Below is a draft version of 'the floating coffer theory' based on "King's Chamber Coffer Observations" [grahamhancock.com]
Constructive criticism/input is welcome. ;-)
The Floating Coffer Theory DRAFT 29/8/22
========================================
Acknowledgements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Floating Coffer Theory was thrashed out in the 'Mysteries' section on Graham Hancock's Message Board, with contributions from various participants (August 2022).
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Floating Coffer Theory offers an explanation for the purpose of the coffer in the King's Chamber. It derives from the theory that the entire purpose of The Great Pyramid and its internal structure is to demonstrate itself as a witness* to cyclic cataclysm. Moreover, it is also to thereby warn that such cataclysm occurs suddenly, and without obvious prior indication - thus warranting the communication of an overt warning in the form of a cataclysm resilient, megalithic construction.
* Edward Biddle Latch, 1890 'Indications of Genesis': "The indications are that the Hiddekels built an altar in the midst of Egypt, which altar most probably is the great Pyramid. This people was eminently qualified, both physically and mentally, to erect such a wonderful monument as an altar of witness. Such an altar must have been made as durable as time itself. If, therefore, the great Pyramid really is this altar, erected by the Hiddekelic or red race, then it must have been constructed between the years B.C. 13,465 and B.C. 12,098."
It is even possible that The Coffer may be the root of the mythological 'Ark of the Covenant' (or 'Ark of testimony/witness'), being a vessel that contains the treasure of the greatest secret/message to be known to man. However, its treasure is the message in its form, not trinkets or writings within. Through thousands of years of translation, the parallel knowledge of what The Great Pyramid contained has probably mutated into the myth we know today ("Raiders of the Lost Ark" being the latest incarnation - preserving in some way the notion that it contains terrifying revelation). Noah's Ark may be a spin-off legend, deriving from an understanding that the Ark was intended to float during the great flood.
Abbreviations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GP - Great Pyramid at Giza
KC - King's Chamber
GG - Grand gallery
QC - Queen's Chamber
Synopsis
~~~~~~~~
* The coffer floats (it weighs less than 2.5tons of seawater displacement).
* To be less than 2.5t, the bottom of the coffer must be recessed.
* As commonly supposed, the coffer had a lid.
* The lid was hermetically sealed (imperceptibly).
* The coffer was originally in the access shaft.
* For the coffer to enter the KC, it had to float above the 2cm entrance step.
* Floatation could only have occurred by sustained sea level above the KC.
* Such sustained sea level is only possible as a consequence of cataclysm.
* Tenth century robbers found the coffer in the KC and hacked off a corner (to find it empty).
* Later on, all trace of the hermetic seal was removed (necessitating destruction of lid).
* The coffer was centrally positioned and orthogonally aligned.
* The explanation that the GP is a pharaoh's tomb built in 2500BC has been promulgated ever since.
Construction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us speculate that in antediluvian times, there was once a technologically advanced civilisation (Hiddekelic, per Latch) that made a terrible discovery, that The Earth undergoes cataclysm, every dozen or so millennia.
Today, this is embodied in the theory of catastrophism (see [www.icr.org] ), which may be lumped in with creationism in order to insinuate it as 'pseudo-science'. The received wisdom is that gradualism is correct, that any catastrophes are events occurring once in several million years, and without any pattern, most likely due to asteroid impact or volcanic eruption.
However, if we adopt a catastrophist perspective, then the motives of the builders of the great pyramid become plausible.
We may suppose that they realised they had insufficient time in which to preserve their technological advancement and industrial infrastructure - such that they could rebuild after the forthcoming cataclysm. However, they did have enough time to construct a cataclysm resilient warning, such that this could be heeded in good time by a technologically advanced civilisation that would inevitably arise many millennia hence.
Discovering that crustal displacement occurs in tandem with cataclysm, and that The Earth's crust has a pair of equatorial hinge points, The GP was constructed halfway between them (30°E of Greenwich), such that no matter the degree of displacement, it would remain axially aligned (North/South). Originally being equatorial, its postdiluvian latitude would thus reveal to us the degree of displacement, i.e. 30°. This ties in with Siberia ending up 30° closer to the polar region (currently around 60°N of equator). See Hancock ('Fingerprints of the Gods') & Hapgood ('Earth’s Shifting Crust').
Subsequent to location, the next priority was constructing an edifice that would withstand cataclysmic impact, i.e. from a mega-tsunami having a height of around 600m (at this landmass centred location). It would also have to be resilient to supersonic winds (whether extremely hot or cold), intense seismicity (tectonic upheaval), and hopefully remain sufficiently distant from globally pervasive volcanism. In addition to cataclysm, its message would have to withstand millennia of weathering, and incursions by ill-informed robbers of an inevitable iron age (bronze age tools being incapable of penetrating granite).
The GP would have to have a height sufficient to record the fact of cataclysm, i.e. the tsunami impact and sustained, abnormally high sea level. It wouldn't need to record a particularly high sea level, just one that could only have been sustained as a result of cataclysm, e.g. 110m above normal sea level (50m of KC + 60m sea level of pavement). The QC at 85m above normal sea level probably contained a coffer of some sort too, but this may have been intended to demonstrate pressure as opposed to sea level (like a popped cork - or tyre pressure gauge). However, extensive salt-encrustation at the height of the QC demonstrates sustained abnormal sea level despite no remains of mechanical evidence.
Anyway, not only would the pyramid builders need to build a high chamber (KC) in which to receive an object that could only enter via floatation, but they would also need to create a large internal reservoir (GG) to accumulate sea water permeating into it via various channels - to act as a buffer, such that the flow of sea water encountering the float (coffer) would be at a tolerable rate. Otherwise, the inrush may cause things to jam or break. The criticality of the KC in retaining its integrity upon tsunami impact is no doubt why it is so well protected from such shock waves. The QC was probably less critical, in serving a supporting role.
Therefore, it is proposed that a hermetically sealed coffer was originally installed in the access shaft to the KC. This coffer and shaft were designed such that the coffer could only enter the KC through slight floatation (a 2cm step). A similar arrangement was probably made in the shaft leading to the QC, but lacking the remains of a coffer in the QC, it is not so obvious what was intended to be demonstrated, nor via what means. That there is a niche in the QC shaped like the cross section of the GG may be part of a message.
The air shafts leading up from KC & QC would serve to vent air from the pyramid in order not to impede the filling of the GG by sea water. Conversely, as sea levels subside, they'd permit air to re-enter the pyramid, consequently permitting sea water to exit. The minimal amount of seawater entering the air shafts during the brief mega-tsunami will drain down through the KC & QC, contributing to the gradual filling of the GG. Interestingly, salt residues could once be seen on the walls of the KC just beneath the air shafts.
Once the coffer has floated into the KC, with further inflow from the access shaft, there will be a whirlpool effect which should rotate the coffer, such that when the water level eventually subsides the coffer would most likely come to rest at an odd angle.
Cataclysm
~~~~~~~~~
Sometime after the construction of The Great Pyramid had been completed, the cataclysm occurred. Today, we refer to this as the Younger Dryas Event (circa 10,000BC).
The causation of this cataclysm, and associated phenomena (crustal displacement), is a matter best left discussed elsewhere.
Suffice it to say that The Great Pyramid withstood incredible mechanical shock upon the impact of a mega-tsunami (probably around 600m high). Signs of this shock can be seen as cracks in large granite blocks within the interior of the GP.
The following cataclysmic inundation (behind the mega-tsunami's wavefront) would be at a much lower height, albeit still a few hundred metres.
Although it is suggested that the loss of the pyramid's casing stones was due to theft, their disappearance could be explained by a combination of seismicity and sea water erosion, as the sea level soon descended to say 180m above normal, as it drained ever more slowly away. Fracturing of the casing stones due to freezing (of seeped-in water) may also have occurred (volcanic ash induced winter).
With the sea level subsiding to 110m (above normal), sea water steadily infiltrates the GP, filling up its lower passageways, the QC, and relatively gradually filling up the GG. Once the GG is full, seawater then flows gently past/underneath the three massive anti-robber granite portcullis blocks (now since destroyed & removed), swirls around the hermetically sealed coffer still in the access shaft (caught against the floor step), and gradually fills the KC. Once the level rises above the coffer, the coffer floats up above the step, and with continued inflow, drifts into the KC, swirling toward the centre.
It is possible that the coffer, after floating into the KC, may roll over (due to minor negative stability and turbulence), but as it rolls, it would lose air from the underside recess. Upon losing air it would lose buoyancy and consequently lose negative stability - and resume its upright orientation. This process would repeat until the coffer eventually sinks to the floor. This could be tested by constructing a scale model (using ceramic tiles perhaps).
During the following years, the external sea level continues to descend. Sea water in the internal chambers slowly drains away.
The coffer ends up on the floor of the KC at a random angle, toward the centre of the room (whether due to inflow or outflow swirling).
Sea water remains most persistently at the lower level of the GG and QC, where salt encrustations are consequently at their greatest thickness.
In 'Ancient Legends and Modern Research Confirm Each Other' Joseph R. Jochmans has the following to say regarding the flooding of The Great Pyramid:
"When we look at mythic history for the story of the origins of the Great Pyramid, we discover that the monument was not attributed to any Pharaoh, but was the product of the genius and higher learning of the Gods of Old. Time and time again, from the Roman Marcellinus to the Coptic Al Masudi and the Arab Ibn Abd Alhokim, the recounters of the ancient legends tell how the Pyramid was built to preserve the knowledge of a magnificent civilization from destruction by a Flood, and that it was this Flood which brought the Age of the Gods to its tragic end. The various Chronologies of Legendary Rulers place a minimum date for the Age of the Gods as circa 10,000 B.C.E. This is the time frame Plato, in his Timaeus and Critias, ascribed the destruction of Atlantis. And it is also this date, as can be proven in modern scientific studies, which was highlighted by major climatic, geologic and geomagnetic disturbances, accompanied by massive paleo-biological extinctions in the planet, marking the division point between the Ice Age and the Present Era."
"In Egypt, geologists examining the fossil record have found that the combined effect of melting glaciers in the Mountains of the Moon, plus a sharp rise in precipitation levels in Central Africa, caused the Nile river circa 10,000 B.C.E. to swell in size a thousandfold, eroding away cliff walls miles from its present banks, and washing out its entire valley throughout the length of Egypt. At the same time, as the Mediterranean Sea began to fill and rise due to higher ocean levels from melting northern glaciers, its waters for a brief period also flooded the lower Nile valley. These, geologists are certain, are the last major flood events in Egypt's fossil history, before the sea retreated and the Nile settled down to today's relatively peaceful, winding flow. Yet, knowing this, geologists are hard pressed to explain why there existed a fourteen-foot layer of silt sediment around the base of the Pyramid, a layer which also contained many seashells, and the fossil of a sea cow, all of which were dated by radiocarbon methods to 11,600 B.P. (Before Present) plus or minus 300 years."
"Legends and records likewise speak of the fact that, before the Arabs removed the Pyramid's outer casing stones, one could see water marks on the stones halfway up the Pyramid's height, in about the 240-foot level, which would be 400 feet above the present Nile level. The medieval Arab historian Al Biruni, writing in his treatise The Chronology of Ancient Nations, noted: "The Persians and the great mass of Magians relate that the inhabitants of the west, when they were warned by their sages, constructed buildings of the King and the Giza Pyramids. The traces of the water of the Deluge and the effects of the waves are still visible on these pyramids halfway up, above which the water did not rise." Add to this the observation made when the Pyramid was first opened, that incrustations of salt an inch thick were found inside. Most of this salt is natural exudation from the chambered rock wall, but chemical analysis also shows some of the salt has a mineral content consistent with salt from the sea. Thus, during the prehistoric Flood, when waters surrounded the Great Pyramid, the known and unknown entrances leaked, allowing seawater into the interior, which later evaporated and left the salts behind. The locations where the salts are found are consistent with the monument having been submerged half-way up its height."
"If the floodings of 10,000 B.C.E. were the last major catastrophic water events in Egypt, and the Pyramid exhibits signs of having been subjected to them, it means the Pyramid must date from a period before the flooding occurred."
10th Century Robbers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the 10th century, with the advent of steel tools, robbers began to make headway in their attempts to burgle The Great Pyramid. After extensive efforts breaking through the exterior of the GP, venturing ever further into the interior (with fatalities due to anti-robber traps), they eventually obtained access to the interior chambers (QC, GG, KC). Having dealt with the QC, and ascended the GG, they would eventually remove the portcullis slabs outside the KC (which probably fell upon some of them when removing an obstruction to the access shaft to the KC).
Finally entering the KC, they would have encountered a perfectly formed 2m by 1m by 1m block of granite - at a random angle somewhere near the centre of the room. It would have very smooth, plain surfaces. An original mirror polishing would no doubt have been dulled by salt water evaporation.
The robbers would see no seam, crack, or hole that would indicate the existence of a lid or any other access to the treasure they expected lay within.
Despite finding no lid, they would presume it to be hollow, and would confirm this by sounding.
In their impatience, the robbers' logical course of action, with the least amount of work, would be to attack a corner of the coffer until the interior cavity was reached. Stonemasonry hammers and chisels would be used in frenzied attempts to cleave off the corner in large chunks. As soon as the slightest hole to an interior appeared, they would have an idea as to the thicknesses of the granite walls (sides and top).
However, they wouldn't need a very large opening. As soon as it was large enough to view the interior, they would have seen it to be empty. In contempt, the empty coffer would be immediately abandoned - leaving it largely untouched, save for a severely damaged corner.
There it would remain, until the eventual arrival of The Templars.
It is speculated that robbers' intrusion of the GP sometime in the 10th century directly led to The Crusades, as a means of enabling the Templars to establish control over The Holy Land (Egypt), and thereby, The Great Pyramid (Cairo).
Having been relatively complacent in assuming the GP to be impregnable, upon news reaching them that the interior had been breached, The Templars were effectively caught with their pants down. They immediately responded with an emergency mission to protect the GP from further vandalism (under the guise of a religious mission to reclaim The Holy Land - The Crusades). No doubt The Templars (or their successors) retain control to this day, even if it was made to appear as if The Templars eventually abdicated to the indigenous.
After the robbers' burglary, The Templars became guardians of The Great Pyramid and everything else in the Giza complex. They would be quick to assess the extent of the robbers' achievements, and the damage thereby caused.
Upon close inspection of the damaged corner of the coffer, The Templars would notice that its upper wall was once a lid, but that its seam transitioned from a visible discontinuity near the interior into an almost indiscernible granite/granite bond by the point it reach the exterior (as if the granite of the lid had been merged by melting into the granite of the rim). Realising that such a bond was blatantly anachronistic (and would cause problems in the future), the entirety of the coffer's hermetic lid was broken in order that its periphery could be chiselled away from the rim, especially around the region of the bond.
The Templars then arranged the coffer centrally and orthogonally within the KC, as if to suggest this to be its original position at the time the GP was constructed.
Just in case, it would also be thereafter maintained that the coffer was too wide and too high to fit in the access shaft. Which, of course, is unsurprising given it is obviously a pharaoh's sarcophagus, placed there when the bronze-age tomb was built (2500BC).
18th Century exploration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although entered subsequent to The Crusades many times, the most notable event concerns the introduction of a pebble into the KC in the late 19th century.
Apparently, in 1882, W.M. Flinders Petrie found the coffer propped up at one end by a large pebble. There is no record of this being mentioned by any predecessors, e.g. Piazzi Smyth (1865), M Jomard (1799), Pietro della Valle (1615), or Belon (1554).
It is speculated that shortly after Piazzi Smyth's measurements in 1865, someone realised that the coffer's weight was very close to the 2.5tons of seawater it would displace, and that it was probably intended to be buoyant. However, if buoyancy was intended, especially in conjunction with a lid, there must be a recess, and thus the coffer was raised upon a pebble (prop) to glimpse this (at some point just prior to 1882).
Probably to avoid arousing suspicion, the coffer was left upon the pebble - to demonstrate that there was nothing remarkable underneath. Perhaps an excuse was proffered that this would assist a subsequent geometer in raising it more properly, to make more precise measurements.
Flinders Petrie was thus invited, by unknown principals, as that expert geometer, to conduct a much more thorough investigation and survey of the Great Pyramid (without bringing too much attention to the propped coffer being the prime motive).
Petrie says the following regarding his measurements of the bottom of the coffer:
"Before raising it from the floor to measure the bottom, its place as it stood on the chamber floor, tilted up at the S. end by a large pebble under it, ...".
"We... callipered the sides of the coffer all over, at every 6 inches, and raised the coffer (weighing about 3 tons*), by means of a couple of crowbars, to 8 inches above the floor, in order to measure the bottom of it."
* 2.5tons would not have been suggested.
No doubt Petrie had 8" high blocks upon which the coffer could be safely mounted for the duration of his measurements of the bottom.
The most remarkable aspect of Petrie's measurements of the coffer is that they are so extensive and so accurate. His book contains charts detailing the minute offsets of hundreds of points around the coffer interior and exterior from respective planes. These measurements are so precise, that one can obtain a very accurate measure of the volume of the coffer interior, and of the volume of the granite constituting the coffer. However, such extensive and accurate measurement would only be necessary if the coffer was borderline buoyant - not, if it was half a ton too heavy.
Describing his views of the coffer bottom, needing to indicate how unremarkable they were, Petrie therefore dissembles: "On raising the coffer no trace of lines was to be found to mark its place on the floor, nor any lines on the floor or bottom of the coffer."
Instead of considering the motive for the coffer having been propped upon a pebble in the first place, Petrie distracts us by observing how important it is to note that a pebble had been brought in as a prop, rather than some other fragment of broken stone.
With knighthood undoubtedly offered as a carrot, Petrie would have been 'required' to omit mention of a recessed bottom, and his published measurements of that coffer bottom would have elided the recess.
However, overweight by half a ton, it can be deduced that the coffer's bottom is actually recessed by about 5", to leave a 4" thick rim. This would make the coffer bottom about 2" thick, which would tie in with it having a lid equally thick.
Petrie's published measurements* of the coffer are as follows:
Exterior length 89.62" 2.276m
Exterior width 38.5" 0.978m
Exterior height 41.31" 1.049m
Ledge depth 1.7" 0.043m
Interior length 78.09" 1.983m (end wall=0.146m)
Interior width 26.81" 0.681m (side wall=0.148m)
Interior depth 34.42" 0.874m (base height=0.175m)
The metric measurements are calculated using the conversion factor of 0.025399977m/"
* [www.academia.edu]
Given the surface perfection attainable, it is quite possible that the total coffer height (including lid) was a mere tenth of an inch lower than the height of the access shaft ceiling above the chamber floor (1.092m)*. However, if we consider a lid of 2" upon the ledge, that gives a total height of 1.057m (leaving a gap of 3.5cm above the coffer when entering the KC). Of course, if the lid had a shaped rim of some sort, it may end up higher than 2" above the ledge.
* Maragioglio & Rinaldi (1965) appear to have a measurement of a 2cm step + 1.150m shaft exit height (totalling 1.170m).
A total height of 1.057m now gives us a figure of 2.353m³ for the coffer's displacement volume, giving a displacement mass of 2,423Kg (@ 1,030Kg/m³ for seawater).
With a 2" thick lid, the interior volume ends up at 1.123m³.
The deduced ~5" recess below the 2" thick coffer bottom would have the following dimensions:
Rim thickness 0.102m
Recess length 2.073m
Recess width 0.775m
Recess height 0.124m (6.89" base - 2" Floor)
Recess volume 0.199m³
Subtracting the interior and recess volumes from the displacement volume we get 1.031m³ as the stone volume.
No doubt the granite for the coffer was carefully selected to have a suitable density for buoyancy, such as 2,350Kg/m³ (granite density varies from 1,740Kg/m³ to 2,800Kg/m³). This would result in a coffer mass of 2,422Kg, which is about a kilogram lighter than the displacement mass. Porphyry Rhyolite is an example of a type of granite with such a density (having varied granularity and colouring). NB The coffer is often referred to as "The Porphyry Coffer".
Therefore, with lid and recessed bottom, it is possible that the granite coffer in the KC was originally situated in the access shaft at the time of the pyramid's construction. With the 2cm step preventing it from being pushed into the KC (without destruction), it must therefore have floated in.
Note that the coffer cannot be made too buoyant, as this then risks it becoming friction bound against the ceiling of the access corridor in which it was originally situated.
Petrie observes that it appears those who made the coffer were a bit clumsy with their tools, and appeared to have attempted to polish away their clumsiness. It can also be conjectured that in extensive tests the coffer was found to be insufficiently buoyant, and so minor pieces of granite were cut or drilled out of the sides until the perfect amount of buoyancy was obtained. These removals have not been considered in the calculations above.
Conveniently, Petrie's exhaustive measurement of the coffer dissuades anyone else from considering that any measurement may be insufficiently accurate, or in error (or falsified). Implicitly, no-one need ever request that the '3 ton' coffer be raised for inspection again. As to movement during 'renovations', this is likely to be via a dolly supported clamp, which need only raise the coffer a couple of millimetres above the floor.
Regarding the possibility of a coffer also being in the QC, Petrie says the following:
"Edrisi, in his accurate and observant account of the Pyramid (1236AD), mentions an empty vessel in the Queen's Chamber; and that this was not a confused notion of the coffer now known, is proved by his saying that in the King's Chamber "an empty vessel is seen here similar to the former." Whether any fragments of a coffer remained there, among the great quantity of stone excavated from the floor and niche, it is almost hopeless to inquire, since that rubbish is now all shot away into various holes and spaces. Caviglia, however, did not find a coffer when clearing the chamber, but fragments might have been easily over-looked."
Current day
~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, we still enjoy the Egyptologists' perpetuation of the theory that the GP is a Pharaoh's tomb made around 2500BC by slaves with bronze-age tools, and that the coffer in the KC is the Pharaoh's sarcophagus.
Generally, Egyptologists provide false explanations for most aspects of the GP.
Access to the GP has been steadily restricted over the years, and very little information concerning further explorations or measurements is published.
It is as if the truth concerning the GP is well known, but that no hint of it must be let out. Hence there is retention, hiding & removal of any clues in this respect, e.g. spending a year cleaning salt deposits from the interior walls during 1998 (with the preposterous claim these were due to the breath of tourists).
Given the official explanation of the purpose of the GP is clearly false, one can deduce that the true purpose is known.
That doesn't prevent many people coming up with bizarre theories as to the purpose of the GP, e.g.
Power generating system.
Pumping system.
Super-weapon.
Fusion reactor.
Internal combustion engine.
Exotic resonance chamber system.
Some even claim it was built by aliens.
No doubt, the idea that the GP was built over a dozen millennia ago by a technologically advanced civilisation of h sapiens, as a warning to us, of cyclic cataclysm, will lead it to being immediately filed under 'bizarre' along with all the others.
"A floating coffer? Of 3 tons of granite? How absurd!"
Constructive criticism/input is welcome. ;-)
The Floating Coffer Theory DRAFT 29/8/22
========================================
Acknowledgements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Floating Coffer Theory was thrashed out in the 'Mysteries' section on Graham Hancock's Message Board, with contributions from various participants (August 2022).
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Floating Coffer Theory offers an explanation for the purpose of the coffer in the King's Chamber. It derives from the theory that the entire purpose of The Great Pyramid and its internal structure is to demonstrate itself as a witness* to cyclic cataclysm. Moreover, it is also to thereby warn that such cataclysm occurs suddenly, and without obvious prior indication - thus warranting the communication of an overt warning in the form of a cataclysm resilient, megalithic construction.
* Edward Biddle Latch, 1890 'Indications of Genesis': "The indications are that the Hiddekels built an altar in the midst of Egypt, which altar most probably is the great Pyramid. This people was eminently qualified, both physically and mentally, to erect such a wonderful monument as an altar of witness. Such an altar must have been made as durable as time itself. If, therefore, the great Pyramid really is this altar, erected by the Hiddekelic or red race, then it must have been constructed between the years B.C. 13,465 and B.C. 12,098."
It is even possible that The Coffer may be the root of the mythological 'Ark of the Covenant' (or 'Ark of testimony/witness'), being a vessel that contains the treasure of the greatest secret/message to be known to man. However, its treasure is the message in its form, not trinkets or writings within. Through thousands of years of translation, the parallel knowledge of what The Great Pyramid contained has probably mutated into the myth we know today ("Raiders of the Lost Ark" being the latest incarnation - preserving in some way the notion that it contains terrifying revelation). Noah's Ark may be a spin-off legend, deriving from an understanding that the Ark was intended to float during the great flood.
Abbreviations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GP - Great Pyramid at Giza
KC - King's Chamber
GG - Grand gallery
QC - Queen's Chamber
Synopsis
~~~~~~~~
* The coffer floats (it weighs less than 2.5tons of seawater displacement).
* To be less than 2.5t, the bottom of the coffer must be recessed.
* As commonly supposed, the coffer had a lid.
* The lid was hermetically sealed (imperceptibly).
* The coffer was originally in the access shaft.
* For the coffer to enter the KC, it had to float above the 2cm entrance step.
* Floatation could only have occurred by sustained sea level above the KC.
* Such sustained sea level is only possible as a consequence of cataclysm.
* Tenth century robbers found the coffer in the KC and hacked off a corner (to find it empty).
* Later on, all trace of the hermetic seal was removed (necessitating destruction of lid).
* The coffer was centrally positioned and orthogonally aligned.
* The explanation that the GP is a pharaoh's tomb built in 2500BC has been promulgated ever since.
Construction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let us speculate that in antediluvian times, there was once a technologically advanced civilisation (Hiddekelic, per Latch) that made a terrible discovery, that The Earth undergoes cataclysm, every dozen or so millennia.
Today, this is embodied in the theory of catastrophism (see [www.icr.org] ), which may be lumped in with creationism in order to insinuate it as 'pseudo-science'. The received wisdom is that gradualism is correct, that any catastrophes are events occurring once in several million years, and without any pattern, most likely due to asteroid impact or volcanic eruption.
However, if we adopt a catastrophist perspective, then the motives of the builders of the great pyramid become plausible.
We may suppose that they realised they had insufficient time in which to preserve their technological advancement and industrial infrastructure - such that they could rebuild after the forthcoming cataclysm. However, they did have enough time to construct a cataclysm resilient warning, such that this could be heeded in good time by a technologically advanced civilisation that would inevitably arise many millennia hence.
Discovering that crustal displacement occurs in tandem with cataclysm, and that The Earth's crust has a pair of equatorial hinge points, The GP was constructed halfway between them (30°E of Greenwich), such that no matter the degree of displacement, it would remain axially aligned (North/South). Originally being equatorial, its postdiluvian latitude would thus reveal to us the degree of displacement, i.e. 30°. This ties in with Siberia ending up 30° closer to the polar region (currently around 60°N of equator). See Hancock ('Fingerprints of the Gods') & Hapgood ('Earth’s Shifting Crust').
Subsequent to location, the next priority was constructing an edifice that would withstand cataclysmic impact, i.e. from a mega-tsunami having a height of around 600m (at this landmass centred location). It would also have to be resilient to supersonic winds (whether extremely hot or cold), intense seismicity (tectonic upheaval), and hopefully remain sufficiently distant from globally pervasive volcanism. In addition to cataclysm, its message would have to withstand millennia of weathering, and incursions by ill-informed robbers of an inevitable iron age (bronze age tools being incapable of penetrating granite).
The GP would have to have a height sufficient to record the fact of cataclysm, i.e. the tsunami impact and sustained, abnormally high sea level. It wouldn't need to record a particularly high sea level, just one that could only have been sustained as a result of cataclysm, e.g. 110m above normal sea level (50m of KC + 60m sea level of pavement). The QC at 85m above normal sea level probably contained a coffer of some sort too, but this may have been intended to demonstrate pressure as opposed to sea level (like a popped cork - or tyre pressure gauge). However, extensive salt-encrustation at the height of the QC demonstrates sustained abnormal sea level despite no remains of mechanical evidence.
Anyway, not only would the pyramid builders need to build a high chamber (KC) in which to receive an object that could only enter via floatation, but they would also need to create a large internal reservoir (GG) to accumulate sea water permeating into it via various channels - to act as a buffer, such that the flow of sea water encountering the float (coffer) would be at a tolerable rate. Otherwise, the inrush may cause things to jam or break. The criticality of the KC in retaining its integrity upon tsunami impact is no doubt why it is so well protected from such shock waves. The QC was probably less critical, in serving a supporting role.
Therefore, it is proposed that a hermetically sealed coffer was originally installed in the access shaft to the KC. This coffer and shaft were designed such that the coffer could only enter the KC through slight floatation (a 2cm step). A similar arrangement was probably made in the shaft leading to the QC, but lacking the remains of a coffer in the QC, it is not so obvious what was intended to be demonstrated, nor via what means. That there is a niche in the QC shaped like the cross section of the GG may be part of a message.
The air shafts leading up from KC & QC would serve to vent air from the pyramid in order not to impede the filling of the GG by sea water. Conversely, as sea levels subside, they'd permit air to re-enter the pyramid, consequently permitting sea water to exit. The minimal amount of seawater entering the air shafts during the brief mega-tsunami will drain down through the KC & QC, contributing to the gradual filling of the GG. Interestingly, salt residues could once be seen on the walls of the KC just beneath the air shafts.
Once the coffer has floated into the KC, with further inflow from the access shaft, there will be a whirlpool effect which should rotate the coffer, such that when the water level eventually subsides the coffer would most likely come to rest at an odd angle.
Cataclysm
~~~~~~~~~
Sometime after the construction of The Great Pyramid had been completed, the cataclysm occurred. Today, we refer to this as the Younger Dryas Event (circa 10,000BC).
The causation of this cataclysm, and associated phenomena (crustal displacement), is a matter best left discussed elsewhere.
Suffice it to say that The Great Pyramid withstood incredible mechanical shock upon the impact of a mega-tsunami (probably around 600m high). Signs of this shock can be seen as cracks in large granite blocks within the interior of the GP.
The following cataclysmic inundation (behind the mega-tsunami's wavefront) would be at a much lower height, albeit still a few hundred metres.
Although it is suggested that the loss of the pyramid's casing stones was due to theft, their disappearance could be explained by a combination of seismicity and sea water erosion, as the sea level soon descended to say 180m above normal, as it drained ever more slowly away. Fracturing of the casing stones due to freezing (of seeped-in water) may also have occurred (volcanic ash induced winter).
With the sea level subsiding to 110m (above normal), sea water steadily infiltrates the GP, filling up its lower passageways, the QC, and relatively gradually filling up the GG. Once the GG is full, seawater then flows gently past/underneath the three massive anti-robber granite portcullis blocks (now since destroyed & removed), swirls around the hermetically sealed coffer still in the access shaft (caught against the floor step), and gradually fills the KC. Once the level rises above the coffer, the coffer floats up above the step, and with continued inflow, drifts into the KC, swirling toward the centre.
It is possible that the coffer, after floating into the KC, may roll over (due to minor negative stability and turbulence), but as it rolls, it would lose air from the underside recess. Upon losing air it would lose buoyancy and consequently lose negative stability - and resume its upright orientation. This process would repeat until the coffer eventually sinks to the floor. This could be tested by constructing a scale model (using ceramic tiles perhaps).
During the following years, the external sea level continues to descend. Sea water in the internal chambers slowly drains away.
The coffer ends up on the floor of the KC at a random angle, toward the centre of the room (whether due to inflow or outflow swirling).
Sea water remains most persistently at the lower level of the GG and QC, where salt encrustations are consequently at their greatest thickness.
In 'Ancient Legends and Modern Research Confirm Each Other' Joseph R. Jochmans has the following to say regarding the flooding of The Great Pyramid:
"When we look at mythic history for the story of the origins of the Great Pyramid, we discover that the monument was not attributed to any Pharaoh, but was the product of the genius and higher learning of the Gods of Old. Time and time again, from the Roman Marcellinus to the Coptic Al Masudi and the Arab Ibn Abd Alhokim, the recounters of the ancient legends tell how the Pyramid was built to preserve the knowledge of a magnificent civilization from destruction by a Flood, and that it was this Flood which brought the Age of the Gods to its tragic end. The various Chronologies of Legendary Rulers place a minimum date for the Age of the Gods as circa 10,000 B.C.E. This is the time frame Plato, in his Timaeus and Critias, ascribed the destruction of Atlantis. And it is also this date, as can be proven in modern scientific studies, which was highlighted by major climatic, geologic and geomagnetic disturbances, accompanied by massive paleo-biological extinctions in the planet, marking the division point between the Ice Age and the Present Era."
"In Egypt, geologists examining the fossil record have found that the combined effect of melting glaciers in the Mountains of the Moon, plus a sharp rise in precipitation levels in Central Africa, caused the Nile river circa 10,000 B.C.E. to swell in size a thousandfold, eroding away cliff walls miles from its present banks, and washing out its entire valley throughout the length of Egypt. At the same time, as the Mediterranean Sea began to fill and rise due to higher ocean levels from melting northern glaciers, its waters for a brief period also flooded the lower Nile valley. These, geologists are certain, are the last major flood events in Egypt's fossil history, before the sea retreated and the Nile settled down to today's relatively peaceful, winding flow. Yet, knowing this, geologists are hard pressed to explain why there existed a fourteen-foot layer of silt sediment around the base of the Pyramid, a layer which also contained many seashells, and the fossil of a sea cow, all of which were dated by radiocarbon methods to 11,600 B.P. (Before Present) plus or minus 300 years."
"Legends and records likewise speak of the fact that, before the Arabs removed the Pyramid's outer casing stones, one could see water marks on the stones halfway up the Pyramid's height, in about the 240-foot level, which would be 400 feet above the present Nile level. The medieval Arab historian Al Biruni, writing in his treatise The Chronology of Ancient Nations, noted: "The Persians and the great mass of Magians relate that the inhabitants of the west, when they were warned by their sages, constructed buildings of the King and the Giza Pyramids. The traces of the water of the Deluge and the effects of the waves are still visible on these pyramids halfway up, above which the water did not rise." Add to this the observation made when the Pyramid was first opened, that incrustations of salt an inch thick were found inside. Most of this salt is natural exudation from the chambered rock wall, but chemical analysis also shows some of the salt has a mineral content consistent with salt from the sea. Thus, during the prehistoric Flood, when waters surrounded the Great Pyramid, the known and unknown entrances leaked, allowing seawater into the interior, which later evaporated and left the salts behind. The locations where the salts are found are consistent with the monument having been submerged half-way up its height."
"If the floodings of 10,000 B.C.E. were the last major catastrophic water events in Egypt, and the Pyramid exhibits signs of having been subjected to them, it means the Pyramid must date from a period before the flooding occurred."
10th Century Robbers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the 10th century, with the advent of steel tools, robbers began to make headway in their attempts to burgle The Great Pyramid. After extensive efforts breaking through the exterior of the GP, venturing ever further into the interior (with fatalities due to anti-robber traps), they eventually obtained access to the interior chambers (QC, GG, KC). Having dealt with the QC, and ascended the GG, they would eventually remove the portcullis slabs outside the KC (which probably fell upon some of them when removing an obstruction to the access shaft to the KC).
Finally entering the KC, they would have encountered a perfectly formed 2m by 1m by 1m block of granite - at a random angle somewhere near the centre of the room. It would have very smooth, plain surfaces. An original mirror polishing would no doubt have been dulled by salt water evaporation.
The robbers would see no seam, crack, or hole that would indicate the existence of a lid or any other access to the treasure they expected lay within.
Despite finding no lid, they would presume it to be hollow, and would confirm this by sounding.
In their impatience, the robbers' logical course of action, with the least amount of work, would be to attack a corner of the coffer until the interior cavity was reached. Stonemasonry hammers and chisels would be used in frenzied attempts to cleave off the corner in large chunks. As soon as the slightest hole to an interior appeared, they would have an idea as to the thicknesses of the granite walls (sides and top).
However, they wouldn't need a very large opening. As soon as it was large enough to view the interior, they would have seen it to be empty. In contempt, the empty coffer would be immediately abandoned - leaving it largely untouched, save for a severely damaged corner.
There it would remain, until the eventual arrival of The Templars.
It is speculated that robbers' intrusion of the GP sometime in the 10th century directly led to The Crusades, as a means of enabling the Templars to establish control over The Holy Land (Egypt), and thereby, The Great Pyramid (Cairo).
Having been relatively complacent in assuming the GP to be impregnable, upon news reaching them that the interior had been breached, The Templars were effectively caught with their pants down. They immediately responded with an emergency mission to protect the GP from further vandalism (under the guise of a religious mission to reclaim The Holy Land - The Crusades). No doubt The Templars (or their successors) retain control to this day, even if it was made to appear as if The Templars eventually abdicated to the indigenous.
After the robbers' burglary, The Templars became guardians of The Great Pyramid and everything else in the Giza complex. They would be quick to assess the extent of the robbers' achievements, and the damage thereby caused.
Upon close inspection of the damaged corner of the coffer, The Templars would notice that its upper wall was once a lid, but that its seam transitioned from a visible discontinuity near the interior into an almost indiscernible granite/granite bond by the point it reach the exterior (as if the granite of the lid had been merged by melting into the granite of the rim). Realising that such a bond was blatantly anachronistic (and would cause problems in the future), the entirety of the coffer's hermetic lid was broken in order that its periphery could be chiselled away from the rim, especially around the region of the bond.
The Templars then arranged the coffer centrally and orthogonally within the KC, as if to suggest this to be its original position at the time the GP was constructed.
Just in case, it would also be thereafter maintained that the coffer was too wide and too high to fit in the access shaft. Which, of course, is unsurprising given it is obviously a pharaoh's sarcophagus, placed there when the bronze-age tomb was built (2500BC).
18th Century exploration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Although entered subsequent to The Crusades many times, the most notable event concerns the introduction of a pebble into the KC in the late 19th century.
Apparently, in 1882, W.M. Flinders Petrie found the coffer propped up at one end by a large pebble. There is no record of this being mentioned by any predecessors, e.g. Piazzi Smyth (1865), M Jomard (1799), Pietro della Valle (1615), or Belon (1554).
It is speculated that shortly after Piazzi Smyth's measurements in 1865, someone realised that the coffer's weight was very close to the 2.5tons of seawater it would displace, and that it was probably intended to be buoyant. However, if buoyancy was intended, especially in conjunction with a lid, there must be a recess, and thus the coffer was raised upon a pebble (prop) to glimpse this (at some point just prior to 1882).
Probably to avoid arousing suspicion, the coffer was left upon the pebble - to demonstrate that there was nothing remarkable underneath. Perhaps an excuse was proffered that this would assist a subsequent geometer in raising it more properly, to make more precise measurements.
Flinders Petrie was thus invited, by unknown principals, as that expert geometer, to conduct a much more thorough investigation and survey of the Great Pyramid (without bringing too much attention to the propped coffer being the prime motive).
Petrie says the following regarding his measurements of the bottom of the coffer:
"Before raising it from the floor to measure the bottom, its place as it stood on the chamber floor, tilted up at the S. end by a large pebble under it, ...".
"We... callipered the sides of the coffer all over, at every 6 inches, and raised the coffer (weighing about 3 tons*), by means of a couple of crowbars, to 8 inches above the floor, in order to measure the bottom of it."
* 2.5tons would not have been suggested.
No doubt Petrie had 8" high blocks upon which the coffer could be safely mounted for the duration of his measurements of the bottom.
The most remarkable aspect of Petrie's measurements of the coffer is that they are so extensive and so accurate. His book contains charts detailing the minute offsets of hundreds of points around the coffer interior and exterior from respective planes. These measurements are so precise, that one can obtain a very accurate measure of the volume of the coffer interior, and of the volume of the granite constituting the coffer. However, such extensive and accurate measurement would only be necessary if the coffer was borderline buoyant - not, if it was half a ton too heavy.
Describing his views of the coffer bottom, needing to indicate how unremarkable they were, Petrie therefore dissembles: "On raising the coffer no trace of lines was to be found to mark its place on the floor, nor any lines on the floor or bottom of the coffer."
Instead of considering the motive for the coffer having been propped upon a pebble in the first place, Petrie distracts us by observing how important it is to note that a pebble had been brought in as a prop, rather than some other fragment of broken stone.
With knighthood undoubtedly offered as a carrot, Petrie would have been 'required' to omit mention of a recessed bottom, and his published measurements of that coffer bottom would have elided the recess.
However, overweight by half a ton, it can be deduced that the coffer's bottom is actually recessed by about 5", to leave a 4" thick rim. This would make the coffer bottom about 2" thick, which would tie in with it having a lid equally thick.
Petrie's published measurements* of the coffer are as follows:
Exterior length 89.62" 2.276m
Exterior width 38.5" 0.978m
Exterior height 41.31" 1.049m
Ledge depth 1.7" 0.043m
Interior length 78.09" 1.983m (end wall=0.146m)
Interior width 26.81" 0.681m (side wall=0.148m)
Interior depth 34.42" 0.874m (base height=0.175m)
The metric measurements are calculated using the conversion factor of 0.025399977m/"
* [www.academia.edu]
Given the surface perfection attainable, it is quite possible that the total coffer height (including lid) was a mere tenth of an inch lower than the height of the access shaft ceiling above the chamber floor (1.092m)*. However, if we consider a lid of 2" upon the ledge, that gives a total height of 1.057m (leaving a gap of 3.5cm above the coffer when entering the KC). Of course, if the lid had a shaped rim of some sort, it may end up higher than 2" above the ledge.
* Maragioglio & Rinaldi (1965) appear to have a measurement of a 2cm step + 1.150m shaft exit height (totalling 1.170m).
A total height of 1.057m now gives us a figure of 2.353m³ for the coffer's displacement volume, giving a displacement mass of 2,423Kg (@ 1,030Kg/m³ for seawater).
With a 2" thick lid, the interior volume ends up at 1.123m³.
The deduced ~5" recess below the 2" thick coffer bottom would have the following dimensions:
Rim thickness 0.102m
Recess length 2.073m
Recess width 0.775m
Recess height 0.124m (6.89" base - 2" Floor)
Recess volume 0.199m³
Subtracting the interior and recess volumes from the displacement volume we get 1.031m³ as the stone volume.
No doubt the granite for the coffer was carefully selected to have a suitable density for buoyancy, such as 2,350Kg/m³ (granite density varies from 1,740Kg/m³ to 2,800Kg/m³). This would result in a coffer mass of 2,422Kg, which is about a kilogram lighter than the displacement mass. Porphyry Rhyolite is an example of a type of granite with such a density (having varied granularity and colouring). NB The coffer is often referred to as "The Porphyry Coffer".
Therefore, with lid and recessed bottom, it is possible that the granite coffer in the KC was originally situated in the access shaft at the time of the pyramid's construction. With the 2cm step preventing it from being pushed into the KC (without destruction), it must therefore have floated in.
Note that the coffer cannot be made too buoyant, as this then risks it becoming friction bound against the ceiling of the access corridor in which it was originally situated.
Petrie observes that it appears those who made the coffer were a bit clumsy with their tools, and appeared to have attempted to polish away their clumsiness. It can also be conjectured that in extensive tests the coffer was found to be insufficiently buoyant, and so minor pieces of granite were cut or drilled out of the sides until the perfect amount of buoyancy was obtained. These removals have not been considered in the calculations above.
Conveniently, Petrie's exhaustive measurement of the coffer dissuades anyone else from considering that any measurement may be insufficiently accurate, or in error (or falsified). Implicitly, no-one need ever request that the '3 ton' coffer be raised for inspection again. As to movement during 'renovations', this is likely to be via a dolly supported clamp, which need only raise the coffer a couple of millimetres above the floor.
Regarding the possibility of a coffer also being in the QC, Petrie says the following:
"Edrisi, in his accurate and observant account of the Pyramid (1236AD), mentions an empty vessel in the Queen's Chamber; and that this was not a confused notion of the coffer now known, is proved by his saying that in the King's Chamber "an empty vessel is seen here similar to the former." Whether any fragments of a coffer remained there, among the great quantity of stone excavated from the floor and niche, it is almost hopeless to inquire, since that rubbish is now all shot away into various holes and spaces. Caviglia, however, did not find a coffer when clearing the chamber, but fragments might have been easily over-looked."
Current day
~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, we still enjoy the Egyptologists' perpetuation of the theory that the GP is a Pharaoh's tomb made around 2500BC by slaves with bronze-age tools, and that the coffer in the KC is the Pharaoh's sarcophagus.
Generally, Egyptologists provide false explanations for most aspects of the GP.
Access to the GP has been steadily restricted over the years, and very little information concerning further explorations or measurements is published.
It is as if the truth concerning the GP is well known, but that no hint of it must be let out. Hence there is retention, hiding & removal of any clues in this respect, e.g. spending a year cleaning salt deposits from the interior walls during 1998 (with the preposterous claim these were due to the breath of tourists).
Given the official explanation of the purpose of the GP is clearly false, one can deduce that the true purpose is known.
That doesn't prevent many people coming up with bizarre theories as to the purpose of the GP, e.g.
Power generating system.
Pumping system.
Super-weapon.
Fusion reactor.
Internal combustion engine.
Exotic resonance chamber system.
Some even claim it was built by aliens.
No doubt, the idea that the GP was built over a dozen millennia ago by a technologically advanced civilisation of h sapiens, as a warning to us, of cyclic cataclysm, will lead it to being immediately filed under 'bizarre' along with all the others.
"A floating coffer? Of 3 tons of granite? How absurd!"