M.J. Rose

The tomb art tells all — Why hadn’t we thought before to just look at the art…

Scientists Have an Answer to how the Egyptian Pyramids Were Built

By James MacDonald

“Using sand, water, and a scale model of an ancient Egyptian transport sled, a team of Dutch engineers have answered an enduring question: “How on Earth were the pyramids of Egypt built?” The ancient Egyptians had neither wheels nor work animals, so the giant blocks, each weighing at least 2.5 tons, had to be moved through human muscle power alone. But until recently, nobody really knew how. The answer, it turns out, is simply water. Evidence suggests that the blocks were first levered onto wooden sleds and then hauled up ramps made of sand. However, dry sand piles up in front of a moving sled, increasing friction until the sled is nearly impossible to pull. Wet sand reduces friction dramatically beneath the sled runners, eliminating the sand piles and making it possible for a team of people to move massive objects.

The key, as the Dutch team proved, is getting the water-to-sand ratio just right; too much water and the sled bogs down. Despite the seemingly obvious answer—tomb art discovered in the 19th century depicts laborers pouring water in front of a block-hauling team—debate over how the pyramids were built is almost as ancient as the pyramids themselves. A 1956 article in the journal Archaeology describes how speculation about construction methods dates back to ancient Greece and continues unabated. A quick search of the JSTOR archives reveals thousands of articles on the topic, with many focused on the use of rollers or even cranes to haul the blocks. A 2003 article in the journal Technology and Culture does pursue the water-as-lubricant hypothesis, providing some theoretical physical calculations but without providing much supporting evidence beyond the tomb art…”

For the complete article click here.

An archaeological mystery may be solved at last…

“Unless an ancient legend is true, that Ptolemy swapped a dummy Alexander for the real one, the greatest corpse in the ancient world is already accounted for (at least until its unexplained disappearance many centuries later).”

Is This Alexander the Great’s Tomb?

(The Daily Beast)

“One of biggest mysteries of modern archaeology might be solved in the coming days—and all eyes are on a huge circular structure that lies beneath an ancient Greek mound.

Its entrances are guarded first by a pair of sphinxes, then by columns in the form of women—each stretching out an arm to ward off intruders. Beyond them lies one of the greatest mysteries of modern archaeology, one that might be solved in the next few days—or might trouble the sleep of scholars for decades, as the last great find in the territory of the ancient Macedonians, the nation once ruled by Alexander the Great, has done.

The structure that now holds much of Greece and Hellenists around the world in suspense stands at the site of ancient Amphipolis, about a hundred miles east of Thessalonica, on territory conquered by Alexander’s father Philip in the 4th century B.C. Amphipolis was a major Greek city and a stronghold of the vast Macedonian empire, but today the site is all but deserted. On grasslands where goatherds graze their flocks, under a hill called Kasta—now protected by a military cordon from throngs of onlookers—lies one of the most puzzling finds ever unearthed in the Aegean region…”

For the complete piece, click here.

Atlantis. Another possibility. (A very interesting possibility indeed!)

Atlantis

by Amy Smith (World Mysteries)

“The story has the fashion of a legend, but the truth of it lies in the occurrence of a shifting of the bodies of the heaven, which move round the earth”

— Dialogues of Plato

65-1 “And in those days Noah saw the earth had tilted and that it’s destruction was near.”

–The Book Of Noah

An Odd Choice of Words…

“I don’t know how many of the readers of this article follow either Biblical style wittings or Greek philosophers. Please understand, I am not attempting to convert anyone to either system of beliefs. Your beliefs are your own. I am only attempting to express the ideas put forth by these writings and follow the events that would have occurred due to a “Tilting” of the Earth.

My reason for referring to these two writings is because they are the only two ancient text that refer to the Earth having Tilted. It seems obvious to me that the author of ‘The Book of Noah’ considered the Earth to be round, or else we may have slid off when — ‘And in those days Noah saw the Earth had tilted.’

Plato on the other hand appeared to have a different view. His choice of words seem to indicate his view of the Earth. “A shifting of the bodies of the heaven, which move round the earth”.

He did not say the earth tilted, but the effect was the same. His choice of words leads me to believe he considered the earth was flat, or at least the stationary center of the “Cosmos”.

Plato’s description of Atlantis is that it was 321 miles long, 223 miles wide and rectangular in shape. (Converted from the Stadium Measurement used by Plato) The ocean approach to Atlantis was high cliffs all along it’s coast. It was washed away in one night in an incredible flood. It was destroyed in 10,000 B.C. after a series of earthquakes and possible volcanic activity…”

For the complete piece click here to go to World Mysteries.