Egypt

Pyramids and mummies on National Geographic Channel

KansasCity.com

“Unlocking the Great Pyramid” (8 p.m. Sunday). So the Egyptians just used a giant ramp to cart those 2-ton stones up to the top, right? Actually, there’s no way that happened, despite what you saw in the movies.

In this program Nat Geo contributor Bob Brier teams up with French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin, who in early 2007 announced he had figured out how the Egyptians got their rocky mountains so high. Using sophisticated software, he could show how workers carted those stones to a height of nearly 500 feet above ground.

Brier — who has been Houdin’s biggest champion in the English-speaking world — is an eager co-conspirator and an enthusiastic guide. He’s able to turn this seemingly dry scientific story into one of those whodunits where the detective is personally invested in solving the case.

Other ancient mysteries airing later in “Expedition Week” are the mummy caper “Mystery of the Screaming Man” (8 p.m. Friday) and “Herod’s Lost Tomb” (8 p.m. Nov. 23; yes, the “Week” is actually eight days).

- Secret Chambers At Great Pyramid Proposed
Discovery News (Rossella Lorenzi) A French architect campaigning for a new exploration of the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza said on Thursday that the edifice may contain two chambers housing funereal furniture. Jean-Pierre Houdin -- who was rebuffed...

- More Evidence Of Secret Passages In The Great Pyramid
Talking Pyramids (Vincent Brown) Vincent has picked up on a video on the National Geographic website: National Geographic has posted a video to their YouTube channel today that presents supporting evidence of Jean Pierre Houdin’s internal spiral ramp...

- Book Review: The Secret Of The Great Pyramid
Publishers Weekly The Secret of the Great Pyramid: How One Man’s Obsession Led to the Solution of Ancient Egypt’s Greatest Mystery by Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin. Collins/ Smithsonian Since its construction 4,500 years ago for Pharaoh Khufu,...

- French Pyramid Theory Rejected
http://www.algomhuria.net.eg/gazette/1/ "Egyptian, German and US archaeological experts have rejected the theory of the French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Houdin about how the Giza Pyramids were built, Zahi Hawass, the Secretary-General of Egypt's Supreme...

- Bob Brier On Pyramid Construction
http://www.archaeology.org/0705/etc/pyramid.htmlThis is the best summary so far of old and new theories of pyramid construction possibilities, by Egyptologists Bob Brier, on the Archaeology magazine website. It includes helpful diagrams to accompany detailed...

Egypt