How to Build a Pyramid

[image]

Forwarded to me by Stewart Brand is an amazing article from Archaology Magazine on the construction of the Great Pyramids. After analyzing a 25 year old micro-gravimetric study that showed a spiraling sub structure, it was determined that the pyramids were built with a spiraling ramp as part of the internal structure.

[image]

A microgravimetry survey of the Great Pyramid in the 1980s yielded the enigmatic image at right. Less dense areas (indicated in green) seem to correspond to an internal ramp proposed by Jean-Pierre Houdin (diagram). (Dassault Systemes; Courtesy EDF)

While many have asserted that a ramp, either spiraling or straight, may have been used, this study gives evidence of this ramp as an internal structure that was then covered up as the pyramid was completed.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

More from History

What is the long now?

The Long Now Foundation is a nonprofit established in 01996 to foster long-term thinking. Our work encourages imagination at the timescale of civilization — the next and last 10,000 years — a timespan we call the long now.

Learn more

Join our newsletter for the latest in long-term thinking

Long Now's website is changing...