Pyramid Quest (36 page)

The Descending Passage ends at a relatively short Horizontal Passage that leads to the Subterranean Chamber. About 20 feet from the point where the Descending Passage joins with the Horizontal Passage, a recess, or niche, opens on the western side for about 6 feet. Beyond the niche, it is about another 4 feet to the Subterranean Chamber.

About 25 feet from the end of the Descending Passage, on the western side, is a rough cavity that penetrates about 6 feet into the rock and then rises at a steep angle of about 63°; this is the bottom of the Well Shaft (Kingsland, 1932, p. 62). It should also be noted that the Descending Passage cuts through a couple of natural fissures or faults in the bedrock.

The Ascending Passage commences from the Descending Passage at a distance of about 1,110 inches from the original entrance (Kingsland, 1932, p. 64). Petrie (1885, p. 22, apparently on the basis of Smyth’s measurements; see Smyth, 1867) gives the angle of ascent of the Ascending Passage as 26° 2’ 30”, whereas Kingsland (1932, p. 49) calculated it trigonometrically as 26° 5’ 0.2”. These values are very close to the angle of the Descending Passage. Various authors, such as Edgar and Edgar (1910, 1923) and Davidson and Aldersmith (1924) have simply assumed that the Descending and Ascending passages have, or should have (that is, were designed to have), the same values, which Morton Edgar assumed was 26° 18’ 9.7”, and David Davidson assumed was 26° 18’ 9.63” (see Kingsland, 1932, pp. 48-49).

Petrie attempted to determine the azimuth of the Ascending Passage but was frustrated that he could not measure it as accurately as he desired. Still, he concluded that the orientation of the Ascending Passages is very close to a true north- south line, just as are the sides of the Great Pyramid. In Petrie’s own words (1885, p. 22):

The cavity or tunnel of Al Mamun (discussed hereafter) opens to the base or north end of the Ascending Passage, and the way tourists and others currently enter the Great Pyramid today is through Al Mamun’s tunnel to the general juncture where it meets the Ascending and Descending passages.

The workmanship exhibited in the Ascending Passage is of a very high quality, and not only is it composed of joined stones, as are all the other passages, but also it penetrates directly through three large stone blocks, which have come to be referred to as “Girdle Stones.” In addition, along the walls of this passage are some stones that have been inset; it has been suggested that these inset stones are filling holes that were originally cut to hold beams or levers when the pyramid was actively used (see Kingsland, 1932, p. 70). The Ascending Passage ends at the lower (northern) end of the Grand Gallery.

It has been suggested, and is still sometimes asserted, that all or the majority of passages in the Great Pyramid were plugged with stone blocks and possibly other materials after completion and interment of the body of the pharaoh (assuming the tomb theory). Concerning this theory, Petrie, who knew the Great Pyramid as well as almost anyone, having studied it carefully in the early 1880s prior to modern “cleaning and refurbishing,” wrote:

Far from the Great Pyramid always being sealed up after the time of its presumed use for the burial of Khufu, Petrie even suggested that there may have always been a way, perhaps held as a secret by only a select few, for the ancient Egyptians to access the upper chambers, including the King’s Chamber. When he studied the interior of the Great Pyramid in the early 1880s, Petrie (1883, p. 84) found that the coffer in the King’s Chamber was tilted up at its southern end and resting on a “large pebble” of flint. On the basis of this observation, Petrie concluded:

As opposed to general wholesale plugging of the passages of the Great Pyramid, there were two places in particular where some plugging or barriers were used: the base (northern end) of the Ascending Passage was plugged with large granite blocks, and the entrance or Antechamber to the King’s Chamber apparently contained a portcullis system of sealing the passage (discussed hereafter).

The northern portion, or lower end, of the Ascending Passage is blocked by three large granite “plugs” that together fill about 15½ feet of the passage. These granite plugs are very slightly wedge shaped, and the bottom of the Ascending Passage was formed the same way so that they would tightly fit but not slip any further. Today the end of the lowest granite plug can be seen in the roof of the Descending Passage, but originally a limestone block concealed it, so that when one passed down the Descending Passage one would never suspect the presence of the blocked Ascending Passage. According to tradition, this concealing limestone block was dislodged by the work of Al Mamun’s men in the ninth century, they heard it fall, and then tunneled in the direction of the sound to ultimately discover the Descending and Ascending Passages. Some authors have suggested that more than three plug blocks originally blocked the Ascending Passage (see for instance Grinsell, 1947, p. 104 illus.), but others disagree (see Kingsland, 1932, p. 65).

The Grand Gallery continues upward at approximately the same angle as the Ascending Passage, but according to various measurements and calculations, the angle is very slightly greater than that of the Ascending Passage. Kingsland (1932, p. 49) quotes an angle of 26° 16’ 40” from Petrie for the Grand Gallery (erratam sheet for Kingsland, 1932, p. 49, included in Kingsland, 1935), while Kingsland (1932, p. 49) calculates an angle of 26° 16’ 43” for the Grand Gallery. According to Kingsland’s calculations (1932, p. 49), the average value of the angle for the Ascending Passage and the Grand Gallery is 26° 11’ 19.8”, which is very close indeed to his calculated value of 26° 13’ 37.4” for the Descending Passage.

The Grand Gallery is a magnificent hall, approximately 157 feet long and 28 feet high. At the base (northern end) is a horizontal passage leading to the Queen’s Chamber, and at the top (southern end) is the so-called Giant Step, or Step, and then a horizontal passage leading to and through the Antechamber to the King’s Chamber. Above the walls per se, making up the rest of the side walls and ceiling, are seven overlapping courses of stones that cause the Gallery to become narrower toward the ceiling. Just above the third overlap (about 5½ inches above the overlap) there is a groove about 6 inches wide and ¾ inch deep that runs the length of the Gallery. The uppermost course has ratchet teeth-like features that keep the slabs of stone that span the ceiling from sliding downhill. Kingsland (1932, p. 71) says there are 40 roofing stones in the Grand Gallery.

The actual floor of the Grand Gallery is as narrow as the roof, being about 41 inches wide, as there are two stone “ramps” or ledges on either side. The ramp or ledge on each side is about 20 or 21 inches wide, and they are about 23.5 inches high on average. Along each ramp is a series of 27 holes, or excavations (Kingsland, 1932, p. 72; Pochan, 1978, p. 30, gives the number as 28, and in fact it is difficult to determine, as some have possibly been obliterated, especially toward the lower, northern, end), occurring in pairs on either side, and alternating between longer ones of about 23.3 inches and shorter ones of about 20.5 inches. They are about 6¼ inches wide and cut to varying depths, usually 8 to 11 inches. In the walls above these holes are vertically arranged inset stones, each about 18 inches high and 13 inches wide, with a groove cut across each. The function of these ramps and slots or holes is enigmatic. Following Proctor (1883), if the Grand Gallery served as an astronomical observatory prior to being closed off, these slots might have been used to position benches and/or possibly a sort of viewing grid. Some Egyptologists have suggested that the slots were for the support of scaffolding and a platform that held plugging blocks up and back. Pochan (1978, p. 30) suggests that the Grand Gallery was a hall holding statues positioned at each slot, and specifically he thinks they were statues of Khufu’s ancestors.

At the top (northern end) of the Grand Gallery is the Great or Giant Step, beyond which is the passage to the Antechamber, and then the King’s Chamber.

From the step at the top (northern end) of the Grand Gallery there is a very short passage (a mere 52 inches) that leads to a small room known as the Antechamber. The floor and ceiling of the Antechamber is composed of granite, as is the majority of the southern wall (a small portion at the top of this wall is composed of limestone), whereas the northern wall is solely of limestone. Thus the Antechamber marks the transition from the use of limestone for the Grand Gallery and majority of the pyramid to the use of granite for the King’s Chamber.

The eastern and western sides of the Antechamber have a peculiar granite wainscoting that does not rise all the way to the ceiling. On each side this wainscoting has three vertical grooves (16¾ inches to 21½ inches wide and carved about 3¼ inches deep, while the vertical ridges, or pilasters, separating the grooves are about 5 inches wide; Kingsland, 1932, pp. 82-83), and north of these grooves is another set of similar grooves containing a “granite leaf ” set in the grooves and suspended (this pair of grooves does not reach the floor) such that it does not reach the floor and can easily be passed under. The granite leaf is in two parts, a lower portion that contains a “boss” on its northern face and an upper portion that is broken at the top. The boss is a rough protrusion, rather semicircular in shape and about 5 inches long and wide, and raised from the surface of the granite about an inch. It is located approximately in the middle of the leaf horizontally, and about 5 inches above the lower edge of the leaf. In the nineteenth century, some pyramidists who accepted the concept of the “Pyramid Inch” believed this boss could be used as a standard of measure for the Pyramid Inch (see discussion in Kingsland, 1932, p. 82).

Returning to the wainscoting on either side of the Antechamber, it is not symmetrical. The eastern wall wainscoting is straight across the top, while the western wall wainscoting rises slightly higher than that of the eastern wall and contains semicircular cutouts, or hollows, above each of the three grooves beyond the first that holds the granite leaf. Above the wainscoting the side walls of the Antechamber recede, making the ceiling wider than the floor. The southern wall of the Antechamber has four vertical grooves, about 3.75 to 4.5 inches wide and 1.75 to 2.8 inches deep, carved into it (Kingsland, 1932, p. 82).

The function of these grooves in the Antechamber, and the purpose of the Antechamber itself, has been the subject of debate. The classical Egyptological view is that the grooves in the wainscoting held some sort of system of leaves (presumably of granite) that acted as a portcullis, in that they could be lowered or dropped once the mummy of the deceased pharaoh was safely placed in the coffer (sarcophagus) in the King’s Chamber. Dunn (1998; see also Dunn, 2003, pp. 185-208) suggests that the eastern and western grooves in the Antechamber may have supported a system of cams and baffles that served as an adjustable acoustic filter for sound entering the King’s Chamber (see hereafter for brief comments on Dunn’s power plant theory of the Great Pyramid).

On the western wall of the Antechamber there is an excavation that was carried out by Caviglia in the early nineteenth century as he was searching for additional chambers in the Great Pyramid (Kingsland, 1932, p. 84).

Leaving the Antechamber and passing through another narrow passage heading south, after traveling just 8½ feet, one enters the King’s Chamber. One enters the King’s Chamber from the northeast corner, and immediately sees that the long direction of the room stretches to the west. This room has become known as the King’s Chamber simply because it has a flat ceiling. The custom among the Arabs was to bury men in tombs with flat ceilings and women in tombs with gabled ceilings (Tompkins, 1971, p. 11).

The King’s Chamber is located at the fiftieth course of masonry, about 150 feet above the ground, and measures approximately 34 feet east to west and 17 feet north to south and is 19 feet high (Edgar and Edgar, 1923, p. 73). The floor, walls, and ceiling are completely lined with granite; the four walls are composed of 100 granite blocks in five courses, and the ceiling is composed of nine gigantic granite beams—the largest and heaviest known stone in the pyramid is one of them, measuring about 27 feet long by 5 feet by 7 feet, with an estimated weight of about 70 tons (Edgar and Edgar, 1923, p. 73).