts is that
specific courses are targeted. This is even so with the lower (QC) shafts, both of which apparently target the top of course 89, at which point there is a change in the thickness of the courses. (Course 89 is 8 palms thick and course 90 is 13 palms thick.) As John Legon has pointed out, the top of course 89 (elevation 131½ cubits) is where the diagonal of the level is 330 cubits, and this elevation relates it to the KC floor level, 82c elevation, at which the diagonal is 440 cubits.
It occurred to me to look for the elevation at which the diagonal was 550 cubits (thus making a 3:4:5 relation), and this elevation is 32½ cubits, just 1 palm above the level of the entrance, at the top of course 18.
This enables me to construct the following list:
Course . . . . . . . . . Elevation . . . . . . Diagonal
18/19 . . . . . . . . . . 32½c (+1p) . . . . 550c
(50) . . . . . . . . . . . . 82c . . . . . . . . . . 440c
89/90 . . . . . . . . . . 131½c . . . . . . . . 330c
104/105 . . . . . . . . 154c . . . . . . . . . 280c