The ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and how I used modern astronomy to explore her link with the Milky Way

[Admin]

What did our ancestors think when they looked up at the night sky? All cultures ascribed special meaning to the sun and the moon, but what about the pearly band of light and shadow we call the Milky Way?

The ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky and how I used modern astronomy to explore her link with the Milky Way : Read more

 

[NHEngineer]

I'm curious to know what kind of wooden boat can transport a 200 ton block of granite.

 

[Classical Motion]

An inch of water with enough area can levitate that block.

 

[NHEngineer]

How much area does a 200 ton pyramid block of granite have? Don't be ridiculous. How many forests would need to be flattened to make a raft big enough and strong enough to displace 200 tons of water carrying it . A gallon of water is 8.33 pounds. 400,000 pounds of water is 48,019 gallons. That's 11092389 cubic inches. Granite is 67.9936 pound per cubic foot. A 200 ton block is 5882 cu-ft. That's 18 foot in three dimensions. Your comment about an inch of water is troubling and I doubt it was serious.

 

[Unclear Engineer]

You would need a barge about 100' x 65' in area sink down a foot to displace 200 tons of water.

That seems doable. What amazes me is that they could move a 200 ton block of granite across land and up ramps.

BTW, granite is about 2.6 times the density of water, so a cubic foot of granite weighs about 160 pounds.

 

[Classical Motion]

I am only as serous and as troubling as the principle is. Increase the block area with a platform. A large platform. A barge perhaps. If you do add water depth, you may decrease the platform area. It's a trade. A ratio. My example needs lots of area, that's all.

 

[Classical Motion]

I believe they have determined how the great pyramid was built. At least it satisfies me. I like it.

But how they moved those huge rectangular foundation blocks at other locations baffle me too. The only thing I can see is counter weights. But how did they move and set the counterweights? Unless they learned how to exchange big weight/small distance into little weight/long distance. OR visa versa. And repeat it. We are missing the pivot. The exchange point. The tool.

 

[NHEngineer]

You would need a barge about 100' x 65' in area sink down a foot to displace 200 tons of water.

That seems doable. What amazes me is that they could move a 200 ton block of granite across land and up ramps.

BTW, granite is about 2.6 times the density of water, so a cubic foot of granite weighs about 160 pounds.

How many wooden barges and wooden sleds would be needed to move 3 million, 200 ton blocks of granite to the job site in 20 years? Where would the lumber come from since there is a scarcity of forests in the Saraha? This whole assumption is ridiculous. I doubt the Egyptians had any part in building the pyramids based on the preceding and the FACT that there is not one single hieroglyph that mentions a pyramid.

How many Pharo mummies have been found in the pyramids? It is all know-it-all, PhD generated conjecture, supposition and theory with no basis in fact.

 

[COLGeek]

How many wooden barges and wooden sleds would be needed to move 3 million, 200 ton blocks of granite to the job site in 20 years? Where would the lumber come from since there is a scarcity of forests in the Saraha? This whole assumption is ridiculous. I doubt the Egyptians had any part in building the pyramids based on the preceding and the FACT that there is not one single hieroglyph that mentions a pyramid.

How many Pharo mummies have been found in the pyramids? It is all know-it-all, PhD generated conjecture, supposition and theory with no basis in fact.

So your theory of construction is what?

 

[Unclear Engineer]

NHEngineer, as an engineer, you should be able to make the calculations needed to answer the questions you posed in your post.

BTW, where did you get the value of 200 tons for the largest stone block in the pyramids? A quick search turned up this https://www.quora.com/How-heavy-is-the-heaviest-stone-in-the-pyramids , which says "The heaviest stone in the pyramids of Egypt is estimated to weigh around 80 tons." And this "The largest granite stones in the pyramid, found in the "King's" chamber, weigh 25 to 80 Tonnes and were transported from Aswan, more than 800 km (500 mi) away."

That link also says "there are larger blocks recorded in the associated ‘temples’ …where foundation stones have been reported at 100–200 tonnes. Reisner specifically reported that blocks in the ‘mortuary temple’ of Mycerinus at Giza weighed up to 220 tonnes. [cited by Edwards, Pyramids of Egypt, 149]"

 

[nathanielsalzman]

If any of you would like actual data from how they built the pyramids, check out the book The Red Sea Scrolls, which details the discovery of records kept in-period that explicitly talk about using boats, canals, and purpose-built pools at Giza to transport and stage the materials used in building the pyramids. They found what amounts to ancient spreadsheets that paint a robust picture of how massive amounts of material were moved vast distances and then essentially delivered to the front door of the build sites, all by water.

Separately, this article seems to miss the mythical tie in to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, who like Nut is portrayed as a sacred cow. She is also depicted as nursing the Pharaoh and milk was often given as an offering to her. In some accounts, her milk is the literal origin of name "milky way".

 

[Classical Motion]

If you sequentially place pebbles under a block, you can walk a block. If not by muscle, by plank. Or lever. When you do this daily it becomes a talent. Lifting stone becomes a talent.

It just seems spectacular to us because we don’t work with human power any more. Modern mechanics forget the power of leverage and the nullification of friction. Watch 40-50 farmers raise a barn without equipment. In one day. Watch the Romans bridge the Rhine in 10. Piles included.

A modern mechanic would poop his pants if he could watch the pyramids being built.

I would laugh my butt off. Because I know it wasn’t magic, it was hard but skillful work. One could lose a finger…. or more. When’s the last time you saw a missing finger?

If stone was available, we would have seen stone work in the Fertile Crescent and the Indus Valley too.

Even if little stone was available, we used it. And would trade and travel for some types of it. Stone…. The first trading commodity.

Stone work was done way before any other tools. Stone was the first tool. And we learned to use it well. Now we replace skill with machines. This concept was the bread of war. No time to learn skill.

Stone was also the first tool we replaced. With metal.

Stone structures shouldn’t mystify anyone. We all come from stone. And we did not have any help.

It’s all our own making.

Just some jibber jabber. About rocks. I wonder how long it took to think of picking them up and throwing them? Or busting a nut with one? Did we descend from the tree for a rock?

Who first squared a rock? He should have patented it.

Just some more rock talk.

I haven’t even mentioned water displacement. Or counterweights.