Archaeology

Article published in the AERAgram by Glen Dash, pages 16-20.

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Despite all the research carried out at the Great Pyramid over the centuries, it is surprising to learn that until our recent survey, we did not have useful coordinates for its position. In this paper we describe our climb to the top of the Great Pyramid to establish its exact coordinates upon the Earth's surface using satellite data.

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Flinders Petrie has been called “the Father of Egyptian Archaeology.” His 1880–'81 survey of the Giza Plateau and its pyramids was a watershed. Without doubt, he left his mark on archaeology. As it turns out, at Giza he left his marks literally as well. These were his “stations,” the markers in his survey network. They can still be found, if you know where to look, and they are still important. In this paper I identify where they are, and what they should look like.

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The builders of the Great Pyramid of Khufu aligned the great monument to the cardinal points with an accuracy of better than four minutes of arc, or one-fifteenth of one degree. The Great Pyramid’s neighbor, the Pyramid of Khafre, is aligned with an error of approximately 6 minutes, and the builders of Snefru’s Red Pyramid at Dahshur achieved an accuracy of 8.7 minutes. All three pyramids exhibit the same manner of error; they are rotated slightly counterclockwise from the cardinal points. How the Egyptians managed to achieve such accuracy has long been debated. Many methods have been suggested. Yet there is one straightforward method that scholars have largely ignored, perhaps because it was thought to be too simple. This is the ʽequinoctial solar gnomon methodʼ. It uses a vertical rod to track the movement of the sun on the equinox. In this paper we show that it is a practical method, and reproduces the magnitude and direction of error we see in the alignment of the largest pyramids of the Pyramid Age.

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What is the exact size and orientation of the Great Pyramid? Archaeologists, scientists, engineers, and mystics have sought answers for centuries. In an effort to finally and definitively answer this question, a comprehensive resurvey of the pyramid’s base was undertaken in February of 2015. In this article, I report on the survey's findings.

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In 2015, we completed a comprehensive survey of the base of the Great Pyramid. In this paper, we report on the survey’s findings. We began our survey by remapping four control monuments around the base. Here we provide new coordinates for these control monuments. Next, we identified 84 points around the periphery of the Great Pyramid where we found evidence of its original baseline. Using this data set, we then derive new estimates for the size and orientation of the Great Pyramid and compute associated error bounds.

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How large a footprint did the Great Pyramid make on the Giza Plateau when it was completed? It is not an easy question to answer, as most of the outer edge of the pyramid’s base is long gone. Scholars have had to hunt for evidence of the ancient baseline and then extrapolate their findings to locate the original corners. Not surprisingly, the surveys that have been conducted to date do not precisely agree. With the question of the Great Pyramid’s footprint still incompletely resolved, another attempt seemed in order.

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The Egyptians were able to align their Fourth Dynasty monuments to cardinal directions with an accuracy of better than one degree. Scholars have offered many theories which purport to explain how the Egyptians may have achieved such alignments, but only a few have been field tested. The Egyptians aligned pyramids of the fourth dynasty, including the Great Pyramid of Khufu, to cardinal points with amazing accuracy. For the most part, scholars who have studied the issue have concluded that the Egyptians must have used the nighttime stars to achieve such accuracy. In this article, I put the solar method to the test. I find that the method works, and is capable of yielding results sufficiently accurate to account for the alignment of the pyramids.

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The builders of the Great Pyramid of Khufu aligned the huge monument to true north to within six minutes of arc, or one tenth of a degree.  How they managed to do that has long been debated.    In this article we will examine four prominent theories, test one, and compare and contrast the others.

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In this article, we derive new estimates for the size and orientation of the Great Pyramid using data compiled by Mark Lehner and David Goodman in 1984. We can fix the locations of the casing corners to within ten centimeters. The Lehner/Goodman estimates for the location of the casing’s corners proved to be remarkably close to Flinders Petrie’s estimates.

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In this paper, we identify those places on the Giza plateau where the Egyptians might have observed the solstices.  Our goal was to test the hypothesis that Giza might have functioned not only as a funerary complex to serve the dead king, but also to serve the living Egyptians as a platform for observing the solstices. 

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In this paper, we discuss the discovery of four intact foundation deposits in the Western Valley of the Valley of the Kings. Foundation deposits are votive offerings placed in, beneath, or around a tomb, temple, or other structure, usually at its commencement. These foundation deposits were discovered by a team headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass during his 2007-2011 excavation in the Valley of the Kings. They were found at the western most end of the Western Valley in proximity to WV 23 (Tomb of Ay), 24 and 25.

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In this paper, we present the findings from a geophysical survey conducted in the Central Valley of the Valley of the Kings, and discuss some of the findings from the concurrent excavations. The survey and excavations were conducted under the auspices of Dr. Zahi Hawass and ran from 2007 until 2011. 

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