I used Google Earth with shadows enabled to observe the lighting of the faces as the sun crossed the sky. I found that the north face is always dark during the winter and lit during the summer. The moon also causes lighting changes. The four sharp edges and flat faces and level base and accurate alignment cause quick transitions between light and dark and also makes all the pyramids change at the same time. When the sun passes directly overhead, the east face goes dark and the west face lights up. The moment when both are lit is noon. It just so happens that 12:00 East Africa Time is very close (4 minutes) to the sun being overhead. The pyramids certainly had other functions. Some have suggested they are tombs. I think their placement along the Nile might suggest a warehouse function from which boats are loaded. At any rate, the pyramids indicated noon the same time for everybody from a long distance. This could be used to set a water clock every day. There would have been a tremendous need for something to synchronize time for numbers of people. The other faces also can be used to define morning and afternoon. This gives a fixed time interval for the boss of a gang to gauge output of his men. The obelisk is often considered to be a time piece. Supposedly, the shadow on the ground was used to determine the time. That requires a person to go to the obelisk to see the shadow. However, the pyramid on top could allow time to be determined from a distance, hence the desire to build these as tall and large as possible. The angle of the pyramid determines the timing between face lighting. The bent pyramid could be a way to have two different timers. The stepped pyramid looks like a spiral from above. On this one the lighting goes around continuously. The Great Pyramid is slightly eight-sided and all are visible at the autumnal and vernal equinox making the pyramid a calendar. The shadows can tell time to this day. Imagine how crisp it would be with the casing stones in place. It barely seems reasonable that people as clever as they were could see the shadows happen the same time every day and not use it to tell time.
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