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Ancient Egypt Magazine

Volume Three Issue Three  -- November/December  2002

Netfishing by Hapy  

The eyes of the world turned on a sultry Cairo on 17 September 2002 as robot ‘Pyramid Rover’ made its way up the southern shaft of the Great Pyramid. It’s not the first time that this has happened, of course, and the 2002 event was also much heralded. Live television coverage was provided by the National Geographic Channel and Fox to audiences throughout the world, preceded and followed up by international press reporting. For those who want to review the story, as told by National Geographic and CNN, try www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/press_egyptchambers.shtml and www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/09/12/pyramid.rover/

More information can be accessed via the official web site of Dr Zahi Hawass, who played a leading role in the live presentation, http://www.guardians.net/egypt/news/pyramid_robot_hits_snag.htm

The original exploration of the shaft was carried out in the early 1990’s by Rudolf Gantenbrink who designed the first robot, and a team from the German Archaeological Institute, a fact acknowledged in the National Geographic reports on the 2002 investigation. (And if you don’t know by now, the latest investigation, after drilling through the stone blocking the shaft, found another stone some metres beyond, still blocking the shaft.) But it wasn’t quite the latest investigation, for after the events of 17 September, ‘Pyramid Rover’ made another (non-televised) journey up the northern shaft of the pyramid, the first investigation of its type in this shaft. Curiously the blocking stones within both northern and southern shafts have copper insertions identified as ‘handles’. For details of the later robot journey, see http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/09/0923_020923_egypt.html

Prior to the event, reporting – even from some quite prestigious sources – concentrated on the ‘what exciting items might we find’ approach to the project, with speculation about mummies, papyri and of course gold. In contrast, many people with a long-term interest in Egypt will find the extension of knowledge about pyramid construction sufficient to keep their interest and provide debate. Those hoping for something rather more dramatic may have missed the point of the accompanying pieces set in the ‘worker’s village’ of the Giza plateau, hosted by Egyptologist Mark Lehner. What is significant is that his researches have revealed the whole support mechanism for the construction of the pyramids, with suggestions of how many people were involved, how they were fed and deployed and occupied, and how they were administered. In other words, genius, inspiration, kingly authority and central administration may have provided the impetus, but they were not built without a lot of sweat and management of resources.

Lehner also proposes a ‘third way’ approach to labour issues in ancient times, suggesting that although working on the pyramids was not exactly a voluntary matter, nor was it entirely conscripted and definitely not the work of slaves. He postulates an ‘obligation based’ approach. A summary of this approach to investigating the ‘building site’ of the pyramids at Giza is given in linking pages at National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/08/0805_020805_giza.html.

Here Mark Lehner comments: ‘That’s why I like to say my interest now is not so much how the Egyptians built the pyramids, but how the pyramids helped to build Egypt.’ After taking a turn round the net in search of information on ‘Pyramid Rover’ (and no doubt encountering some alternative viewpoints along the way, particularly with regard to Rudolf Gantenbrink) you may well be in need of something more relaxing. If you make your way back to the National Geographic site, you will find some interesting interactive pyramid items at www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/

Just the thing to refresh your memory of the pyramids themselves.

HAPY

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