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Pyramids (l)

The Age of the Pyramids is conventionally accepted as being around 2700 – 2150 BC. However, a number of investigators have inferred a much greater antiquity for some of these remarkable structures, particularly the Great Pyramid at Giza.

Ralph Ellis, a British researcher, has studied erosion to be seen at the Giza, Meidum and Dashur pyramids and concluded^[⁵¹⁷^] that there is evidence for an 8000 BC or earlier date for the construction of these structures. Ellis also has an article on the Internet⁽^a⁾ outlining his evidence for an earlier date for the construction of the Great Pyramid.

More recently Robert Schoch announced the discovery of evidence of erosion INSIDE the Great Pyramid suggesting that a more ancient core had been exposed to the elements for a long period before being built upon to give us the structure we have today.

Another writer, Joseph Jochmans relates^[⁵¹⁸^](^c⁾ how it was recorded that the outer casing stones showed water marks halfway up the height of the Pyramid before the Arabs removed them. Geologists have found evidence of a final catastrophic flooding event in Egypt circa 10000 BC. Furthermore radiocarbon dating of organic inclusions in a fourteen-foot layer of silt around the base of the Great Pyramid offered a date of around 9600 BC.

This suggested extended age for the pyramids has been incorporated in the argument to prove the existence of other advanced ancient civilisations that were concurrent with the 9600 BC date given by Solon for the antiquity of Atlantis.

Understandably, these revolutionary ideas have been met with fierce opposition by establishment archaeologists. This is a debate that will run for some time yet.

For Ignatius Donnelly the pyramids of Egypt and Central America were the result of a shared heritage originating in Atlantis. However, the millennia that separate the construction in the two regions would seem to militate against this idea. The Mayan pyramid at Mirador, in northern Guatemala, may be the largest, by volume, in the world.

Even more spectacular was the 1996 discovery of pyramids on the southern Atlantic coast of Brazil dated as early as 3000 BC, predating the earliest Egyptian pyramids by a few hundred years⁽ⁱ⁾. However, two sites in Peru , Caral and Sechin Bajo, are claiming pyramid complexes with dates of circa 3500 BC^(j). It will be interesting to see if this date can be pushed back further.

Apart from Mesoamerica, pyramids have also been discovered on the Canaries, Sicily, Sardinia and Mauritius^(k), not to mention China. A website dedicated to European pyramids is now available⁽^g⁾. The remains of three pyramids have also been identified on the Greek Peloponnese, one of which has been dated to 2720 BC ± 580 years. In 2005 the Bosnian-American ‘archaeologist’, Semir Osmanagic, announced that he had identified a gigantic manmade pyramid beside Visoko, 30km north of Sarajevo. Highly publicised Excavations began in 2006. Readers should be aware that Osmanagic has expressed^[⁵¹⁹^] rather bizarre notions including a belief that the Maya were descendents of the Atlanteans who in turn arrived on Earth from the Pleiades! He updated his claims in December 2011^(o).An on-site investigation by Robert Schoch concluded that the ‘pyramid’ was probably not manmade!

Zecharia Sitchin, the controversial ‘alternative’ historian, entered the fray in 1980, with the claim that the only concrete evidence that the Great Pyramid had been built by Khufu, was an inscription forged by Colonel Richard H. Vyse. If true, this would lend some support to a redating of the structure. Philip Coppens, who has recently written a book, The New Pyramid Age^{[759] ,}about pyramids as a worldwide phenomenon and discusses⁽^d⁾ the Sitchin claim on his website.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, a recent book by Emmet Sweeney^[⁵²⁰^] claims that the pyramids were in fact far more recent, and bravely suggests a date of around 800 BC for their construction. In this regard it is to be noted that the Bible makes not the vaguest reference to one of the greatest wonders of the ancient world. Additionally, Herodotus, a prolific recorder of trivia and who claims to have travelled as far south as Elephantine, also fails to mention the pyramids, an engineering feat that is still a jaw dropper, two and a half thousand years later.

The most persistent question relating to the pyramids and in fact all megalithic structures is “how did they manage to build them using such large heavy rocks and blocks”? Many ingenious solutions are on offer but perhaps the most remarkable is that offered by W. T. Wallington who has demonstrated⁽ⁿ⁾ that using basic materials, which were available to the Egyptians, one individual can manipulate a 4500kg. His website includes a remarkable video clip of his method.

Ralph Ellis, mentioned above, is a controversial English revisionist of biblical and ancient Egyptian history, who daringly argues⁽^b⁾ that Mount Sinai, of Ten Commandments fame, was in fact the Great Pyramid of Giza!

By way of complete contrast the historian, Emmet Sweeney, contends that a more recent date of around 800 BC is more appropriate for the ‘pyramid age’ in his book of the same name^[⁵²⁰^].

Finally, it appears that in order to satisfy the public interest in pyramids the meaning of the term itself has been extended to include a range of natural features as well as man-made structures. Robert Schoch is happy to see Newgrange as a type of pyramid, others see Silbury Hill as a pyramid⁽^e⁾, while some writers apply the term to mountains as is the case with Jeff Nisbet⁽^f⁾ who sees ‘pyramids’ in Scotland. Nisbet attempts to justify his view with a very tenuous link between ancient Egypt and Scotland incorporating freemasonry and Princess Scota. Similar stories are widespread in Ireland where Scota is allegedly buried in Kerry in Gleann Scoithin, now known as Foley’s Glen.

A recent (2010) site, lists^(h) the eight largest pyramids in the world. A wide range of free papers, in pdf format, relating to the Giza pyramids is available online^(l).

A site providing a 360º view of the Giza Plateau is now available^(m).

⁽^a⁾ http://www.world-mysteries.com/gw_rellis9.htm

⁽^b⁾ http://www.world-mysteries.com/gw_rellis2.htm

⁽^c⁾ http://atlantisrising.com/issue8/ar8pyramids.html

⁽^d⁾ http://www.philipcoppens.com/nap_art9.html

⁽^e⁾http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=207802

⁽^f⁾ http://www.mythomorph.com/

⁽^g⁾ http://www.european-pyramids.eu/wb/

⁽ⁱ⁾http://www.independent.co.uk/news/worlds-oldest-pyramids-are-discovered-1353095.html

^(j) http://www.philipcoppens.com/caral.html

^(k)http://www.gigalresearch.com/uk/pyramides-maurice.php

^(l) http://findebookee.com/p/pyramids-of-giza