Closing the Biggest Mystery of the Great Pyramid

This is the video that solves the mystery.

The Great Pyramid has always stood out as the structure that nobody could surpass, and everyone after wanted to copy. But was it size alone that made it special, or did it come with a more profound change in ancient Egypt?

This video looks at the evolution of dynastic Egyptian burials - scrutinizes the design of their defenses, and shows how the Great Pyramid achieved a dream more impressive than anyone has imagined.

Now the real questions begin, and the wisdom of ancient Egypt will no longer be taken for granted.

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Thanks to Keith Hamilton and Jon Bodsworth for a Great Pyramid portcullis photo

Quotation Sources:

Dieter Arnold “Building in Egypt” Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 1991 Pp. 223

W. M. Flinders Petrie “The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh” New and Revised Edition, Histories & Mysteries of Man Ltd, London, 1990, Pp. 71

Graphics Sources:

Dieter Arnold “Building in Egypt” Oxford University Press, Inc., New York, 1991

Reg Clark “Securing Eternity: Ancient Egyptian Tomb Protection from Prehistory to the Pyramids” The American University in Cairo Press, New York. 2019

Reg Clark “Tomb Security in Ancient Egypt from the Predynastic to the Pyramid Age” Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, Oxford, 2016

Gilles Dormion & Jean-Patrice Goidin “Les Nouveaux Mystères de le Grande Pyramide” Albin Michel, Paris, 1987

Gilles Dormion “La chambre de Cheops” Librairie Artheme Fayard, 2004

“Scanning the Pyramids” HIP Institute, 2017

Jean-Pierre Houdin “Khufu Reborn - Dassault Systemes” 2013

John Shae Perring “The Pyramids of Gizeh: Part I. The Great Pyramid” London, 1839

John Shae Perring “The Pyramids of Gizeh: Part II. The Great Pyramid” London, 1840

John Shae Perring “Pyramids to the Southward of Gizeh: Part III” London, 1842

W. M. Flinders Petrie “The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh” Field & Tuer London, 1883

00:00 Intro
2:34 Mastaba evolution
4:37 Portcullis evolution
6:41 Great Pyramid security design
9:29 Maneuvering with ropes
11:35 Robbing techniques
14:07 Attacking the Great Pyramid
16:54 Controlling weight
19:10 Open sesame
22:00 Mental blocks
24:24 Comparing passages
28:09 Security philosophy
30:10 Questions answered
31:41 The Big Question
34:17 Attractive forces
36:42 Time for change

[no_talking]

Its so interesting how the most mind-blowing theories always have a mundane quality to them. For me, thats what makes them ring true.

[wyw]

"you shall remember me, for I will provide you eternal employment as tour guides!"

I like this explanation. ❤

[fionalang]

Since some of your videos before I had the feeling, that this explanation could be the most logical I heard before! At one evening in Egypt 29 years ago I had the chance to be one of the last visitors in the great Pyramid and I was completely alone in the king's chamber! I still remember these feelings and this explanation fits best to them. Thank you so much for your ongoing work!

[hiddenURL]

One of your best videos. I feel the culmination of years of research poured into this great view of pyramids

[AndyWarpol]

I just love how your whole brand is not taking history for granted/granite. It's really clever. Your first principles approach is really knocking it out of the park. Well done!

Sir, I may have found something! I have just realized, that the three granite blocks plugging the ascending passage each have masses of 1, 05m*1, 05m*1, 52m*2, 75t/m3=4, 61t
The portcullis granites have a mass of 1, 16m*1, 16m*0, 55m*2, 75t/m3=2, 09t
To hold a 2, 09t mass hanging with a counterweight on rollers on a 26, 1 degree slope (slope of the grand gallery) you need 4, 64t ! This the exact the mass of the plugging blocks.

I think that the three plugging granite blocks were the counterweights for the three portcullis granite blocks!

Considering the completely worn edge of the upper step at the top of the great gallery and the contaminated sides of the longitudal groov it seems reasonable that the granite blocks were on the floor, probably on some kind of rollers, as the bottom 10cm of the groove did not have this black grease. The insets in the walls and the longitudal groove along the walls at half height are still questions.

[mradamdavies]

This has to be one of the most cogent, reasonable, and sensible explanations I've heard. This channel keeps getting better.

[jeph]

It blows my mind how much I love this channel. Egyptology isn't even a particular interest of mine, but I can't stop watching these videos. It's just so good. This is top tier work and so relaxing and educational

[randmlychrisUK]

I, like many others, stumbled upon your channel through a certain streamer and his passion for this subject, and your videos.
You are credit to the scientific community, and have regenerated a child-like interest in something so far from my life, that I haven't felt for ages.
Thnak you.

[sandrogamperle]

This should be in the news!!! It all makes sense 😮

[awesomtacular]

You just fixed Egyptology. You deserve an honory doctorate. Bravo.

[--KP-]

This is an amazing theory. I've been fascinated by Egyptology since I was a little kid, for almost 40 years. I've always wanted the Great Pyramid to be something more worthy of the intelligence and effort of the people who created it, not just a fancy pile of rocks to put a dead body in. Your theory rings more true to my gut feeling that there must have been more to it, while being a more grounded explanation than aliens or ancient power plants. The simplicity of your explanation for the Queen's chamber left my mouth hanging open. I'm dying to know if you have any speculation on what the voids they've recently detected could be.

[yvanpajevic]

OUTSTANDING!
The pyramids were tourist attractions all along.
Congratulations: you've shaken Egyptology!

[TonyG]

Excellent video, as always! It makes more sense that these monuments were symbolic temples of admonition than tombs "attempting to hide" a dead King and his treasure. Wonderful presentation and congratulations on this efficient and pragmatic theory! It's one of the few that makes any sense to me.

[Charlie-phlezk]

@34:40 This video brought me to tears! Oh my god, man! Especially this quote! "it's not a mountain of stone to keep people out its amount of stone to keep people coming inside" ❤

[nexttwonextone]

your work has left me speechless! it's just incredible, everything ties together under your explanation and it makes so much more sense.

[mohamedahmed-pjgj]

From a young man that observes the bent & red pyramid from his room window,
" tons " of thanks .
❤

[spruceyt]

I can't read through the ~2000 comments to see if anyone has pointed this out, but you have imagined a limitation in the levering process that doesn't exist. This has led you to the erroneous conclusion that three successive blocking slabs would make entrance by prying almost impossible.

You have correctly pointed out that one way of raising the blocking slab would be to raise the fulcrum after each few small lifting stages as the block is raised. Your drawing at about 12:43 illustrates this. But this drawing also illustrates the fatal flaw in your understanding about how the levering process would be carried out. That drawing shows the block raised half way with red arrows indicating that the lever can only be pulled halfway to the floor. Why? Why would you stop with the lever arm only halfway to the floor? With the proper fulcrum design the lever can be pulled down all the way to the floor.

You may have presumed that this limitation exists because of the shape of the fulcrum you drew, which for some reason has changed from the round shape you showed at the beginning of the process to a shape with an extended flat top. No one would ever use a fulcrum shaped like that because when the lever arm got to the horizontal position it would begin to pivot around the edge of the fulcrum farthest from the slab, drastically lowering the mechanical advantage of the long lever arm.

Instead you would want the fulcrum to have the same kind of round top you showed initially or, better, a narrow round top with a small radius of curvature, perhaps with a sheet of metal between it and the wooden lever to prevent the fulcrum tip from chewing into the wood lever during use.

Using a fulcrum like this, the process of lifting the slab, blocking it in position, raising the fulcrum and lifting again can be repeated indefinitely, using the full height of the passageway to swing the lever arm at each stage. In fact, by putting wood or stone spacers between the working end of the lever and the slab, the slab can be recessed into the ceiling and then blocked in place there. In practice, spacers would probably be used earlier in the lifting process to avoid having to raise the fulcrum too high.

But however however it's accomplished, the important point here is that by a combination of raising the fulcrum and using spacers the lever arm can be moved from the ceiling to the floor at all stages of the lifting process, enabling each blocking slab to recessed into the ceiling if desired.

[bingbong]

Are you kidding me - dropping this out of nowhere like this? Very nice and consistent explanations!

[chengong]

This makes so much sense, I've always thought there had to be better ways to close your pyramid than some really well-made super square granite block. If you really don't want anyone to come in you would plug up the entire passage or better still, destroy the passage so that it is maximumly difficult to dig through.
But instead they appear to be wasting a lot of time and effort making these super nice passages and doorways that's only supposed to be used once?