Best explanation for Great Pyramid(s)

[James Tibbetts]

I think the engineer builds what the architect asks for.

The basic idea of engineering is to size things appropriately, not overbuild. .

[Jeff Raefield]

They where built by the Goa'uld, everyone who's seen MacGyver in Space With Guns knows this.

I thought that the Goa'uld co-opted the technology of the Ancients , but didn't actually build them. Kind of like the Romans did with the Greeks.

My theory is that ancient astronauts had warp drive technology which, as a byproduct of the energy it took to accomplish it, produced huge blocks of limestone "waste" that was left behind when they took off. The Egyptian Pharaohs just took advantage of the situation by claiming it was their tomb, rather than a space turd, that way they didn't have to figure out how to clean it up...

[Wade Lippman]

The basic idea of engineering is to size things appropriately, not overbuild. Of course, safety factors will always be employed, more so for bridges and less so for fences.

Incredible straight line.
An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist half empty, an engineer that the glass is too large.

[Wade Lippman]

Did you know?....the Washington monument is a pyramid ...not an obelisk!

I did not know that. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it said it was an obelisk. I then googled "obelisk versus pyramid" to see what the difference was. The one site that seemed on point said that obelisks were 2 sided and pyramids 4 sided, then my computer started shrieking and told me I was infected with viruses and couldn't use my computer without paying them.
I ended internet explorer with task manager and ran Super Antispyware. It found nothing. I ran Windows Defender which found the Trojan. Just for fun I reinfected the computer and ran Panda Antivirus. It found the infection, but didn't know what it was. But I suppose that is good enough.
But why didn't Windows Defender prevent the infection?
Why does Wikipedia think the Washington Monument is a pyramid?
Is Mel responsible for spreading the Trojan.
Inquiring minds want to know.

[Pat Barry]

I did not know that. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it said it was an obelisk. I then googled "obelisk versus pyramid" to see what the difference was. The one site that seemed on point said that obelisks were 2 sided and pyramids 4 sided, then my computer started shrieking and told me I was infected with viruses and couldn't use my computer without paying them..

A 2 sided structure is impossible

[Karl Andersson]

The reality probably does include use of water power, at least for transporting the blocks (I have seen scientific documentaries that show remains of canals through the pyramid sites) and for determining the exacting degree of level that many people claim ancient people couldn't achieve, but the technological hurdles Julie mentions are just a scratch on the surface of all the problems that would face people trying to use the film's hydraulic theories. Add to all the physics issues, you'd need a team of hardhat divers to go fix problems when they arose, such as jams in the transport columns, dropped blocks, etc.- or you'd have to de-water large sections when common incidents occurred. You'd think that if they did use complicated water power, they would have left more proof, or maybe instructions laying around - but ancients tended not to show too many construction shots in their art. I once tried to show the history of crane use for a safety class I was teaching and, although the Romans used cranes often (powered by water wheels or human-powered treadmills) there are only a couple accurate portrayals of them - one of them being from the sarcophagus of a wealthy building contractor. Maybe someone will find some papyrus with contract specs in a cave some day.
Karl

[Julie Moriarty]

The reality probably does include use of water power, at least for transporting the blocks (I have seen scientific documentaries that show remains of canals through the pyramid sites) and for determining the exacting degree of level that many people claim ancient people couldn't achieve, but the technological hurdles Julie mentions are just a scratch on the surface of all the problems that would face people trying to use the film's hydraulic theories. Add to all the physics issues, you'd need a team of hardhat divers to go fix problems when they arose, such as jams in the transport columns, dropped blocks, etc.- or you'd have to de-water large sections when common incidents occurred. You'd think that if they did use complicated water power, they would have left more proof, or maybe instructions laying around - but ancients tended not to show too many construction shots in their art. I once tried to show the history of crane use for a safety class I was teaching and, although the Romans used cranes often (powered by water wheels or human-powered treadmills) there are only a couple accurate portrayals of them - one of them being from the sarcophagus of a wealthy building contractor.
Karl

No doubt the water riser columns present a number of challenges. I hadn't thought of divers going into them to dislodge a jam but that could be very dangerous to the diver. Those riser columns would most likely be devoid of any light. I can't think of any possible solutions where the top cap on the riser columns would be clear or even translucent. The guy with the water-power theory showed how his idea would work with a clear plastic pipe. He knew exactly when to open and close the gates. From the structures that remain, it appears the Egyptians used massive stone walls to channel the water. If they used that as a cap on the riser columns, no light would be able to penetrate and they wouldn't know when to open the lock gate until the first stone hit it.

But your post got me to thinking of some sort of water powered lift. A water wheel would provide power to a rope lift, something along the lines of a ski lift. Building that would be less of an ambitious project than the riser column presents.

Maybe someone will find some papyrus with contract specs in a cave some day.

Would that be a green print?

[Art Mann]

The methodology in the film would necessitate the pumping of millions of gallons of water to the upper most level and for the initial fill and to compensate for leakage and evaporation. Leakage would probably have been significant without the use of metal gates and pipes. Pumping that volume of water in a short time without the use of metal pipe and power driven pumps would have been quite an accomplishment.

[Pat Barry]

The methodology in the film would necessitate the pumping of millions of gallons of water to the upper most level and for the initial fill and to compensate for leakage and evaporation. Leakage would probably have been significant without the use of metal gates and pipes. Pumping that volume of water in a short time without the use of metal pipe and power driven pumps would have been quite an accomplishment.

I doubt they had the technology to actually pump the water, let alone make a lock and dam

[David Ragan]

I was going to throw in they had the Archimedes screw:


But, that is dated to 300 BC, a few hundred years after the pyramids were built.

I find the theory of water filled canals, facilitating the leveling, and moving/working of the limestone blocks to be interesting. Seems like a lot of you think that is not viable-I don't have a working knowledge of that kind of thing.

I do like the water involvement better than the ET proposal.

[Mel Fulks]

There is guy who says the blocks were cast and the proof is he has found "hair" and debris in them.

[Art Mann]

I was going to throw in they had the Archimedes screw:


But, that is dated to 300 BC, a few hundred years after the pyramids were built.

I find the theory of water filled canals, facilitating the leveling, and moving/working of the limestone blocks to be interesting. Seems like a lot of you think that is not viable-I don't have a working knowledge of that kind of thing.

I do like the water involvement better than the ET proposal.

When talking about that far back in time, historians are only guessing as to when such a thing was invented. It could easily have been a thousand or two years earlier and no evidence remains. Still, that kind of device would move maybe several gallons a minute and lift it several feet per minute. I can't imagine scaling it up to hundreds or thousands of gallons a minute and having enough to these to lift the water in the hundreds of feet straight up.

[Raymond Fries]

Ever hear of Coral Castle? Edward Leedskalnin, a 97 lb imigrant from Latvia, built it all by himself at night. He said he knew how the pyramids were built. Many of the stones in his creation were much larger than most of them in the pyramids.

It is a pretty amazing place and I would love to visit there someday.

[Brian Ashton]

Incredible straight line.
An optimist says the glass is half full, a pessimist half empty, an engineer that the glass is too large.

And then the intelligent person asks if the glass is emptying or filling and gives the appropriate answer.

[Brian Ashton]

I doubt they had the technology to actually pump the water, let alone make a lock and dam

Maybe not to pump water to the top of a pyramid but I'd be surprised if they didn't have the ability to pump water.