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Most archaeologists believe the 4,500-year-old ancient monument was constructed for the Pharaoh Khufu over two decades. Among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, it is the only one still largely intact and is estimated to weigh approximately six million tonnes, from the 2.3 million blocks of limestone used. There have been varying theories about the Great Pyramid’s construction techniques, but the most accepted hypotheses are based on moving each of these stone blocks from a nearby quarry and lifting them into place.
But, Peter James says that is “nonsense”.
The structural engineer has spent the last 14 years working on preserving the historic buildings and temples of Egypt with his company Cintec, most recently the Step Pyramid which reopened this year. He told Express.co.uk: “If you build a house, what happens is you go to the site and put the foundations in, then they determine the shape of the house.
“They start in the four corners, they go up, then they fill in between.
“The whole building goes up in mass and it’s level. That’s exactly what they did with the Great Pyramid.
“Everyone gets pi involved, the stars and the outer angles, but it’s so simple that it’s laughable.”
Mr James, who is the author of ‘Saving the Pyramids: Twenty First Century Engineering and Egypt’s Ancient Monuments,’ explained why he believed the Egyptians were not much different from builders today.
He added: “The Great Pyramid is 230 metres long and approximately 150 metres high.
“As long as a block goes in and is the same height up, you can start on all four corners and go all the way up at the same 45 degrees.
“It’s exactly what masons do today, they make sure it’s square. As the pyramid went up the top got smaller.”
“The Egyptians believe there are 2.6 million blocks in the Great Pyramid.
“That means that if you took these from the quarry, one at a time, you would need one every six minutes to do it in 25 years. That’s absolute nonsense.”
The former Royal Navy lieutenant-commander outlined his own theory for Express.co.uk.
He said: “No builder would ever put squared blocks inside.
“If you just build the outside foundation you can fill it with much smaller blocks quicker.
“I suspect what happened is they started on the corners, went up, had ramps put inside and got to the burial chamber about 50 metres up.
“As they went up, they would have got to a point where they put support beams in which would have created gaps.
“They would have left these empty or filled them with a material that is a different density to the outside.”
Even more incredibly, the Newport-based Egyptologist says he has seen evidence of this through a new project he has recently undertaken at the Bent Pyramid.
He said: “What is more significant is when we started work on the Bent Pyramid, the Ministry of Antiquities wanted to scan it with ground-penetrating radar to make sure there were no voids inside that we might be breaching.
“If you look at them, they show the blocks up to about four metres are fairly large, after that they break up into small sections.
“This ground-penetrating radar proves they made the outer casing quite big, but inside they reverted to smaller blocks.
“It makes complete sense, nobody in those days would want to carry that many heavy stones.
“Of course they could do it in much quicker time and they would not need as many people.”
Mr James has spent his career strengthening and restoring historically significant structures all around the world, from Windsor Castle to the White House.
In ‘Saving the Pyramids,’ he puts forward a unique perspective to the structural engineering of ancient Egypt, giving his opinion on common theories surrounding the pyramids – along with new and innovative projections on their construction.
The book, which is published by University of Wales Press, is available for purchase in bookstores throughout the UK, as well as online here.
READ MORE – BQ LIVE
Structural engineering firm Cintec International, whose head office is based in Newport, has announced further success for their sister company in North America.
The company has worked on various projects around North America including the Statue of Liberty, the Library of Parliament in Canada, the White House as well as projects around the world such as the Egyptian Pyramids, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.
READ MORE – GROSVENOR Construction Ltd
One of Grosvenor’s current projects is reminiscent of a scene from a Star Trek movie and indeed its location has been used as a film set on many occasions.
The Mona and Parys copper mines were located on Parys Mountain about two miles south of Amlwch in Anglesey. The original name of the area was Mynydd Trysglwyn which is thought to mean a hillside covered in a thick grove of rough trees covered with scaly lichen growth.
These mines have been worked since the Bronze age, 3500 year’s ago.
During the 18 and 19 th century they were the largest copper mine in the world.
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CINTEC North America, a world leader in the field of structural masonry retrofit strengthening, repair, and preservation, announces its 25th anniversary. Since it began, CINTEC has grown to be a global company, providing systems and services through locations in the UK, Canada, America, Australia, and India.
As a representation of their accomplishments, CINTEC received the 2016 Construction and Engineering Award for Innovation in Engineering, Research and Development. “CINTEC is proud to receive this award and will do everything in our power to ensure our production and service remains worthy of this high standard,” said Robert Lloyd-Rees, C.O.O. of CINTEC North America. “We are excited to begin our 25th year supplying quality anchoring and strengthening systems.”
Starting when Robert Lloyd-Rees visited America in 1990, CINTEC has made it a point to expand their dedicated service to North America. In 1992, Robert was appointed the C.O.O. of CINTEC and has been running thriving corporate offices ever since.
CINTEC’s independent but collaborative engineering, design and consulting companies form a unique global presence together with partnerships and agents throughout the world. Its product range includes divisions such as Archtec and Blastec that offer clients turn-key engineering service packages, including design, engineering, and installation contracting.