Posted on 05/26/2011 10:18:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A robot has sent back the first images of markings on the wall of a tiny chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt that have not been seen for 4500 years. It has also helped settle the controversy about the only metal known to exist in the pyramid, and shows a "door" that could lead to another hidden chamber.
The pyramid is thought to have been built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu, and is the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing. It contains three main chambers: the Queen's Chamber, the Grand Gallery and the King's Chamber, which has two air shafts connecting it with the outside world. Strangely, though, there are two tunnels, about 20 centimetres by 20 centimetres, that extend from the north and south walls of the Queen's Chamber and stop at stone doors before they reach the outside of the pyramid (see diagram).
The function of these tunnels and doors is unknown, but some believe that one or both could lead to a secret chamber. Zahi Hawass, Egypt's Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, describes the doors as the last great mystery of the pyramid.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientist.com ...
Great article as always. Thanks for pinging me.
But some of those comments simply border on moronic. Those idiots who continue to believe the Ancient Egyptians were visited by space people are probably wearing the same tin hats the global warming freaks put on.
The cool part is that the Teflon coating does not allow mummy curses do not stick to robots....
Bump of interest.
Would you rather hear from the Islamacists?
The only thing you’d hear from them, as you watched them blow up the pyramid is, “Allahu Akhbar”
Ya know, your comment brings to mind again a notion I’ve expressed to Muslims before: if the god of Islam is so great that he could make a universe and use the weather to change the course of wars and appear to prophets, why has this so powerful god allowed the vast array of archaeological monuments to remain to this day only to have to rely upon feeble men to destroy them now? ... The usual reply is that allah wants these latter-day believers to exercise their devotion to allah. [Of course, that means that this allah is a petty being, not a god of the universe.]
I think they lack faith in the power of their Allah myself, which is why they destroy any evidence of all other faiths.
ping
The mooselimbs are exhibiting a variation on the oldest lie satan used, that by self-selecting a task thought up by the huamn doing something FOR God the doer can earn righteousness, as if one can do something for which God owes the doer.
Interesting.
Thx.
I don’t care how much he brags, or brags on himself. He knows what he is doing, which is preserving Egypt’s amazing history. Hawass knows that the more people become enthusiastic about saving these treasures, the greater chance there is of saving them.
He’s done a fantastic job during this revolution. As far as I can tell, he’s earned the power he’s got. Leave in in a position of saving this heritage; who else have they got that can do as effective a job of mobilizing public interest all around the world?
SunkenCiv, you’re the best! Thank you!
SunkenCiv, you’re the greatest
What a silly question. Unless you know all the high level staff in that department, you can't answer the question. I do know from experience that there are very few jobs that only one individual is capable of succeeding at. If Abdul Abulbul Amir works as an assistant to that idiot and he can step in and do as good or better a job without grating on the nerves documentary viewers around the globe, then so be it. Frankly you don't need the director for a job like that anyway, just an articulate and informed spokesperson.
In 1997, Islamofascists murdered at least 57 tourists at or near the Luxor temple. I’m glad you made it in one piece. I’ve never been there, but would love to go. First I’d like to be sure that there will be no recurrence of such attacks; second, I’d like to be sure that my tour guide wasn’t Zahi “Zowie” Hawass.
Al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, a terrorist group which will probably have at least some power in Egypt in the near future, carried out the mass murder. According to the BBC, “several people were arrested for the attack but none stood trial.”
It may be a good time to post this blast from the past.
I tried that pyramid of the apocalypse, but never could make any money at it. And I lost a lot of friends whom I’d tried to sign up under me, in my quest to be diamond direct.
The use of red (I guess that’s red ocrhe) to sketch in both where to carve and where to paint (depending on the context) would lead me to a similar conclusion as yours.
Well, they may have been visited by space people, but there’s absolutely no proof of it, at all, whatsoever. Wild prodigies in the ancient skies were very likely natural objects. The entire series of Ten Plagues are pretty obviously related to crap raining down — “hail” arriving with sufficient force to kill livestock means meteorites. Lots of ‘em.
I’m the best, and the greatest? Okay, I’m ready to take over Zahi’s job.
I do find Hawass horrendously annoying, and he’s also a massive Jew-hater.
Oh, wait, here I’m supposed to have something else, beginning with “however”.
;’)
He’s the Egyptian gov’ts face in the area of Egyptian antiquities, and he brooks no equals. When Gantenbrink built a robot to explore these very shafts, and did it with proper permission etc, he announced the findings. ZAHI has an exclusive on that privilege — so Gantenbrink, his associates, and his robot were kicked out. G even offered the robot to them so they could continue the exploration, NOPE forget it.
Nick Reeves used non-invasive techniques to look for unknown tombs in the Valley of the Kings, then got accused of smuggling artifacts or some BS, spent the next three years getting completely exonerated, but can’t work in Egypt now. And a year or two ago Hawass was denying that Reeves had “discovered” anything with the non-invasive techniques, even though he basically showed them where to dig (the so-called KV-64 site) — and in a genius-level non-sequitur, Hawass then claimed that HE was going to discover this tomb “now”. Huh? Relying on psychic powers are we, Zowie?
Hawass himself was in hot water years ago, suspended from his position of the time (which was a subordinate position to what he has now), over the same type of thing, accusations that he was involved with smuggling artifacts out of Egypt for money. He fought back and won, got his job back, and eventually got a promotion.
I think his legacy will be a mixed bag of good things, really bad things, and exceedingly stupid things. His heavy-handed “restorations” using concrete, strong-armed coffin openings (and not in clean-room conditions), rejection of scientific dating, rapid-fire non-specialist clearing of tombs and other sites, and just generally trying to turn every site in Egypt into Disneyland in a drive to boost tourism, while shooting off his mouth about gambling, false accusations of looting, about the Jews, etc etc all combine to make him look like an antisocial buffoon.
The good things include trying to keep some popular sites from further deterioration, and trying to boost education about Egypt’s ancient (non-Arab, pre-Muzzie) past among Egypt’s youth.
And, as was pointed out, he’s better than any probable replacement when the Islamofascists take over. Y’know, assuming they do. That’s a good thing.
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