Studying the Star Shaft theory | Reading ‘The Orion Mystery’ by Robert Bauval & Adrian Gilbert

In the early 90s, theories about the correlation between Giza and the stars were becoming more and more popular, but are the shaft systems in the Great Pyramid actually designed to be “star shafts” for the soul of the King? Was there a unified ground plan at Giza for a higher astronomical purpose? This video essay attempts to analyze the presented evidence and claims from 1994’s The Orion Mystery by Robert Bauval and Adrian Gilbert, as well as to address the criticisms put forward by others about this theory, particularly by Edward Krupp of the Griffith Observatory in California.

00:00 Chapter One - What is the Orion Correlation theory?
05:50 Chapter Two - Reading 'The Orion Mystery'
36:50 Chapter Three - Arguments against the Star Shaft theory

SOURCES & ADDITIONAL READING OR WATCHING

Robert Bauval & Adrian Gilbert - The Orion Mystery

Ancient Architects - Unexplored Shafts + Bull Burial in the Giza Pyramid of Khafre:

Lines in Sand - Who were the first people inside the Great Pyramid? How did they get in?:

The Giza Mapping Project?

Ralph Ellis - Star Shafts at Giza:

Ed Krupp - Pyramid Marketing Schemes:

Ed Krupp - Krupp Refutes Bauval And Roy:

Ed Krupp - The Sphinx Blinks:

CORRECTIONS

None yet, but if you have noticed a factual mistake, please reach out with a comment or an email.

Remember this is just my opinion! Please read The Orion Mystery yourself and make up your own mind :)

[HAL-ynzj]

You say that this guy says that he thinks north is north and south is south but as you must know, in ancient Egypt it wasn't. Southern Egypt was Upper Egypt and Northern Egypt was Lower Egypt.
Egyptians viewed the Nile as the Milky way and so since they can't move the Nile, they had to move were the pyramids/Orion was to make it match up correctly.

[LyubomirIko]

I still don't understand how the night sky image was superimposed "wrongly" as you have said. Flipped or rotated? I am a bit disappointed of lack of visual representation here.There is a lot of ways to flip a image of the night sky, or rather a map of the star-ratio correlations in order to be used in architecture plan, and some even make sense, especially if they mark afterlife and the Otherworld. If anything flipped image makes conceptual/esoteric sense in this context.

For instance when you print something you need the original image to be flipped/mirrored. Otherwise the printed copy will be flipped itself.

[Rosso-P]

The shafts being "star shafts" is ridiculous in my opinion, when you really look at the construction of them in detail. To add to your video, the 1992/1993 3D AutoCAD drawings from Rudolf Gantenbrink show them in the very good detail for us to see for yourself. Some facts: 1. The shafts are not at all straight. They start out horizontally, then move up in an angle. All of them bent more or less, and especially the shaft from the queens chamber bents dramatically, to go around the grand gallery. The shafts only appear straight-ish on crude drawn maps, 2. They shafts have a rough finish on the inside at some points, and they are made using different types of shaped blocks. They are also not watertight at all, with some blocks being U shaped, some being inverted, among the at least 5 different ways they are made, also seemingly a little bit random, whatever was the easiest it seems. 3. The shafts in the queens chamber are eventually abandoned. Keep in mind, that the pyramids are build from the ground up, and the shafts from the queens chamber stop at the moment the kings chamber's roof was finished. 4. The shafts try to take the shortest path possible towards the outside. 5. The pyramid of Khufu is the only one which has the main burial chambers high up in the pyramid. I am personally under the believe they are in-fact just airshafts providing air to the chambers. For some reason ones the king's chamber was completed, they didn't feel the need anymore to extent the ones from the queens chamber, and simply plugged those. Maybe the original burial chamber required workers to work on the coffin etc, and they needed torches for light inside, and made airshafts for this purpose. Ones the kings chamber was completed, they felt there was no need anymore to work inside the queens chamber and they moved to the kings chamber instead. I don't understand why these shafts are being viewed as such a mystery to be honest, they are very clearly just functional air-ducts. *edit: spelling

[catman]

Hmmm. I wonder if anyone took the optics approach. That is if this was used for alignment of a star how long will the image appear in the entrance entrance and exit pupil? Stars move across the sky from sunset to sunrise and they're not fixed at one point. Further if you look into a short pipe and then look into a longer pipe the smaller the field of view is in the longer pipe. Because the sky is moving as you're observing the shorter the time you will have to observe the star while its image is in the star shaft. This is why telescopes today have what are called clock drives to counteract the movement of the stars as they move across the sky, or more precisely to counteract the movement of the Earth's rotation.
Okay let's forget about anything I wrote here and let's start all over again.
COMMON SENSE 😮
The star shafts are located on the North and South face of the pyramid. Don't the stars rise in the east and west? So why would you point your telescope north and south? If anything they would be looking at a northstar IF we had one at that time😢. Plus the star shafts not straight and incomplete at certain sections inside the pyramid.
THE MOST REASONABLE ANSWER I'VE SEEN SO FAR:
Listening to Matt at ancient architects and thought about the same issue. They may have been sound tubes used during the construction of the pyramid. Jean-Pierre Houdin also believes this may have been their purpose. They were sealed off at the end of construction.

[attorneyrobert]

I wish I could upvote this twice for the mention of Ed Krupp's writings on the Star Shaft/Orion theory. He has more personal visits and writings to worldwide astronomical historical sites than anyone.

[garydowdall]

Thank you Sean for bringing this subject up.
Great job.
👍🇮🇪👍

[Vadjong]

It's where the ufo's threaded the cables when lowering the pyramids down to the ground, duh!

[stealthmusic]

There was a nice video (German) from Prof. Lesch
that completely destroys the „Pi in Pyramids“ theory and explains with an old lady’s bike how you could easily calculate every possible number from that bike.

[RalphEllis]

For Robert Bauval’s reaction to Ralph Ellis’ shaft coordinate theory.
Please see video ‘The Blackballing of Ralph Ellis’.
Bauval can be somewhat mercurial.
R

[roygbiv]

Perhaps the reflection of Orion's Belt on the ground is a mirror image of Orion's Belt. (Mirrors reverse images)

[tylercohle]

wow I can't begin to imagine the amount of work this took!! Thank you so much!!

[LaughingGravy.]

Very thought provoking.The pyramids are a masterclass in pure geometry. The real significance of this branch of mathematics is clearly evident in an exploration in the precise layout and massing of the plateau. Abundant evidence revealing proportional and geometric decision making. No reason that Orion didn't inspire the creators though. The desert night sky would have been of enormous significance and its connection with the gods a bit of a given. The architects of Giza were undoubtedly sophisticated mathematicians and significantly, probably the same crew as those who developed their science of understanding of the movements of the stars and planets; their astronomers.
I'd say the need for fresh air was far more pressing than anything else a priest might suggest for the necessity of the shafts. Not only directly for the comfort of those involved during its active life but including the need for artificial light, and assuming they used naked flame for that. Does their "V" shape of both chambers in section induce natural stack ventilation currents for a passive system?The hot and cold sides opposing each other would induce a direction to it also and cool the spaces, in all likelihood (I have a Post Grad in Energy Efficient Architecture). This argument relies on the abandonment argument however. I like that explanation for the complexity found inside the GP not because it supports this argument. An exit for the spirit is a plausible argument but why two for each chamber? There must be more to that story. Their angle is approaching perpendicular to the external facades which would make them as short as possible in length. An entirely functional decision for an entirely functional building component? Religious customs could have intertwined somewhere. Also, I think the further away you are from the beach, the less sand your going to get on your '99. so putting them up high makes sense. There's my thoughts. Great video bruv

[brucebowers-cy]

Hey Sean. The 'air shafts' were surveyor shafts. The debris found in them when they were opened were the remains of the surveyors cords. Bill Grundy might know what happened to them. Like your informative vids. Keep going!

[ettorem]

I don't believe in the southern shaft alignment theory, because, I mean, are you Sirius?!

[HDFLHX]

Is that same mirroring of the stars also observed at the pyramids in South America? Do the two sets of pyramids correlate at all?

[dazuk]

The professor of history David Miano has also looked at this on The World of Antiquity channel and raises similar points to you. The "as above so below" statement is not actually true. He illustrates this with diagrams and it just looks a bit like it if you use your imagination. The most probable reason the Menkaure pyramid is smaller is because he just didn't have the same resources at hand.
As for the shafts, the queens chamber's don't even extend to the outside as you mentioned. So I suppose the poor woman had no chance of ascending to the stars. Those shafts also change elevation dramatically and one twists and turns all over the place to get around the grand gallery.
Dr Miano also points out the kings chamber shaft that is supposed to point at Orion doesn't actually do so at that point in time. It just "sort of does".
The final point you raised is the great pyramid is the only one known to have these shafts. So does this mean Khufu was the only pharaoh blessed with ability to ascend to the stars and all the others had to suck it up and be entombed forever ?. The Orion correlation hypothesis gets a "no Bueno" from me.

[stephengallagher]

It doesn't work, as the shafts are not straight. Light travels in straight lines. There. Saved you all time.

[jammyscouser]

In New Zealand we call the Orion constellation, The Pot

[tonygarcia]

One simple question; if no source ever mentions corresponding openings in the casing of the pyramid when the casing was in place, how is this theory tenable?

[JEKAZOL]

Orion is in the South when this lines up according to Bauval, right? Therefore the pyramids are the right way round. All the diagrams show Orion in the South matching the pyramids perfectly. Am I wrong?