Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

bbc.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 246 posts

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#131

Post by qubex »

irrational wrote: post #103
qubex wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if they find an opened chamber, and that it contains artefacts that can be carbon-dated, and they turn out to be thousands of years older than conventional Egyptology expects. (I expect there will be artefacts, and I expect their dates will coincide with what we already expect, but I’m always holding out for ”new science” that needs to be explained.)

While we are imagining unlikely thing, I'm going to imagine there are instructions from aliens (yes, the same ones that actually built the pyramids, don't ya know) on how to build a faster than light drive.

Why is it unlikely? I’m certainly not suggesting aliens. Just the idea that if there is a chamber and it is unopened and contains non-stone artefacts (wood, food, fibres, bone) we could finally carbon-date the structure and corroborate or refute the prevailing wisdom on the timeline.

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#132

Post by jbmouret »

MrFantastic wrote: post #120
bertomartin wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...for some reason:" - they shouldn't be allowed to destroy such an important monument to satisfy their curiosity.

I don't think that a 12 inch hole drilled big enough for a drone in a section of the pyramid that is protected from the weather and not visible to the public is "Destroying a monument". Do you think that the DNA test of King Tut was also destruction?

If someone has the authorization to bore a hole, it will be much smaller than that (the current target would be 1-2 inches).

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#133

Post by qubex »

rurban wrote: post #94
qubex wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the contrary, it is no coincidence that it this has been found by a team comprised of (also) French academics. This is very much compatible and inspired by his work. His theory involves the Grand Gallery being a purely functional structure required to accodate a trolley that helped serve as a counterweight to heave the massive stones that relieve the weight acting upon the roof of the King’s Chamber. Implicit in t…

The anteroom, or rather the container room for the ship and horses for his last travel? Or maybe another gallery leading to a third chamber. These are my theories.

That’s the idea: an anteroom containing the accoutrements to accompany the Pharaoh on his voyage into the afterlife. According to Houdain’s theory of how they were constructed, the ”Grand Gallery” was basically a machine spade that served no ceremonial purpose whatsoever and was sealed off from the main ceremonial passageways as a bit of an embarrassment. That, in turn, is why we have been oblivious about these other spaces for so long: quite by coincidence, when breaking into the pyramid, the service tunnels were the ones the profaners quite accidentally blundered into. According to Houdain we’ve been crawling around inside the ductwork of the Waldorf Astoria for centuries.

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#134

Post by Theodores »

dbatten wrote: post #53

Does HN have any domain experts that can comment on how reliable this research is? I got super excited about the Queen Nefertiti / King Tut secret chamber theory a year or two back (which used similar methods, it seemed), and was really disappointed when it turned out to be all wrong...

No wild claims have been made, we are in the realms of safe science with nobody being taken for a ride. There is no promise of some Hollywood grade new fantasy pyramid feature, just a mystery void.

Voids have had precedents in Egyptology. My favourite being the mess the Mormons got into with the Book of Abraham. Their visionary founder guy buys some Egyptian 'scrolls' from someone who was doing the rounds taking some mummies on tour. So this was magically interpreted as the Bible Part 3, the New, new testament, a.k.a. The Book of Abraham. There were those that had seen the scrolls so they were known to actually exist however there was some big fire in Chicago and the scrolls were apparently lost.

Many decades later someone finds the scrolls in New York, they checked out to be the real deal as the illustrations were the same, including the missing bits. By now people knew a thing about how to read these things properly and the 'scrolls' that had inspired the Book of Abraham turned out to be standard funeral documents, a death certificate of sorts.

The bits that were missing from the 'scrolls' included the heads of Horus et al, therefore our Mormon friends were drawing in the heads of 'Abraham' et al. It was beyond their imagination that Egyptian figures on papyrus documents would have heads of other animals, dogs etc. So the Mormons got it completely wrong, they filled the void in with expected content - human heads - but that was an assumption too far.

So yes, this is just science, nobody is trying to found a new religion here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Abraham

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#135

Post by nkoren »

graphitezepp wrote: post #122
nkoren wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: Cleopatra and Mark Antony etc. lived closer in time to the invention of mobile phones than to the construction of the Great Pyramids. Egyptian history is deep . Funner fact: the Great Pyramids were built closer in time to the invention of mobile phones than to the construction of Göbekli Tepe. Human history is way deep. Funnest fact: if we don't fuck it up, we're still only at the dawn of history, not at th…

Yeah but I am pretty worried about us fucking it up these days.

Me too. If this is a worry of yours, though, may I suggest, in no way rhetorically, going into the "not fucking it up" business? The pay is generally terrible, but nothing beats making your own hope.

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#136

Post by ImSkeptical »

irrational wrote: post #103
qubex wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if they find an opened chamber, and that it contains artefacts that can be carbon-dated, and they turn out to be thousands of years older than conventional Egyptology expects. (I expect there will be artefacts, and I expect their dates will coincide with what we already expect, but I’m always holding out for ”new science” that needs to be explained.)

While we are imagining unlikely thing, I'm going to imagine there are instructions from aliens (yes, the same ones that actually built the pyramids, don't ya know) on how to build a faster than light drive.

But those instructions actually involve the assembly of an AI which develops nano technology, disassembles our world and solar system in order to build and dispatch pyramid assembling drones throughout the galaxy.

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#137

Post by dotancohen »

radiorental wrote: post #56
kevindqc wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Egypt's main pyramid sites in Giza are accessible to the general public every day, all year long. Although you can go inside the Great Pyramid of Khufu when you visit, one of the smaller two pyramids usually is closed for restoration work. To further complicate your tourist plans, at the time of publication, only 300 tickets are sold per pyramid, per day. You must arrive early to secure your visit inside

I've also read that given the economic instability in Cairo, it's just a royal PITA to visit. Tourists get aggressively hassled to buy stuff, camel rides, tours, etc. I've been to New Grange and Stonehenge. While it's pretty neat to go there, it's just a structure. The real value and interest for me is reading up on what the researchers have found out. Let the plinths for Stonehendge were quarried 150 miles away in w…

I doubt that the current political situation in Egypt is to blame for the hassles the Egyptians give tourists. I was last in Cairo in 1999, and even then I was routinely aggressively hassled to buy stuff, camel rides, tours, etc.

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#138

Post by willvarfar »

Fun coincidence:

Noticed the newest book on Project Gutenburg is:

A HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IN ALL COUNTRIES, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY.

By JAMES FERGUSSON, D.C.L., F.R.S., M.R.A.S., FELLOW ROYAL INST. BRIT. ARCHITECTS,

So I click on it, and the very first building is the Great Pyramid, complete with diagram: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/55870/55870-h/55870-h.htm#Pa...

1893.

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#139

Post by dotancohen »

auxbuss wrote: post #90
radiorental wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've also read that given the economic instability in Cairo, it's just a royal PITA to visit. Tourists get aggressively hassled to buy stuff, camel rides, tours, etc. I've been to New Grange and Stonehenge. While it's pretty neat to go there, it's just a structure. The real value and interest for me is reading up on what the researchers have found out. Let the plinths for Stonehendge were quarried 150 miles away in w…

Hire a driver/guide. He'll navigate around any hassle -- you'll be left in peace -- and he'll sort all the tickets for you. It's probably a one in a lifetime visit, after all. We lucked out. Our driver turned out to be a Coptic Christian, and he had much to say about (what was then) the recent Arab Spring from a different angle.

One hundred times this. Most taxi drivers will be happy to "adopt" you for a few days, and arrange for you tickets, hostel, restaurants, and anything else that you need. He'll pay the local price and get a kickback, and you'll still come out far ahead. Plus you will get to see real Cairo, not tourist Cairo, if you ask him.

Re: 'Big Void' Identified in Khufu's Great Pyramid at Giza

#140

Post by graphitezepp »

nkoren wrote: post #135
graphitezepp wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but I am pretty worried about us fucking it up these days.

Me too. If this is a worry of yours, though, may I suggest, in no way rhetorically, going into the "not fucking it up" business? The pay is generally terrible, but nothing beats making your own hope.

I could really go for some hope and would very much like to do something of that nature, but it's hard to figure out where my skills are best allocated.

As for the pay I am very difficult to motivate with money beyond what makes for housing and food security.

Post reply on HN