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Questions and Responses
Set 2, posted March 9, 1999
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Question:
Our family has been in the exclusive field of heavy moving
and rigging for centuries. I cannot help but to notice that
much of the current team's approach to this endeavor
consists of novice-generated theories, instead of "hands on"
experience in heavy moving and rigging.
Indeed, my quandary in this matter is not HOW the objects
were rigged, but in narrowing down the plethora of numerous
available specific procedures and practices to one,
verifiable approach.
(name witheld by request)
Response from Mark Lehner:
Our theories are not generated by novices.
Roger Hopkins
and our Egyptian foreman Ali el Gasab have spent their
careers moving heavy weights. We have
Mark Whitby
and Henry Woodlock, who are both engineers, and we have
Owain Roberts
who is an experienced boat builder and has done his share of
moving things about. Finally, we have Denys Stocks, who has
long experimented with ancient stone-cutting technology.
Question:
I was of the understanding that there was significant Roman
influence in Egypt. I realize that what you are
investigating is far older than that influence of the great
Roman rulers such as Marcus Aurelius or Agustus, but my
question is this: Have the years of various cultural
influences affected the excavation and examination of more
ancient civilizations? Do these layers of newer
civilizations above the older impede your discoveries
Bill B. Ann Arbor, MI
Response from Mark Lehner:
Not at Giza where we dig. Mostly there was a lot of ancient
drift sand over our site, which seems to be directly from
the time of the Pyramids. But there are many sites in Egypt
and other places in the world where indeed younger deposits
and towns cover more ancient ones. And in that case it's
always a question as to whether you completely remove the
more recent layers of civilization to get at the older,
deeper ones, or whether you stop at any given layer of
civilization and only get the lower layers where they are
exposed.
Question:
Is there is anything buried under the Great Sphinx? I
believe that there is. Do you agree with my theory?
(name witheld by request)
Response from Mark Lehner:
I don't know. Many people think so, but so far nothing's
been found. The Sphinx is made right out of the solid rock
of the Giza Plateau, so if there's anything buried under it,
it's in a shaft, passage, or chamber. So far none has been
found except one: underneath the rear of the Sphinx, which
came to a dead end.
Question:
I profess to know little about physics or engineering, but
in response to Dr. Lehner's comments; isn't there now some
evidence of the Egyptians having iron? Was not an iron door
found in the Great Pyramid?
Jill North Vancouver, BC
Response from Mark Lehner:
No, the Egyptians probably did not have iron until somewhere
between 664 and 525 B.C. That is they didn't have iron
extensively for tools and levers and chisels. A piece of
iron was said to be found in the Great Pyramid in 1836, but
it was not a door. It could have been embedded in the stones
from the time when the outer casing stones of the Pyramid
were pried off, probably with iron tools, and tumbled to the
ground, to be used in building elsewhere in fairly recent
times, that is to say somewhere in the Middle Ages or
shortly thereafter.
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