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Engineer stuns archaeology experts by rubbishing their theories about how the pyramids were built
Daily Record (UK) ^ | January 11, 2014 | Adam Aspinall

Posted on 01/18/2014 11:21:03 AM PST by SunkenCiv

Peter James believes ancient Egyptians formed the huge tombs by piling up rubble and small rocks on the inside and attaching the large bricks on the outside later rather than using giant blocks carried up ramps.

There's much debate over how the pyramids were buil AN engineer dubbed Indiana James has stunned archaeologists by rubbishing their theories on how the pyramids were built.

Peter James believes ancient Egyptians formed the huge tombs by piling up rubble and small rocks on the inside and attaching the large bricks on the outside later.

His claim challenges hundreds of years of accepted belief that the pyramids were built with giant blocks carried up huge ramps.

The structural engineer, who has spent the past 20 years studying the pyramids, reckons that would be impossible.

He explained: “Under the current theories, to lay the two million stone blocks required the Egyptians would have to have laid a large block once every three minutes on long ramps.

“The pyramids are also so tall that the ramps for the stones would have had to have been at least a quarter of a mile long.

“If that happened, there would still be signs that the ramps had been there, and there aren’t any.”

Peter, who has been an engineer for 54 years, admitted his theory would be controversial.

He said: “I’m going to have a war with archaeologists.

“They will say, ‘How would you know? You’re not an archaeologist.’

“But if you wanted a house built, would you use me or an archaeologist?

“They have never had the engineering experience.”

Peter and his team at Cintec International, based in south Wales, are world leaders in restoring ancient structures and have worked deep inside two pyramids to stop them from collapsing.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailyrecord.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: bobbrier; egypt; giza; godsgravesglyphs; grandgallery; greatpyramid; indianajames; internalramp; jeanpierrehoudin; josephdavidovits; khufu; peterjames; projectcheops; pyramid; pyramids; scanpyramids; zahihawass
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There's much debate over how the pyramids were built (c) Grant Faint

There's much debate over how the pyramids were built (c) Grant Faint

1 posted on 01/18/2014 11:21:03 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; decimon; 1010RD; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; ...
BTW, this isn't *the* Peter James, primary author of "Centuries of Darkness". And I guess this is Egypt Week at GGG.

2 posted on 01/18/2014 11:22:12 AM PST by SunkenCiv (;http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: SunkenCiv

I love it when “experts” long-held holdings are challenged sometimes by common sense.


3 posted on 01/18/2014 11:24:07 AM PST by PapaNew
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To: PapaNew

bump


4 posted on 01/18/2014 11:28:47 AM PST by GeronL (Extra Large Cheesy Over-Stuffed Hobbit)
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To: PapaNew

The Egyptians didn’t build them. Obama did.


5 posted on 01/18/2014 11:29:26 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: Gaffer

+1!


6 posted on 01/18/2014 11:31:06 AM PST by null and void (We need to shake this snowglobe up.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Is that why all the attempts to tunnel in to find hidden chambers have always encountered rubble instead of great blocks?

Oh wait...


7 posted on 01/18/2014 11:33:08 AM PST by null and void (We need to shake this snowglobe up.)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: SunkenCiv

makes more sense than any other theory i have seen before

did the archeologists think all the inside bricks were all the same as the outside layer?

it would be silly to think that.

Imagine a brick house- is the interior all brick too? or would you (if you had to) pack it solid with inexpensive material and then put the nice bricks just on the outside?


9 posted on 01/18/2014 11:36:20 AM PST by Mr. K (If you like your constitution, you can keep it...Period.)
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To: SunkenCiv
I thought this was settled science.


10 posted on 01/18/2014 11:37:42 AM PST by JennysCool (My hypocrisy goes only so far)
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To: SunkenCiv

So how did they “attach” the blocks to the rubble? They still had to raise them. The remains of the ramps are still visible, and the pyramids weren’t all built at once. The pyramid era lasted a couple of centuries.

Every once in a while, somebody dreams up a new way the pyramids were built in order to sell books. A few years ago, some Frenchman claimed the pyramids were actually made out of cement. I knew a leftist idiot who actually believed this. (He read it in a book(!) at the library, and therefore it had to be true.)


11 posted on 01/18/2014 11:41:54 AM PST by ozzymandus
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To: SunkenCiv

would a foundation of rubble have beeb sufficient for the known long-term stability of the Pyramids?? and would a foundation of rubble provide a base from which the outer layers would be/could have been laid with such precision??

while long not accepting without skepticism the stanards theories of the pyramids construction

i take with just as much a grain of salt this “experts” opinion


12 posted on 01/18/2014 11:42:24 AM PST by Wuli
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To: SunkenCiv
From Wiki:

A tell is a hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot. Over time, the level rises, forming a mound.[3] The single biggest contributor to the mass of a tell are mud bricks, which disintegrate rapidly. Excavating a tell can reveal buried structures such as government or military buildings, religious shrines and homes, located at different depths depending on their date of use. They often overlap horizontally, vertically, or both. Archaeologists excavate tell sites to interpret architecture, purpose, and date of occupation. Since excavating a tell is a destructive process, physicists and geophysicists have developed non-destructive methods of mapping tell sites.

13 posted on 01/18/2014 11:45:41 AM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: ozzymandus

The Frenchman you mention is Joseph Davidovits, he actually makes sense (which is rare), and I’m neither an idiot nor a leftist.


14 posted on 01/18/2014 11:51:28 AM PST by SunkenCiv (;http://www.freerepublic.com/~mestamachine/)
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To: SunkenCiv

I read something similar in Omni magazine a long time ago. The article I read “claimed” that the granite in the Pyramids is consistent with what a granite concrete would look like. It would be easier to transport ground-up granite which is “formed” the same way we build concrete buildings.

Not saying it is true considering the source but it is a reasonable theory.


15 posted on 01/18/2014 12:02:10 PM PST by thejokker
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To: SunkenCiv

....from that photo ....looks like they didn’t put any of the large block in place.


16 posted on 01/18/2014 12:02:35 PM PST by spokeshave (OMG.......Schadenfreude overload is not covered under Obamacare :-()
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To: SunkenCiv

17 posted on 01/18/2014 12:02:53 PM PST by Mount Athos (A Giant luxury mega-mansion for Gore, a Government Green EcoShack made of poo for you)
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To: SunkenCiv
Seems easy to prove or disprove this. Drill into the core and see what's in there.

He explained: “Under the current theories, to lay the two million stone blocks required the Egyptians would have to have laid a large block once every three minutes on long ramps.

I haven't heard a good explanation of how they got around this one.

18 posted on 01/18/2014 12:16:45 PM PST by DManA
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To: null and void
Is that why all the attempts to tunnel in to find hidden chambers have always encountered rubble instead of great blocks?

I don't know the guy's full theory and I'm tooo lazy and apathetic to click on the link, but my guess is that they pile the rubble, put down the blocks, then remove the rubble.
19 posted on 01/18/2014 12:17:53 PM PST by fr_freak
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To: SunkenCiv
Modern researchers often underestimate the capabilities of the ancients. Moving the blocks wouldn't have been all that difficult if they used these to roll the stones rather than slide them.

My guess is that this guy is right about the rubbish (stone debris, etc.) fill. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever gone tearing into the pyramids to see what's behind the first layer or two of stone, so it can't be proved that it's all stone block construction. That's just an assumption made by people who don't build things.

It makes sense that the Egyptians would build the structure in slices; lay down a course of stone for the perimeter and internal structures, fill with rubbish, add to the ramp, and repeat. As they went up, the ramp would continue up. Once they finished, they would start the outer finish and tear the ramp back down. If they used the rockers to turn the stones into rollable cylinders, the ramp wouldn't have been all that long. Or, it could have wrapped around the structure. In either case, there would be little evidence for its existence once the site was cleaned up.

20 posted on 01/18/2014 12:22:25 PM PST by Redcloak (Winter is coming.)
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