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Riddle of the Pyramids: Why De Mille didn't need all those slaves
The Observer ^ | Sunday December 30, 2001 | Paul Webster in Paris

Posted on 12/31/2001 12:33:44 PM PST by John Farson

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To: wacsog10
Knew that. A composite structure makes the most sense. I doubt that anyone could have cracked or sawn granite to 1mm over dimensions such as the blocks in the pyramids.
41 posted on 12/31/2001 1:56:03 PM PST by Carry_Okie
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To: Billy_bob_bob
..."Now, can this guy tell us who built the Sphinx?"...

I have less curiosity about the pyramids than the Sphinx. There is a theory that it was built at a different age and the pictures and writing were added waaaay after it was built. Some say it is pre-flood because of it's horizontal water damage marks. If rain wore it down it would have vertical marks.

42 posted on 12/31/2001 2:00:47 PM PST by chuckles
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To: Restorer
I don't nescessarily agree with the theory, but there is a bit of truth here. The ancients made a different concrete than we know. The mortar in the Pantheon and the breakwaters at Herculeum were in effect synthetic zeolites. They outlasted patches made in more recent ages. These naturally occurring materials were evidently developed by trial and error and then consumed to exhaustion. The zeolite concrete was more durable and would be more expensive today by a 7x factor which is why it isn't used much.

The whole question was posed by Lavosier when during Napoleanic occupation of Egypt, the French discovered a finely made quarzite vase thousands of years old from Egypt, which could not be duplicated in 18th century France. He reasoned that it was molded from a plastic mass. Could be. They weren't dumb just limited in their resources.

43 posted on 12/31/2001 2:24:28 PM PST by JeanLM
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To: My2Cents
So, what's the article trying to say? That the slavery of Hebrews is a myth? This should fit-in well with those who think the Holocaust was fantasy....

I can't decide which part of this comment is more grotesque: the elevation of the Holocaust to the status of Holy Writ, or the equation of non-belief in certain parts of the Bible with "Holocaust denial"....

44 posted on 12/31/2001 2:25:57 PM PST by Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy
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To: John Farson
It is January 1, not April 1. Bogus thread alert.
45 posted on 12/31/2001 2:28:12 PM PST by crystalk
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla; wacsog10
...the Pyramid builders lived as free men, not as slaves. Lucius Cornelius Sulla (18)

There are extensive periods of time each year where a great deal of the population was out of work, due to flooding. They were put to work, paid, fed etc. by the Pharaohs. It kept them busy and happy with their rulers. Hence there was no need for slaves. wacsog10 (27)

DeMille could have used you guys when he was hammering together his epics.

OTOH, Cecil created history out in La-La Land where spectacle trumps accuracy.


46 posted on 12/31/2001 2:30:03 PM PST by henbane
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To: Restorer
Roman mortar has stood up very nicely for more than 2000 years. So it's not impossible that the Egyptians could have accomplished something similar.
47 posted on 12/31/2001 2:34:41 PM PST by Cicero
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To: Carry_Okie
Pyramid was not made of igneous rock. Was made mostly of limestone

 

A Quick Look at the Great Pyramid
... Granite blocks were used in some of the internal features, such as the King's Chamber,
while limestone blocks were used for most of the body of the pyramid. A ...
www.primenet.com/~kjohnson/quickgp.htm - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

Encyclopedia Smithsonian: The Egyptian Pyramid
... itself. Some of the limestone casing was brought from ... rooms were cased with granite
from Aswan. Marks of ... to build the Great Pyramid; modern estimates of the ...
Description: Short article tells how the pyramid evolved and explores how they were built.
Category: Kids and Teens > School Time > ... > Ancient History > Egypt > Pyramids
www.si.edu/resource/faq/nmnh/pyramid.htm - 12k - Cached - Similar pages

48 posted on 12/31/2001 2:44:13 PM PST by dennisw
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To: John Farson
Congratulations on a great post. The replies demonstrate what a great resource we have in FR for analysis and determination.

This is a great warm-up exercise, in between politicians.

49 posted on 12/31/2001 2:46:39 PM PST by NJJ
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To: Thinkin' Gal; Jeremiah Jr
Pyramid Bump.
50 posted on 12/31/2001 2:52:49 PM PST by 2sheep
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To: Carry_Okie
Would these cast stones be sealed? I know you say a dry mixture would be used. All the more reason for the adjoining stones underneath not to suck the moisture from the freshly poured stones. Even relying partly on gas-diffusion the initial moisture must be evenly distributed and not pulled out by a "wicking" effect.

I am have a hard time believing that the cast stones could carry the enormous weight of the above layers without reinforcement. Especially in the arid conditions. Do you know of any other examples of this style construction used in the same time period in the same general area? Are the quarries that have been discovered, not quarries?

51 posted on 12/31/2001 3:05:38 PM PST by RGSpincich
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To: My2Cents
Slaves and levied labor is still needed to assemble the pyramid. The Bible mentions the making of bricks and quarry stones. Bricks being the most prominent product the Hebrew slaves must provide to the Pharoah. Actually the theory fits more closely to what is mentioned in scripture.
52 posted on 12/31/2001 3:08:10 PM PST by Fee
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Comment #53 Removed by Moderator

To: John Farson
So I guess this guy used concrete coral blocks then...

Coral Castle : A Mystery in Stone

The Secrets of Coral Castle

54 posted on 12/31/2001 3:15:59 PM PST by spycatcher
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To: Cicero
I'd be interested if anybody has ever seen an example of somebody casting thousands of faux blocks of stone, sufficiently sturdy to last thousands of years while being realistic enough to fool all who see them into thinking they are solid rock.

The Egyptians were renowned for their magical practices. Maybe Gandalf did it.

I've actually done some faux rock/tile work with concrete. Getting the kind of consistent results we'd be talking about here is almost impossible, at least on the scale in question.

55 posted on 12/31/2001 3:24:28 PM PST by Restorer
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To: John Farson
Every one knows this was explained by the Quantum-qubit theory.

Now the hard part is how to explain the iron dagger blade found in one of the pyramids.

56 posted on 12/31/2001 3:29:22 PM PST by tet68
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To: Cicero
High-Performance Roman Cements Analysis.

From the digging of ancient Roman ruins, one knows that approximately 95% of the concretes and mortars constituting the Roman buildings consist of a very simple lime cement, which hardened slowly through the precipitating action of carbon dioxide CO2, from the atmosphere. This is a very weak material that was used essentially in the making of foundations and in buildings for the populace. But for the building of their "ouvrages d'art", the Roman architects did not hesitate to use more sophisticated and expensive ingredients. These outstanding Roman cements are based on the calcic activation of ceramic aggregates (testa) and alkali rich volcanic tuffs (cretoni, pozzolan) respectively with lime. The excess of unreacted lime recarbonates slowly into Ca-Carbonate. Conventional mineralogical analysis does not provide satisfactory explanation of the hardening mechanism. Yet, owing to the powerful MAS-NMR Spectroscopy investigation of these archaeological cements, one was able to distinguish two geopolymeric archaeological Roman cement analogues, dating to the 2nd. c. AD. See the scientific analysis on these high-performance Roman cements in paper nr 28 of Geopolymere '99 and in Archaeo-Analogues.


57 posted on 12/31/2001 3:37:00 PM PST by razorback-bert
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To: Fee
Slaves and levied labor is still needed to assemble the pyramid. The Bible mentions the making of bricks and quarry stones. Bricks being the most prominent product the Hebrew slaves must provide to the Pharoah. Actually the theory fits more closely to what is mentioned in scripture.

Nowhere does the Bible say that the Israelites were involved in building the pyramids, which were already there a good many centuries before the Exodus.

58 posted on 12/31/2001 3:37:27 PM PST by Restorer
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Comment #59 Removed by Moderator

To: John Farson
Bottom line is that the Egyptians had help...from who, is up for discussion.
60 posted on 12/31/2001 3:38:16 PM PST by doctor noe
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