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Pyramids, Wind, Obelisks and Beer
By
Dr.
How did the ancient Egyptians build pyramids? It is a mystery almost as old as history. Researchers have tried to replicate the feat of the ancient Egyptians using ramps, manpower, leverage, hydraulics and more. But yet, through many have tried, no one as easily replicated the ancient Egyptians engineering marvels. The size of the monuments and the precision placement of multi-ton stones keep us baffled to this day. Some, believing mortal man incapable of such accomplishments, have credited aliens with the building of the pyramids.
I am not an archeologist, Egyptologist or engineer. However, for the last nine years I’ve led teams of independent researchers investigating the use of wind to build the monuments of antiquity. In our attempts to ascertain the feasibility of ancient Egyptians (who are credited with inventing the sail) using wind, we discovered possible new insights into construction methods used by the ancients.
It all started with an article in the January 1997 Smithsonian about a group of researchers trying to erect a 40-ton obelisk utilizing manpower and A-frames. They managed to raise the obelisk 40-degrees, then were forced to quit. Subsequent experiments using the sand-pit method were attempted, and successfully.
But something about the manpower method and the sand pit method were disturbing. The ancient Egyptians valued education and learning, and I could not reconcile the idea that this group of intellectuals resorted to pushing and pulling rocks. It did not seem congruent with their intellectual prowess.
I remembered how Captain Oleg, the Viking who conquered
To test the theory on a small scale, I purchased a 400-lb cement obelisk, and armed with various types of kites, conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate on a small scale the hypothesis. Using a 3-foot x 4-foot parafoil, we erected our small obelisk from a horizontal position. We then put the obelisk on log rollers, attached a kite, and the kite easily pulled the obelisk along the log rollers.
In the course of these experiments, I almost lost a hand. The kite line would cut through my leather gloves and cut my hands open. I had to find a way to control the kite line without getting hurt. I went hunting through the hieroglyphs, and notices the prevalence of the Ankh. To me, it looked very much like a figure-8 or carabineer used by rock climbers. I purchased a hand held ankh, and tried it. It would extremely well, and I was able to let out and stop the kite line without hurting my hands. At that point, I realized that many of the symbols in ancient Egyptian art could actually be tools. A menorah is a simple candlestick, and a cross an inexpensive way to kill criminals. These two tools acquired tremendous religious significance. Is it possible that many ancient Egyptian symbols had their distant origins as tools, become symbols of veneration, and then become part of their alphabet?
Realizing that I now needed to conduct research on a
monumental scale, I sent my work to three top engineering schools. I was
invited to Caltech, and after a presentation, was introduced to Dr. Mory
Gharib, a professor of aeronautics. This accomplished and experienced engineer
recruited a student, Emilio Graff, to join the team. Dr. Daniel Correa, and
mechanical engineer, joined the team as well. Our first venture was to conduct
a feasibility study using modern equipment by erecting a 3.5-ton obelisk. Emilio
researched obelisks from available material, and designed the overall system.
Daniel, in charge of construction, designed and built the scaffolding and
3.5-ton cement obelisk. Using a metal scaffolding,
modern pulleys, a nylon kite and metal cart, we erected the 3.5 ton obelisk
three times. The first time took approximately an hour, the second 45-seconds,
and the last attempt took only 25 seconds of airtime. The community of
Armed with the success of this experiment, Daniel Correa designed and built a 16-ton obelisk and a wooden scaffolding of telephone poles. We replaced the metal cart with log rollers, and started using hemp rope, marble rope brake, and our version of djed columns. Using this system, we erected the 16-ton obelisk in 57-minutes, without any one pushing, pulling or flying the kite. Mory Gharib realized that by harnessing the unsteady force of the kite, or shock load, we could glean 10 times the energy than the steady force. Thanks to expertise from Troy Chaput, an iron worker and fireman, by using a system of djed columns, we were able to continuously harness unsteady force.
During the course of preparing the foundation for the 16-ton obelisk, we discovered that perhaps the ancient Egyptians might have used beer as a soil stabilizer.
Beer?
While preparing the construction pad for the 16-ton obelisk, we obviously could no longer use concrete. Daniel Correa suggested Permazyme, developed by the government in WWII to create temporary roads and runways. This enzyme, when mixed with water and soil and appropriately compacted, results in a road so hard you could run tanks over it and land planes on it. When the Permazyme was being applied, I sniffed the air, and mentioned that is smelled like beer. I was told yes, it is a beer derivative.
The greatest monuments in antiquity were built in
the desert or near rivers that were used for transporting megaliths, yet
working in sand and mud is difficult and tedious. We read that the ancients
loaded multi-ton stones on barges and transported them to the
Animals were so effective that eventually both sheep
and cattle were utilized to create planned roads. The ancient Egyptians would
drive herds of sheep and cattle over soil for compaction purposes. An average
cow weighs 1,200-pounds, thus each hoof affords 400-pounds of compaction. To
this day, our term “sheepsfoot” (a compaction tool used to construct roads)
comes from the use of animals to compact soil.
We called Brian
Brubaker of Permazyme to create a foundation. Permazyme was developed in WWII
to create temporary roads and runways all over the world. The last thing the
military wanted to do in wartime was drag asphalt halfway around the planet -
they needed a simple, expedient yet effective alternative. Permazyme is a soil
stabilizer composed of natural enzymes, which combine the inorganic and organic
materials in the soil creating a strong “cementation” action. The natural
“active’ ingredient in Permazyme is yeast. The process entails:
1)
Mixing
the ground thoroughly with water
2)
Mixing
the Permazyme with water and mixing it with the soil.
3)
Compacting
the ground with an 11-ton roller
4)
Wait
three days
The results are
amazing. Within 72 hours, organic enzymes use a catalytic bonding process
bonding the soil into a water-resistant, wear-resistant and
weathering-resistant cementation action that also is resistant to
frost-heaving. These enzymes work in a wide range of climates – from desert, to
wet climes, freezing conditions, sediment and other extreme conditions. Within
three days the military could either drive tanks or land airplanes on the
Permazyme roads.
While in the field,
as fortune would have it, I just happened to have a cooler full of Budweiser,
so we immediately decided to conduct an ad-hoc experiment. As a simple test,
while the Permazyme was being applied, we also treated a small pad of ground
with beer by sacrificing my 12-pack (believe it or not, our parish priest
directed this experiment. Father Verdi did a great job). Within four days, the
beer pad demonstrated the same cementation effect as the Permazyme. The
quantitative compaction tests are as follows:
Permazyme Ground 119.6 pounds per cubic foot (compacted with 11-ton roller)
Beer-treated Ground 110.6 pounds per cubic
foot (compacted by six kid’s
feet)
Native Ground 102.8 pounds
per cubic foot (non-compacted)
The longitudinal
observations were astounding. The beer-pad and Permazyme pad lasted over three
years in the desert – resisting water and retarding the growth of vegetation. A
natural question arose: would the Egyptians have used this simple enzyme to
create roads and construction pads? The ancient Sumarians put 40-percent of
their barley-harvest into the manufacture of beer. This seems like an extraordinary
amount, unless they used some of it for commercial purposes…? Two simple and
formal hypothesis questions naturally emerged:
Ø
Could
the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians and Babylonians have used beer for
construction pads?
Ø
How
effective is beer in creating a construction pad?
The oldest proven records of beer production are 6,000 years old. The
Sumerians put 40 percent of their barley harvest into the manufacture of beer,
and knew how to make 20 different kinds of beer using barley, emmer and a
combination of grains. Egyptian beer contained varieties of yeast, bacteria,
molds, and could include barley, millet, or wheat. Beer played an important
part of Egyptian culture, as it comprised part of workers wages. This important
beverage offered a healthier alternative than water drawn from the river or
from polluted canals. The only problem was that beer is that without
pasteurization, it would spoil relatively quickly. The Egyptians brewed their
beer using unbaked bread as the source of yeast, a practice still employed
today. Perhaps some of this manufacture of beer was used for construction
purposes in addition to personal consumption.
Because our sample beer pad in the desert looked intriguing, a second
experiment took place at
Four 10'x10' pads of
ground were tilled six inches deep. One was left with out any additives to the
soil, and the other three were soaked in water. The following was done to the
pads:
1)
One area
no additives, used as a baseline
2)
One area
mixed with only water
3)
One area
mixed with water, brewers yeast, and Budweiser (modern beer screens out 98% of
the yeast, so we augmented the beer on this pad with bakers yeast)
4)
One area
mixed with water and Budweiser
As the water was
added to the soil, the students mixed the dirt with the water using rakes to ensure
water permeated the soil. On the third pad, the next step was to add Bakers
Yeast. Five students were handed bags of baker’s yeast, which they strew onto
the dirt. Other students mixed the yeast into the soil using rakes. Then
Budweiser was added to pads 3 and 4. The ground was soaked.
We let the seven
cattle into the area to compact the soil. The cattle immediately went and
sniffed and licked pad number 4 (water and Budweiser), then as a group
investigated pad number 2 (compacted only with water). They were left in the
paddock for several hours, after which the gate was opened so they had access
to both food and water, and they could again reenter the paddock and trample
whichever pad they fancied.
The goal of this
test was to ascertain the coefficient of friction, or which pad required the
least amount of work to use?
Results of the
coefficient of friction tests demonstrated that the ‘beer pad’ had the lowest
coefficient of friction, thus the Egyptians could have created roads that dramatically
reduced the coefficient of friction for whatever load was being carted across
it.
The final phase of
our research is the actual application of this potential technology at the
Quartz Hill testing site where we will construct a pyramid of multi-ton stones
in Winter 2004. On
Four days later, on
Native Ground: 112.7
pcf (pounds per cubic foot)
Ground Mixed with
Water and Compacted: 114.8
pcf
Ground Mixed with
Beer and Water and Compacted: 121.2
pcf
The maximum density
of the native soils is estimated to be 132.0 pcf. The assumed maximum density
would result in the beer-treated pad soils having a relative compaction of
about 91.8%, the water-treated pad at about 87%, and the native ground at
85.3%. Current construction guidelines require a minimum of 90% relative
compaction for typical grading and earthwork projects. Wow. These dramatic
numbers are starting to speak for themselves.
Once we completed
the 16-ton obelisk project, I was very happy. We got all of our information off
to the History Channel for the documentary, and I was looking forward to a
relaxing summer. Three weeks after we turned in all our work, I received a
phone call from Beth Murphy, our producer. She had one question: “Could you
build a couple of pyramids using wind?” The challenge was on.
I was contacted by Dave Culp and Dean Jordan, creators of an innovative sail used for racing. They had seen our documentary, and told me we were using the wrong type of kite. They took me sailing using their kite-sail, and I was impressed. I immediately commissioned two kites made of silk. I preferred linen, used by the ancient Egyptians, however we have lost the ability to weave linen as finely as the ancient weavers. As part of our ‘reverse engineering” process, we covered the silk kite with shellac. According to engineer Culp, the shellaced silk kite pulls with 97% the efficiency of nylon.
The goal was to build a 24-ton step pyramid out of 2-ton
stone as a learning experience, in preparation for a 106-ton true pyramid
(scheduled to be built in
We are in the middle of completing this pyramid. As we were
grounded for the winter (no wind) so we mounted an expedition to
This 9-year journey has been amazing. In the course of the teams’ work experimenting with the feasibility of ancient civilizations harnessing wind for construction, we have made accidental discoveries that warrant further research, including:
- Did ancient Egyptian symbols have their distant origins as tools?
- Beer as soil stabilizer
- River rocks and dolorite as natural ball bearings
- Discovery
of carvings on the pedestal of the