More questions it would seem that many seekers would have had to face before, but I seem to be having great difficulty locating accounts of their triumphs. Hopefully there is a definitive answer to this that is already known to everyone except me...
Does anyone have knowledge or references concerning the final pavement immediately surrounding the Great Pyramid? (Ultimately, around any of the Giza pyramids or other Egyptian pyramids as well, but G1 seems almost undoubtedly the most pressing concern to begin with).
I'm inclined to suspect that there could be a missing layer of pavement for G1 that should perhaps be factored into theories of its shape and proportions.
However, I'm finding that almost impossible to substantiate, and most references that sound like they might pertain still tend toward almost hopelessly vague - i.e., one or more sources might speak of "pavement inside the courtyard" in such a manner as for it to be unclear whether they're referring to the courtyard inside the pyramid wall (which is my main concern), or the courtyard inside the mortuary temple.
Likewise, I've found more than one reference to a "second layer of pavement" around G1 but I still haven't actually achieved any clarification whether these references might owe to authors counting the the underlying rock bed as the "first" layer of pavement and the existing pavement as the "second".
I've found photographic evidence that might be suggestive - the margin of the surviving casing stones for G1 seems to me as if it may show noticable irregularity that might have been excused had it been cosmetically covered by dressing with an additional paving layer, and there are photographs of joints between light and dark stone from under the mortuary temple that might be possible evidence of a layer of lighter paving at least extended outward past the margins of the black basalt paving at presumably an equal level originally - but I still haven't achieved a clarification whether this adjacent lighter pavement might have originally been underneath the mortuary temple.
A few photographs seem to show the present pavement immediately adjacent to the pyramid in enough of an unflattering light as to their quality and regularity as to suggest another more carefully crafted layer might have been in order, but at least some of that appearance could turn out to be due to being taken from a particular angle and some of it might simply be damage or weathering? I just can't find enough of the right materials so far to really help sort this out any, and I'm actually very surprised that I don't seem to have run into the answer dozens of times already.
(Please do pardon my ignorance. I'm trying to correct it but many, many Google searches later I still haven't even any ground images of the pyramid enclosure wall, or usable photos or information about the condition of the surface toward the north end of the east side of The Great Pyramid - although I do seem to be acquiring an unnecessarily large collection of photos of the black pavement from under the mortuary temple...)
Thanks in advance for any assistance, and thanks again to the forum for assistance with previous questions.
Does anyone have knowledge or references concerning the final pavement immediately surrounding the Great Pyramid? (Ultimately, around any of the Giza pyramids or other Egyptian pyramids as well, but G1 seems almost undoubtedly the most pressing concern to begin with).
I'm inclined to suspect that there could be a missing layer of pavement for G1 that should perhaps be factored into theories of its shape and proportions.
However, I'm finding that almost impossible to substantiate, and most references that sound like they might pertain still tend toward almost hopelessly vague - i.e., one or more sources might speak of "pavement inside the courtyard" in such a manner as for it to be unclear whether they're referring to the courtyard inside the pyramid wall (which is my main concern), or the courtyard inside the mortuary temple.
Likewise, I've found more than one reference to a "second layer of pavement" around G1 but I still haven't actually achieved any clarification whether these references might owe to authors counting the the underlying rock bed as the "first" layer of pavement and the existing pavement as the "second".
I've found photographic evidence that might be suggestive - the margin of the surviving casing stones for G1 seems to me as if it may show noticable irregularity that might have been excused had it been cosmetically covered by dressing with an additional paving layer, and there are photographs of joints between light and dark stone from under the mortuary temple that might be possible evidence of a layer of lighter paving at least extended outward past the margins of the black basalt paving at presumably an equal level originally - but I still haven't achieved a clarification whether this adjacent lighter pavement might have originally been underneath the mortuary temple.
A few photographs seem to show the present pavement immediately adjacent to the pyramid in enough of an unflattering light as to their quality and regularity as to suggest another more carefully crafted layer might have been in order, but at least some of that appearance could turn out to be due to being taken from a particular angle and some of it might simply be damage or weathering? I just can't find enough of the right materials so far to really help sort this out any, and I'm actually very surprised that I don't seem to have run into the answer dozens of times already.
(Please do pardon my ignorance. I'm trying to correct it but many, many Google searches later I still haven't even any ground images of the pyramid enclosure wall, or usable photos or information about the condition of the surface toward the north end of the east side of The Great Pyramid - although I do seem to be acquiring an unnecessarily large collection of photos of the black pavement from under the mortuary temple...)
Thanks in advance for any assistance, and thanks again to the forum for assistance with previous questions.