The Great Pyramid and the Axis of the Earth - Part 1 (cont.)
By Scott Creighton and Gary Osborn
Contrary to the on-site, hands-on, archaeological approach, these particular star constellations and their most important stars - which have now been brought to our attention by these shafts - can only really be seen from the modern "armchair" view of a cross-sectioned map or plan of the Great Pyramid against the background of the stars in the night sky.
Now, however ironic and incongruous this might seem, we must never overlook the work and dedication of those archaeologists and researchers whose time and effort was spent mapping the Great Pyramid from every point and angle so as to provide us with this internal view.
We would suggest that it was intended - indeed hoped - that a future civilisation such as ours would view the Great Pyramid precisely in this way - a view that would most certainly have been familiar to those who had first drawn-up the blueprint for this colossal 'time-capsule;' a repository of knowledge that could withstand the ravages of time.
The Shafts First
The 'Shafts First Hypothesis' (SFS) proposes that the angles of the star-shafts within the Great Pyramid of Giza were the primary and critical design feature that the ancients sought to "set" in stone within the body of the Great Pyramid. From this premise it logically follows that the angle of each of the Great Pyramid's slopes - 51.84º - could be viewed as simply being the result of squaring the angle of the two fairly equally inclined shafts of the Queen's Chamber (see figure 3).
The 'Shafts First Solution' also explains precisely why 2 stars of identical (or near identical) inclination would (by necessity) have been sought by the designers - not for 'cultic' or other esoteric reasons but for reasons of ensuring a symmetrical, 'balanced' design of the pyramid structure. This is not to say that symbolic aspects to the angle of the stars chosen by the ancient designers did not feature in the structure - there most likely were symbolic aspects to the shafts and these will be discussed later.
In consideration of the 4 shafts within the Great Pyramid, it stands to reason that the inordinate amount of resources and effort that would have been required to place these quite unique features within the body of the pyramid lends considerable weight to their primacy and paramount importance within the pyramid structure. Simply put, the Great Pyramid may have been constructed in order to "carry" the 4 shafts.
This idea is most certainly radical and far-reaching. Undoubtedly some will even consider it ludicrous. The Shafts First Solution turns our whole view of the Great Pyramid design and, indeed, it's very purpose quite literally on its head. What possible reason could there be to construct a structure such as the Great Pyramid around 2 sets of 2 shafts? What was it that was so important to the ancient designers and builders about these shafts that they should expend so much blood, sweat and tears to ensure they were built into the body of the Great Pyramid?
The answer is perhaps remarkably simple. The 4 shafts of the Great Pyramid might not have been designed as conduits of air as Legon and others have proposed, but rather as conduits of information; of knowledge. Like a notebook is designed to allow us to place information within its pages, so the Great Pyramid was designed to carry vital information through its 4 shafts - like "arrow" pointers. The difficulties the builders would undoubtedly have faced in constructing the pyramid around these shafts demonstrates a clear spirit of purpose and determination that could only have been matched by the seriousness and importance of the information - the 'message' - the shafts carry.
"…The slope of the shafts would also have encouraged the setting-up of convection currents, causing hot spent air to be drawn out of the chamber while allowing cooler air to take its place..."
Quite simply, with regards to the Queen's Chamber shafts, this idea can in no way be considered the purpose of these shafts for one very simple reason: the Queen's Chamber shafts were - until the 19th century - sealed at both ends. There was never any intention on the part of the designers or builders of these shafts ever being used as air conduits. Legon concedes this point but attempts to rationalise it by citing the 'symbolic significance' of the shafts and of how the Ancient Egyptians could have secured their [air-flow] function through 'magical means'.
This reliance on symbolism and AE magic to explain away the obvious fact that the Queens shafts were never intended to act as air conduits seems somewhat contradictory on Legon's part given that, in the very same paper, he dismisses Bauval's stellar hypothesis on the basis that it relied upon what Bauval described as 'sacred mathematics' being used to achieve a 'religious function'. Essentially then, Legon offers no explanation for the Queen's Chamber shafts.
As previously stated, however, the shafts do indeed serve a practical purpose and also contain certain symbolic aspects such as the sealing of the two shafts at both ends, which will be explained shortly.
"…Now to obtain the shortest possible length for the shafts from the Queen's Chamber to the outside of the pyramid, the incline of the shafts had to be made equal to the inverse of the pyramid's casing-angle…The line of the shafts then intersected the face of the pyramid with an angle of 90°. The mean angle of the two shafts as observed by Petrie corresponds to this profile with a difference of only about ten minutes of arc: Angle of Slope, for 11 rise on 14 base = 38° 9' 26". This same basic angle of slope might also have been used for the shafts leading from the King's Chamber, if it were not for the fact that this chamber was set entirely to the south of the pyramid's central axis. If the same angles had been employed, the shafts would have come out at different levels on the pyramid's north and south sides. It was evidently to avoid this outcome that the builders compensated for the offset of the chamber, by increasing the angle of the southern channel while reducing the angle of the northern channel by a similar amount..."