Pyramids of the World

[gtc]

This was an interesting read, if perhaps a bit far fetched:
http://www.amazon.com/Giza-Power-Plant-Technologies-Ancient/dp/1879181509

On a related note, has anyone here visited the Coral Castle in Florida?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

The wildest thing about Tulum (for me) was standing on that big stone slab where guys used to get their beating hearts cut out. Crazy looking at the same scenery/sky as a lot of people did right before they became part of the hereafter. Kinda' surreal.

I bet we could have construction tolerances similar to those witnessed in ancient Egypt if they (1) made the architect second only to the Pharoah (they got that one correct) and (2) used whatever labor necessary at whatever cost necessary rather than constantly using the low bidder!

(I imagine having it wrong being punishable by death is a pretty good incentive to get it correct too...)

[Joeaksa]

Spent a lot of time in the ME and enjoyed Cairo. Several friends of mine are still based there.

[K.B.]

April 2010 I was lucky enough to get into the Kings chamber of the great pyramid alone. My dream come true. I laid down in the sarcophagus and hummed a low hum. The entire room vibrated and resonated. Very freaky! This acoustic vibration was probably by design and not by accident.

On another note:
The sphinx upper body exhibits a high degree of water erosion. When in the last 5000 years has it rained in the desert? It is likely older than we surmise.

The head of the sphinx is disproportionate from the rest of the sphinx. The sculptors did not make mistakes like that. The head was obviously carved out later in the image of an egyptian ruler out of a larger but eroded head.

My entire time in Egypt(a week) I only met one honest man. This is the home of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves, only the thieve ratio is much higher. You have heard of stories of the tomb robbers, and of the limestone facing that used to be on the pyramids but was stolen to build the mosques of Cairo. Khufu (Cheops) probably stole the credit for the great pyramid but it may have been standing there far earlier. The lack of heiroglyphics in the great pyramid is a testament to an earlier build date.

Food for thought.

[teenerted1]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

"According to science" mankind has been around for 200,000 years, but i can't help but wonder why they waitied until just 5000 years ago to start building stuff and why they started building the same giant stuff all over the world?
Curious ....... very curious

man hadn't discovered how to make BEER yet. until then we didn't need to advance past hunter/gatherer.

[craigster59]

A good friend of mine went to Egypt and did a 2 week tour with Dr. Zahi Hawass, the famed Egyptian archeologist. He was able to go "behind the ropes" and see a lot of stuff most of us would never be able to see. He said the paintings and colors of the heiroglyphics were vivid amazing, as if painted yesterday. This is a guy who takes some very wild and odd trips and said this was "hands down" the most amazing trip of his lifetime.
http://www.drhawass.com/

[K.B.]

Why Dr Hawass Resigned
Q: Dr. Hawass, for many years you have been the image of modern Egyptology. Why are you leaving now?

A: “I am leaving because of a variety of important reasons. The first reason is that, during the Revolution of January 25th, the Egyptian Army protected our heritage sites and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, in the last 10 days the army has left these posts because it has other tasks to do. The group now in charge of the protection of these sites is the Tourist Police, but there are no Tourist Police to do this either. Therefore, what happens? Egyptian criminals, thieves (you know, in every revolution bad people always appear…), have begun to destroy tombs. They damaged the tomb of Hetep-ka at Saqqara, the tomb of Petah-Shepses at Abu Sir and the tomb of a person called Em-pi at Giza. They attacked a storage magazine at Saqqara and we do not yet know how many artifacts are missing; they opened two storage magazines at Giza; one tomb dated to the 19th Dynasty, the only one in the Delta in fact, was damaged at Ismaïlia; and a store at El-Qantara East has been broken into and looted for antiquities. People have begun to build houses and to excavate at night, everywhere, putting heritage sites all over the country at risk. I had to write a report and I sent it to the Director of UNESCO. That is why at the meeting of the Egyptian cabinet yesterday I had my speech prepared already and I said: “I cannot stay in Egypt and see antiquities being stolen when I cannot do anything to stop it!” This situation is not for me! I have always fought to return stolen artifacts to Egypt. I did fight Ahmed Ezz as well, the man in the Parliament, who was the most powerful man, because he wanted to allow antiquities to be sold in Egypt again.
The second reason is that there are two crooks in the Antiquities Department, who have accused me of stealing antiquities and doing other illegal things all of the time. Their files talk about this. A third person started saying similar things, a university professor who was the Antiquities Director for almost 6 years before me, who never accomplished anything in that time. As a corrupt man, he even gave his signed permission to a rich lady from another Arabic country to take manuscripts out of Egypt! These three people encouraged young Egyptians to protest against me personally, to shout outside my office that they needed jobs. Sadly, I cannot give a job to everyone, but I did find funds to provide nearly 2000 training positions. In response to the horrible rumors that I am stealing antiquities. How could this be?! How could a man who has given his life to protecting and promoting antiquities, be accused later of stealing them?! Because of all of these things, I believe that if I stay in my position for another six months, I will never be able to protect the antiquities I love and I will never be able to work during this mess. All my life, I have been excavating, discovering, writing books and giving lectures all over the world. My work is responsible for bringing many tourists to Egypt, which helps our economy. But now I cannot do this! Therefore, I decided to resign”.

(I added the bold -KB)