Well, when I got to this thread today, I saw that Marchimedes was logged on to ATS. Wonder if he's still banned?
So much for taking his ball and leaving, anyway.
I just wanted to add a few things here. I believe that the most commonly held belief regarding moving large stones to the construction site from the
quarries involved just using wooden beams set into the ground as surfaces over which the stones could be slid, rather than to try to slide them across
loose sand. These tracks were lubricated with mud and water, allowing for reduced friction.
Notwithstanding the crowing claims made here by Marchimedes, log rollers have been shown to disintegrate in very short order under the pressures that
would have been present had they been used to move the stones that make up the pyramids, whereas the above method would require only slightly more
effort, with the tracks lasting hundreds of times longer.
Also, remains of the large ramps that were used to raise the blocks have actually been found, so Marchimedes' dismissal of this method perhaps shows
that he's not really looked into exactly what we know
for sure about how the pyramids were constructed.
I think that at the very least, taking a look at the facts that are
known is the most important first step in formulating
any theory of
pyramid construction. That the fact of these ramps is missing from Marchimedes' theory can indicate one of only two things, as I see it. One would
be that Marchimedes hasn't bothered to take that all-important first step of making an effort to learn what it is that is already known about the
subject. The other would be that Marchimedes formulated his theory of pyramid construction at some time prior to the (fairly recent) discovery of the
remains of these ancient ramps. The first possibility would be unfortunate, while the second would be perfectly understandable.
Lastly, I wish to state my support for Marchimedes' theory in general, with the above caveats. It differs from the theories proposed by Egyptologists
in only a few details. It seems to me that Marchimedes did not spend much time reading posts on this subject here at ATS before chiming in with his
idea. I say this because of the way he seemed to be characterizing the pyramid construction theories of posters here. Far from everyone here
believing the pyramids were majically constructed, built with ET's help, built by Atlanteans, or whatnot; many here have sane and rational views on
the subject which Marchimedes (IMO) simply and I think unfairly glossed over.
If you read this Mark, here's a link (that I've posted at ATS a couple of times) to an article in Civil Engineering magazine regarding the ASCE's
take on the feasibility of pyramid construction:
Program Management B.C.
At any rate, another poster here willing to stipulate that the
Egyptians built the
Egyptian pyramids found in
Egypt is always
welcome by me!
Harte