Giza Pyramids

Calcium carbonate (limestone) occurs in nature as calcite, aragonite, valerite, dolomite (CaCOj MgCOj), chalk and travertine. An example of past use for limestone was in Egypt for construction of the Giza Pyramids and as marble - its highly crystalline form - somewhat later by the Greeks for statues and parts of buildings. The Romans used limestone extensively for road construction. Today, limestone is the... 

Limestone has undoubtedly been used since the Stone Age, although primitive man probably found uses for it before that time. The first records relate to the Egyptian Second Dynasty (some 5,800 years ago), when it was employed in the construction of the Giza Pyramids. Marble, a highly crystalline form of limestone, was used by the Greeks shortly after this period for statues and the decoration of buildings. Limestone was widely used by the Romans for building roads. 

Circa 2560 The Great Pyramid of Giza is completed in Egypt. 

Figure 24.12 Using the radiocarbon dating method on organic materials, such as ash and charcoal found at the Great Pyramid of Giza, scientists estimate the pyramid to be more than 4000 years old. 

By measuring this ratio and comparing it to the nearly constant ratio present in the atmosphere, the age of an object can be estimated. For example, if an objects C-14 to (C-12 + C-13) ratio is one-quarter of the ratio measured in the atmosphere, the object is approximately two half-lives, or 11,460 years old. Carbon-14 dating is limited to accurately dating objects up to approximately 45,000 years of age. This method was used to date the Great Pyramid of Giza, shown in Figure 24.12. 

In another surprising coincidence, the pyramids of Giza form the map of Orion over an area twenty kilometers by ten kilometers. However, the French Virgo is on a very much grander scale of two hundred and ten kilometers by one hundred and sixty kilometers. Nevertheless, both seem to express in tangible form the much cliched dictum from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes as above, so below. The Virgo plan in France may either exist by chance or have been constmcted to such a scale because Louis VII shared the expectancy that the next Messiah would be French and of royal blood." His adoption of the Fleur-de-Lys seems to confirm this and we shall see how poignant this was to be. 

The Perfect Pyramid built as the Great Pyramid of Giza is special because of a particular constraint. In history, only Flerodotus has alluded to it. " The key is that the area of a side face is equal to the square of the height of the pyramid. Herodotus statement turns on the translation of the Greek word epipoles, which means either in elevation, hy the lateral surface or simply in surface... 

The plaster found wide application in ancient Egypt [2], It was applied as mortar and to stucco decoration, for example in Tutankhamen s tomb, for firnshing the tombstones of calcite (called alabaster). As mortar it was used in pyramids, in Giza. The beginning of its application is not establish it is regarded that it falls in the period from 5,000 to 3,400 year before Christ [2], The plaster application, instead of lime Jaworski explains by the lack of fuel, because the limestone are more easily accessible than gypsum raw materials [2]. 

Verner, 2002, p. 74. The south-east corner of the Great pyramid of Giza (2467 BC) Is two centimetres higher than the north-west corner. The prevailing wind from the north-west could raise the surface of a water trough that amount over such a length. 

Fig. 9.13. The Great Sphinx of Giza with Khafre s pyramid in the background built in the year 2500 BC or perhaps earlier is the symbol of ancient Egyptian culture and an exquisite structure bearing perfect geometrical symmetry...

Fig. 2.1 Traditional 20th century popular presentation of the sole surviving Wonder, The Pyramid of Khufu at Giza, from a vintage postcard. (Postcard by Detroit Publishing Company, ca. 1910)...

The cult of personality inherent in memorial structure for great rulers, like Maussollos s mausoleum or Khufu s pyramid at Giza, imbues the landscape with the authority of the dead ruler whose majesty demanded the monument. These Wonders are dramatic memorial landscapes used to enlarge and support the legacy the ruler. 

Seated camelback, from left to right, Setsuro Tamaru, Charlotte and Fritz Haber visiting the pyramids of Giza during Haber s world tour in 1924. 

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