Egypt's chief archaeologist skeptical of 'inside ramps' theory on Great Pyramid building
From the ancient Greeks to today's techno-geeks, many have asked this question: How was something this huge built with such precision?...
Now French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin has reopened this conversation with a controversial proposal that the giant tomb of the pharaoh Khufu (Cheops to the Greeks), who reigned from about 2589 B.C. to 2566 B.C., was built from the inside out with the use of internal ramps.
The theory challenges decades of archaeological thought about how the pyramid was built, and graces the cover of the current Archaeology magazine, published by the Archaeological Institute of America. But Egypt's chief archaeologist isn't impressed."I receive a theory every day," says Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities...
In Cairo last week, Hawass heard Houdin's presentation of his belief that the pyramid builders constructed a series of ascending internal ramps to lift the blocks from the ground and into place. The ramps remain inside the pyramid, detectable by sensors, Houdin says...
Microgravimetry, which can detect hollows beneath closed spaces, along with ground-penetrating radar could reveal the hidden internal ramps, Houdin says. But Hawass says he's not in favor of such testing, for now."The pyramids built directly after Khufu's do not have any evidence of an internal ramp," Hawass says by e-mail.
And [John Romer, author of The Great Pyramid: Ancient Egypt Revisited, released in April] dismisses Houdin's idea."In reality, huge amounts of well-documented facts exist concerning the genuine building methods employed," he says."Quite simply, we see the outline where a ramp ends in a quarry."
Related Links
How to build a pyramid (Bob Brier, Archaeology)