Egyptologists use high-tech software to analyze construction of Great Pyramid

physorg.com ^ | October 21, 2008 | Sumathi Reddy and Nia-Malika Henderson

[Mike Fieschko]

Using cutting edge technology, Egyptologist Bob Brier of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University delved into the only standing wonder of the ancient world, the Great Pyramid, and uncovered the mystery behind cracks in the massive Egyptian structure, unearthing a new room along the way.

Brier, French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin and a team of software specialists from Dassault Systems in Paris used 3-D modeling software to determine that the burial chamber's stone support beams cracked as final construction of the Giza wonder was near completion 4,500 years ago.

The team discovered that the cracks occurred when three things happened: one wall of King Khufu's burial chamber settled, stone rafters in a room above the chamber slipped, and the height of the pyramid reached 392 feet.

Brier and Houdin are presenting their findings at a Microsoft Innovation Management Forum in Seattle on Tuesday.

"I thought it was important to look back in time to look forward in time," said Simon Floyd, worldwide industry technology strategist for innovation at Microsoft and one of the organizers of the conference. "The Egyptians were great innovators. They were perhaps the first documented innovators that we could look at. I felt that this would be a fantastic sort of look back in time to see how an ancient civilization was able to do some incredible things that have been long-standing in time."

Floyd said Brier's collaboration with Houdin is especially innovative. "They've applied a fantastic new technique ... to help prove out many of his theories," he said.

The cracks had been a known but poorly understood fact about the pyramid - the largest and oldest of the three on that site - since the 1880s. The team found that the pyramid's architect, Hemienu, cut a tunnel into a sealed space above the burial chamber to assess the damage and filled the cracks with plaster that would indicate if the cracks were widening. The ancient fix-it job worked: the beams held and the pyramid was complete.

The discoveries are detailed in a book by Brier, released last week, called "The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man's Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt's Greatest Mystery." Brier will also speak Monday at C.W. Post.

[Mike Fieschko]

ping to GGG

[Pontiac]

unearthing a new room along the way.

OK, just leave us hanging. Where is the new room and what’s in it?!!!

[count-your-change]

It’s the document room where the formula for making the forms and concrete used in building the pyramids is stored and all those technical drawings for flying machines!
And..and...ann..all that stuff the space aliens left behind...yeah, that stuff!
Where is the room? It’s a secret, but if you promise not to tell anyone...........

[Pontiac]

It’s the document room where the formula for making the forms and concrete used in building the pyramids is stored and all those technical drawings for flying machines!

I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT! I told everybody that it was there and could you believe it?

NOBODY believed me!!!!!

[count-your-change]

They didn’t believe the stuff in that movie, “The Mummy” either but we gott’em now!

[SunkenCiv]

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[Ramius]

I think they used construction cranes.

No... Really.

[SunkenCiv]

houdin great pyramid site:freerepublic.com

Google

[SunkenCiv]

A spiraling ramp inside the Great Pyramid of Giza allowed builders to hoist the monument's millions of heavy stone blocks, according to a French architect. Jean-Pierre Houdin teamed up with a computer-imaging firm to create the 3-D model seen here to illustrate his theory. But Egyptian authorities say Houdin's requests to test his theory at the actual 4,500-year-old tomb have been denied. [Image from Reuters/HO]

[snip] new evidence uncovered about two-thirds of the way up the Great Pyramid supports the inside-out theory. At about the 300-foot (90-meter) mark on the northeastern edge of the pyramid lies an open notch. On a recent expedition with a National Geographic film crew, Brier, aided by a videographer with mountain-climbing experience, scaled perilous crumbling rocks to reach the notch. When he ducked inside the notch, Brier entered a small L-shaped room, which according to Houdin, figures perfectly with his theory. [end]

[SunkenCiv]

Update:

• Unlocking the Great Pyramid (broadcast tomorrow etc)
• Video Clip From Unlocking the Great Pyramid Documentary
• Great Pyramid Mystery to Be Solved by Hidden Room? -- Brian Handwerk

[uglybiker]

[patton]

yikes!

[count-your-change]

Excellent!

[ApplegateRanch]

Shovels & baskets, followed by brooms.

Bury the lower levels in sand it as it's built, so the working level is always at ground level; then when the cap is placed, remove the sand.

Same way "impregnable" castles were taken in Jack Vance's The Last castle (1966)

[ThanhPhero]

Perhaps the chamber dug by the architect to check the damage is the “new room.”

[SunkenCiv]

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The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man's Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt's Greatest Mystery by Bob Brier and Jean-pierre Houdin

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[SunkenCiv]

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Lexxtex -- the Hidden Secret of the Great Pyramid's Construction Uncovered

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The Great Pyramid Mystery Solved - National Geographic

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Khufu Reborn - Dassault Systemes

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• Great Pyramid May Hold Two Hidden Chambers
• Update: Return to the Great Pyramid [ Bob Brier & Jean-Pierre Houdin ]
• Architect Says Pyramid Built Inside Out
• Architect claims to solve pyramid secret