This cairn at Maeshowe Orkney has some interesting internal architectural similarities to ancient Egyptian pyramids .
Peter Tompkins notes these similarities and postulates this cairn was not a tomb but more a kin to an observatory .
From Wiki .
"A potential explanation for the extraordinary genius of Maeshowe engineering and the lack of human remains was described by Tompkins (1971) who compared the structure at "Maes-Howe" to the Great Pyramid (p. 130-133), suggesting the site was used as an observatory, calendar, and for May Day ceremonies rather than as a tomb.
Tompkins (1971) extensively studied numerous documents related to the measurement and exploration of the Great Pyramid of Giza. He stated the central "observation chamber" (p. 130) at Maeshowe was "corbeled like the Great Pyramid's Grand Gallery", was carefully leveled, plumbed", and the jointing is of a quality that "rivals that of the Great Pyramid". Rather than chambers of a tomb, Tompkins suggested the structure contained small "retiring rooms for the observers" (p. 130). He suggested the entrance was very similar to Egyptian pyramids in that it had a "54-foot observation passage aimed like a telescope at a megalithic stone [2772 ft. away] to indicate the summer solstice" (p. 130) in addition to its "Watchstone" to the West that indicated the equinoxes. The "sighting passage" (p. 133) points to a northern star like the pyramids of Saqqara, Dashur and Medûm. Tompkins stated that "The similarity [of the pyramids] to the structure at Maes-Howe is indeed amazing" (p. 133). He cited Professor Alexander Thom, former Chair of Engineering Science at Oxford, as writing about the geometry of construction and astronomical alignment of Maeshowe in this context in 1967 (Tompkins, 1971, p. 137-138).
![]()
![]()
![]()
Thought i would do my Google Earth measuring thing, and i think i might have found an interesting measure, In Yards, as you can see the surrounding ditch / mound is very elliptical , and its top to bottom measure comes to 116.26 yards , and of course x Pi we get 365.242 the numbers for Earths Tropical year. and the width of this ellipsoid shape came to 103.74 yards, putting the length with the width we find it totals 220 yards.
So as Tompkins points out, there is some architectural similarities with G1 at Giza , especially the corbelling , so could there have been some kind of link between these two sites as Maeshowe's build date seems to be the same as Giza
![]()
![]()
DPP
Peter Tompkins notes these similarities and postulates this cairn was not a tomb but more a kin to an observatory .
From Wiki .
"A potential explanation for the extraordinary genius of Maeshowe engineering and the lack of human remains was described by Tompkins (1971) who compared the structure at "Maes-Howe" to the Great Pyramid (p. 130-133), suggesting the site was used as an observatory, calendar, and for May Day ceremonies rather than as a tomb.
Tompkins (1971) extensively studied numerous documents related to the measurement and exploration of the Great Pyramid of Giza. He stated the central "observation chamber" (p. 130) at Maeshowe was "corbeled like the Great Pyramid's Grand Gallery", was carefully leveled, plumbed", and the jointing is of a quality that "rivals that of the Great Pyramid". Rather than chambers of a tomb, Tompkins suggested the structure contained small "retiring rooms for the observers" (p. 130). He suggested the entrance was very similar to Egyptian pyramids in that it had a "54-foot observation passage aimed like a telescope at a megalithic stone [2772 ft. away] to indicate the summer solstice" (p. 130) in addition to its "Watchstone" to the West that indicated the equinoxes. The "sighting passage" (p. 133) points to a northern star like the pyramids of Saqqara, Dashur and Medûm. Tompkins stated that "The similarity [of the pyramids] to the structure at Maes-Howe is indeed amazing" (p. 133). He cited Professor Alexander Thom, former Chair of Engineering Science at Oxford, as writing about the geometry of construction and astronomical alignment of Maeshowe in this context in 1967 (Tompkins, 1971, p. 137-138).
Thought i would do my Google Earth measuring thing, and i think i might have found an interesting measure, In Yards, as you can see the surrounding ditch / mound is very elliptical , and its top to bottom measure comes to 116.26 yards , and of course x Pi we get 365.242 the numbers for Earths Tropical year. and the width of this ellipsoid shape came to 103.74 yards, putting the length with the width we find it totals 220 yards.
So as Tompkins points out, there is some architectural similarities with G1 at Giza , especially the corbelling , so could there have been some kind of link between these two sites as Maeshowe's build date seems to be the same as Giza
DPP