The discharge chamber of the Pharaoh
Whether the message about the discovery of the “big emptiness” in the great pyramid, the reason for sensation?
First we must say a few words about the great pyramid and the Pharaoh. The second king Memphis IV dynasty Khufu, or Cheops, is one of the most controversial figures of Ancient Egypt. He ruled for 23 years, only a year less than his father Sneferu, and gained a reputation as the classic cruel ruler.
Historians of antiquity, particularly Herodotus and Diodorus, said that Cheops was a tyrant, hated the people and forced them to work over the vast pyramid complex. The sources also stated that the name of Khufu after his death were not spoken by the people, and the depletion of the resources of Egypt during a large-scale construction led to the weakening of the state.
However, the Egyptian evidence portrayed Khufu as the Builder of many cities and settlements along the banks of the Nile. By the time of his reign is the establishment of temples and ancient texts on papyrus. To future generations the heritage and the reign of the Pharaoh seemed a Paragon of greatness and power. We are also a model of greatness and power seems built for the Khufu pyramid. The pyramid of Khufu, the only one of the Seven wonders of the world, preserved to our days, has long remained the tallest building in the world.
The creation of this historical monument actually worked all the ancient Egyptian state. Its height, originally, up to approximately 145 meters, only slightly inferior to the height of the Shabolovskaya tower in Moscow. The length of the base of the pyramid is 220 meters, making it the highest and largest pyramid of Ancient Egypt.
The pyramid of Khufu also has a complex internal design — it has three rooms. This is not typical for buildings of the ancient Egyptians. The first room, the so-called burial of the “pit” beneath the earth. As it is considered today, it represents an unfinished building: the architect of the pyramid Ankhhaf probably decided to abandon the traditional location of the tomb of Pharaoh at the base to protect it from exposure to groundwater.
Therefore, two other rooms, “the Camera Queen” and “king’s Chamber” — is located in the heart of the building. “The camera Queen”, which, incidentally, has no relation to the wives of Khufu, is a room measuring 5.7 x 5.2 m. Approximately 20 meters above it is the “Camera king”, which leads “Great gallery” — high rising channel length of about 46 meters. It is on this corridor project staff ScanPyramid and found a “great void”.
Opening last year sparked criticism from Egyptologists. Then the researchers criticized the methods of scientists, pointing out that the data of the muon detectors were simply misinterpreted. According to the version of those experts, some of the pyramid can be made from another type of material, and that this difference “seen” the muon tomography.
This year, the atmosphere grew even stronger. One of the most famous Egyptologists and a former head of the Supreme Council of antiquities of Egypt Zahi Hawass sternly spoke to the newspaper the New York Times. “They found nothing. This article gives nothing of Egyptology. Zero”, — commented on the opening Hawass, noting that such cavities scientists have known for at least two decades.
To find out what can be discovered by researchers camera and how you should treat this opening, we spoke with a specialist on Ancient Egypt Novel Nut.
The novel, as we know, the authors of the acclaimed publication in Nature physics, and not the Egyptologists; they found a huge 30-foot chamber over the Great gallery, and what it’s like to say I could not. How unique their discovery? Or maybe find a void in the pyramid is the most common thing? Sometimes you have to read in the press that the Egyptian pyramids are more like Swiss cheese than cheddar.
Let’s start with the fact that any pyramid is designed simply and very logical. If we take a look inside the pyramid, we see that its Central part around which everything is built, is the burial chamber. It is lined with massive, huge plates. This is done to ensure that this small room did not collapse the entire weight of the pyramid.
But in the pyramid of Khufu is much more complicated because the burial chambers of the Pharaoh, there are not at the level of the ground, and somewhere at the height of 40 meters above the ground. What is the reason?
In General, the great pyramid is unique, and in all respects. In order to make room inside a pyramid, it took a very unconventional engineering solutions. In particular, the handling of the camera. The fact is that if inside the pyramid is a chamber with a flat ceiling, and this is what we see inside the tomb of Pharaoh, the probability that he will fall, is very great, because the plates start to push. To such trouble did not happen, the Egyptians arranged above the burial chamber of five discharge chambers — a small empty space.