Doubting Didymus

Wait a minute, there was a SKELETON in there?

Doubting Didymus

Oh wait, you were talking about something else.

Sorry.

Have they opened it yet or not?

[ September 16, 2002: Message edited by: Doubting Didymus ]</p>

Answerer

Damn it, I can't watch the live telecast from here. Anyway, guys, can anyone of you please tell me of what is inside that secret chamber. As a matter of intrigue, I hope they found something that somehow disprove the existence of Moses or maybe a human-like creature. So sad that I can't see it.

not a theist

You got your wish.

hyzer

The damn shafts were for air for the workers during construction.

The shafts from the “queen’s” chamber do not reach today’s pyramid surface because the queen’s chamber was completed earlier in the construction process and therefore were more completely covered up by the subsequent construction.

Occam’s razor, toothbrush and the whole freakin’ bathroom.

-hyzer

Amen-Moses

The only problem with that hypothesis being that both shafts were blocked from the inside right from the beginning of construction and both shafts are lined with polished stone rather than being rough cut, a bit of a waste of time for "Air shafts" dontcha think?

Of course the funny bit was Hawass going on about symbolic exits for the spirut and the door "handle" being symbolic and them we see that on the other side there is another door or stone blocking the way without a handle.

I have come to the conclusion that the builders were just plain barmy.

Amen-Moses

hyzer

Quote “The only problem with that hypothesis being that both shafts were blocked from the inside right from the beginning of construction and both shafts are lined with polished stone rather than being rough cut, a bit of a waste of time for "Air shafts" dontcha think?”

Can you provide a reference for the shafts being blocked “right” at the “beginning” of construction? I have not read that anywhere.

Actually, do you know how much air flow is impeded by rough surfaces in a duct? Check the ASHRAE HANDBOOK OF FUNDAMENTALS, 2001. Briefly, the answer is a lot. So, no, I don’t think the Egyptian designers wasted any time having the air shafts lined with polished stone – in fact, I’d say it makes sense.

-hyzer

Amen-Moses

Any book or reference on them should tell you this, they were first discovered by tapping the solid stone wall and noticing a hollower sound when the wall was broken through they found the shaft.

In the 90's they found the other one on the other side of the chamber (just like they are in the "Kings" chamber and that one was likewise completely blocked by solid stone.

Now I suppose you could argue that the walls of the "Queens" chamber were added after it was "finished" but seeing as how the weight of the ceiling is resting on those walls I'm buggered if I can work out how they would have achieved it when according to you they were in use as "air shafts" right up until there was over 100 feet of stone piled on top!

Amen-Moses

Demosthenes

Additionally, the polished stone wasn't seen until the rover came within few meters of the stone slab. The rest of the lower shaft was rough cut. So, no, they weren't meant to be air shafts.

Marduk

I think those Ancient Egyptians just had a very twisted sense of humor


Imagine all the trouble they went through to align all those big blocks of stone so an 8" X 8"
shaft would travel evenly for 200 feet, and then stick in a meaningless door, the odds of which anyone would ever even see being quite high at the time.

[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: marduck ]</p>