Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries, Brian Haughton [books you need to read .TXT] 📗

a pair of thick boards with curved bottom edges braced with round wooden bars. This model was found by the English archaeologist Flinders Petrie at the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri, on the west bank of the Nile, opposite Luxor. The purpose of these devices is uknown, but the Mladjovs, along with Dick Parry, believe that two semi-circular rockers could have been attached to the stone blocks to form, in effect, a solid wheelenabling them to be rolled up a ramp fairly easily and thus greatly increasing the speed of construction. The one problem with this theory is that the blocks used to build the Great Pyramid differed significantly in size, which would mean that these rocker devices would only be useful for a limited range of block sizes. Nevertheless, this theory explains-better than any other put forward so far-how some of the difficulties of constructing the Great Pyramid could have been overcome.

Throughout the interior of the Great Pyramid the walls are completely bare of official inscriptions, leading many researchers to propose alternative theories to the accepted explanation that the building was constructed as a tomb for King Khufu. However, the presence of graffiti inside the monument does strengthen the case for an orthodox explanation. This graffiti has been found on stones of all five relieving chambers above the King's Chamber, an area so difficult to access that the stones are unlikely to have been inscribed after they had been put in position, as some have proposed. One important piece of graffiti reads "Year 17 of Khufu's reign." Another refers to "The friends of Khufu." Nevertheless, though these inscriptions do provide evidence that Khufu did indeed have some connection with the pyramid, it is certainly not indisputable proof that the pyramid originated with the Fourth Dynasty pharaoh.

There have been many speculative theories put forward for the purpose of the Great Pyramid, perhaps the best known being that suggested by writer Robert Bauval, who believes that the three main pyramids at Giza represent a map on the ground of the three stars in the belt of the Orion constellation, with the Nile representing the Milky Way. Others have seen the Great Pyramid as an astronomical observatory, an ancient power plant, a Temple of Initiation (proposed by Theosophist Madame Blavatsky and many others), or the legacy of a super race of refugees from the lost continent of Atlantis. This latter idea was proposed by 20th century psychic and prophet Edgar Cayce; Cayce also predicted that a Hall of Records of the Atlantean civilization would be discovered either underneath the Sphinx or inside the Great Pyramid in 1998. The idea of hidden chambers containing vast riches on the scale of Tutankhamun's treasures, or perhaps a hoard of papyrus rolls containing ancient secrets, has an irresistable allure. In 1993, the southern shaft that runs up from the Queen's Chamber was explored by a small remote control robot equipped with a video camera, built by German robotics engineer Rudolph Ganten- brink. The robot climbed up the shaft for a distance of 213 feet before its way

was blocked by a small limestone door with copper handles. The shaft was examined again in 2003, this time by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, who sent another robot inside and discovered a further door only 10 inches beyond the first one. The robot also examined the northern shaft of the chamber and discovered the same arrangement of two limestone doors. What lies behind these mysterious doors is a question that may possibly be answered when a new robot, which is being designed and built by the University of Singapore, examines the shafts.

In August 2004, two French amateur Egyptologists, Gilles Dormion and Jean-Yves Verd'hurt, claimed to have found a previously unknown chamber underneath the Queen's Chamber in the Great Pyramid. The pair had been using ground-penetrating radar and architectural analysis and believe that this chamber may well be the final resting place of King Khufu. However, requests to excavate the feature were rejected outright by Zahi Hawass, representing the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.

It seems that only now, with the aid of 21st century technology, are we beginning to really probe the secrets of the Great Pyramid. However, whether modern investigations will reveal the body of Khufu, a Hall of Records, or a cache of ancient treasure is anyone's guess. When the Egyptians constructed this vast, complicated edifice at least 4,500 years ago, it was their likely intention to build an enigma in stone, an inscrutable symbol of the mysteries of life and death. In this, they succeeded admirably.

PART II

Unexplained

ArUfactis

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The Hazca Lines

Photograph by Bjarte Sorensen. (GNU Free Documentation License).

Aerial photo of the hummingbird drawing at Nazca.

Etched onto the surface of the desert in a remote part of southern Peru, the Nazca Lines are the world's most remarkable inscriptions. Covering an area 37 miles long and one mile wide, the patterns are only clearly visible from the air. The lines consist of 300 figures made of straight lines, geometric shapes, and pictures of animals and birds. These lines are known as geoglyphs-figures or shapes produced on the ground by clearing or arranging stones. For years, scientists and archaeologists have debated why these lines were constructed, and various theories (from the plausible to the extremely implausible) have been put forward. Suggestions have included that the lines functioned as an astronomical observatory, as ritual path

ways, a calendar, a landing strip for alien spaceships, or that they were used to map underground water supplies. The investment in time and effort required to draw the shapes in the desert floor so precisely surely indicates that the lines had a vital role in the lives of the Nazca culture. But why are they there and what purpose did they serve?

The Nazca Lines were rediscovered when commercial airlines began flights over the Peruvian desert in the 1920s. Although Julio Tello, the founder of Peruvian archaeology, had recorded the designs in 1926, it was