When the last of Khufu’s officiating priests bowed and departed the tomb chamber, the portcullis system was activated, and silence reigned in the sublime space for millennia…
Then, in the mid-ninth century A. D., a cacophonous clamor arose within the great structure, the Ascending Passage was breached:
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”Holding their torches high, the Arabs proceeded to escalade these ramps. At the end of another 150-foot climb, they came upon a huge solid stone, raised 3 feet from the floor, which they had to clamber up in order to stand at the top of the gallery on a 6 x 8 foot platform.
Beyond this platform the floor continued level, but the ceiling fell to a mere 41 inches, forming a sort of portcullis entrance to a small antechamber.
Past the portcullis, Al Mamun’s men were again obliged to stoop along a short passage which led to yet another chamber…”
SECRETS FOF THE GREAT PYRAMID, Peter Tompkins, pages 13 and 15, Image Credit: Tompkins [Modified]
Since Al Mamun’s entry into the King’s Chamber, adventurers, Egyptologists, explorers, Pyramidologists, researchers, scientists, and tourists too, have bowed to pass through the short passageways’ low opening to enter the great granite space. The dimness of light, and the adventure of witnessing the Pharaonic sepulcher and sarcophagus often diminish the enormity of the massive stone lintel each pilgrim crouched beneath when arriving.
Two courses high and perhaps some fourfold wide, this colossus slab of stone rests silently and solemnly in the darkness, bearing its massive load above.
Although numerous notable authors mention this lintel in passing, few, if any, have thoroughly studied the behemoth’s architectural lineage and historic pedigree, or even its true size and detail. It is presumed that Khufu and his design architect, Hemiunu, may have relied on the Work of their Fathers for the prototype of this singular structural solution (and with greater success, albeit waning).
Writers differ in their stated measurements, while others speculate on the true size of the stone and its weight; estimates rise to as much as fifty-tons.
”A stone, a space, a structure…”
Dr. Troglodyte