One Solution to the Four Channels of the Great Pyramid

[Music] welcome to history for granite join me to explore ancient Egypt Please Subscribe and together we'll uncover Secrets From the Past written in stone if I had to pick the most emblematic feature of the Great Pyramid it would have to be the small channels that emanate from The upper chambers in the structure this is ironic because they are far from the most impressive feature of the pyramid they can't hold a candle to The Soaring Grand gallery or a magnificent King's chamber with its flat Granite ceiling but despite their modest size and supplementary role there is something about the channels which captures the imagination they uniquely forc the mind to travel through the mass of stone and envision everything that might be hidden out of sight a tantalizing hint that something anything is still waiting to be discovered inside the pyramid these small channels have been taunting explorers for Millennia the scars on the pyramid where they enter and exit the structure bear witness to past efforts to uncover their secrets but despite many attempts both modern and ancient to decipher their meaning there has been no Discovery to decisively determine a solution but now that's all going to change in this video we're going to scrutinize the most popular theories for the channels and show new evidence to determine their original purpose as difficult as that sounds the clues have always been there waiting to be found the history of exploration in the channels is a long tale of curiosity and Innovation worthy of its own video but I will give a brief summary here the channels which travel from the king's chamber have been noted in descriptions of the Great Pyramid since abdal Latif Al baghdadi in 1200 ad he writes quote in the upper part openings and windows which seemed to have been made to give passage to Air and light end quote the earliest detailed description of the channels come from John Greaves in 1646 in his book paramid graphia he gives accurate measurements and describes them as they are seen today notably gav's account of the Southern Channel mentions its presently rounded shape and larger size thus revealing the damage to it pre dates written records Greaves also notes the southern channel was blackened with soot presumably from the burning of lamps set within it in 1818 Captain Giovani cavia took a great interest in the channels believing they would lead towards hidden Chambers the southern channels damage could have been made for a person to crawl in and inspect where it leads but the northern channels sharp lateral Bend made similar inspection impossible thus cavia dug a tunnel from the port colis antichamber towards the northern Channel Then followed its Bend Westward the excavation ends as the channel straightens northward again 12 M deep into the pyramid from the king's chamber later in 1837 it is from this vantage point that Howard Vice observed one could see at least 35 ft without any opening or apartment this explains why cavalia's tunnel ended there because it was grueling work with less than 6 in of progress per day during vice's expedition in 1837 he hired civil engineer John sha pering pering was the first recorded person to spot the exit point of the king's chamber Northern Channel it opens 79 M high up on the pyramid's Northern face this exit point for the northern channel was discovered extremely damaged as it had been excavated about 11 M downward just large enough for a small person to squeeze through the northern channel was very plugged with sand and stones and Howard vice's men spent spent many days slowly clearing it with boring rods the southern Channel exit point was soon discovered afterwards and it too was cleared of debris on May 29th 1837 upon clearing the southern Channel Vice writes quote upon the removal of this block the channel was completely open an immediate rush of air took place and we had the satisfaction of finding that the ventilation of the king's chamber was perfectly restored and that the air within it was cool and fresh end quote at this time the mystery of the channels was considered solved their purpose was for ventilation and the Great Pyramid was finally given reprieve from the violent Explorations that were undertaken to find this solution 35 years later however the mystery was complicated by a discovery made by Wayan Dixon and James Grant upon observing curious cracks in the Southern Wall of the Queen's chamber Dixon probed a nearby joint with a wire to what he described as an unconscionable length this spot was then excavated to reveal a channel in the South wall and from there it was easily inferred that another channel was also present in the north wall an article in the publication nature on December 26th 1872 documented this discovery the article also contextualizes the Enigma of this discovery stating quote the discovery of these channels which may be called Dixon's channels in no way tends as yet to solve the Enigma of the Queen's chamber but rather to increase the difficulties of the solution end quote upon their opening the Queen's chamber channels revealed three artifacts left since the construction of the Great Pyramid a small doite ball an even smaller copper hook and a short length of cedar wood known as the Dixon relics they were all at various times lost within museums fortunately today they are all accounted for it was initially assumed the Queen's chamber channels would also penetrate to the exterior of the pyramid but later explorers searched for them only to come up empty-handed in 1882 flenders Petri took detailed measurements of the channels using a goniometer and even looked down them with a telescope when the angle of the sun was ideal he was interested in using the channels as a reference point for analyzing the original angle of the pyramid casing stones but as previously noted by Vice and pairing the channels all have some Bend or twist to them after extensive analysis Petri was left to conclude quote with regard to the main part of these air channels it is disappointing that they vary so much in azoth and altitude that they are useless for connecting the measures of the inside and outside of the pyramid end quote further investigation of the Queen's chamber channels would not occur until 1928 when Morton Edgar undertook the task of determining their lengths using an ingenious system of of steel rods attached with flexible joints he was able to measure the southern channel to its blocking Stone the length was measured at 63.4 M the rods used a ball at their tips so as not to become stuck on any joints or small obstructions the Queen's chamber Northern Channel proved much more difficult to measure on account of the sharp lateral bend it makes Edgar was able to probe 53.3 M up before his rods broke he made a second attempt with new rods ODS but they also broke at the same distance Edgar writes quote so if any later investigator examines the north air channel of the Queen's chamber he will find two long lengths of steel rods with steel screw couplers and an oval ball of hard wood at their upper ends he also adds quote I had at least proved Beyond a doubt that the channels are by no means so short as many including Ryner and his German friend had theorized end quote the person Edgar is referring to is Professor George Ryner of Harvard University one of the most important egyptologists of the 20th century Ryner believed the queen chamber channels were only dummy air channels and that they did not extend more than a few feet upwards into the pyramid risner's incorrect assumption about the Queen's chamber channels was an early example of the controversy egyptology faced about their purpose it also was part of a troubling Trend where researchers simply invent parameters for the channels required to fit their Theory this still occurs with present egyptologists John rr's 2007 book on the Great Pyramid claims of the Queen's chamber channels quote despite claims that the ends of these two hidden shafts were never left uncut at their point to the entrance of the Chamber practicalities of stone cutting make it more likely that the two square holes were closed with two well-made flickstein which had been Ren rendered Invisible by the copious deposits of soot and salt end quote there is still a piece of the uncut Northern channel in place which proves RoR is incorrect and not serious about investigating this mystery in addition to measuring the channels Morton Edgar undertook the task of unplugging the king's chamber Northern Channel which had become clogged again since Vice and pering cleared it almost a century prior upon completion of the job Edgar writes quote as the result of the these two channels being open the temperature in the interior of the pyramid immediately decreased making the inside of the building very much more comfortable to work in and more comfortable for the numerous visitors too for it used to be very hot in the pyramid end quote Edgar goes on to build some masonry at the outer ends of the king's chamber channels to prevent them from being plugged up again here is a rare picture of the Southern Channel taken by Edgar before he began construction Edgar reported this job was was successful 10 years later when he visited in 1938 noting that both channels remained entirely clear but as the 20th century progressed history was not kind to the hard work done on the channels by Vice pering Petri and Edgar much of their research on the channels was forgotten or ignored and later writers would claim the channels were perfectly straight and draw conclusions from their various angles of inclination a theory that became quite popular was the star alignment theory that each channel is pointed towards a particular star in the night sky which was revered by the ancient Egyptians but none of the channels are remotely straight and their inclinations also change by a few degrees depending upon where you measure furthermore the exit points of the king's chamber channels are now lost so the most important reference points for Star alignments are entirely missing an argument for precise alignment can be thrown out immediately and so when in evaluating this option I will consider a more generic version which allows for Loosely aligned channels a major flaw is the northern channel is considered a simulacra of the northern entrance passage that exists in every other Old Kingdom pyramid those entrances are always constructed extremely straight in contrast to the northern channels of the Great Pyramid which have the most Bend this discrepancy is never explained and it's important to note that constructing every other entrance perfectly straight was much more difficult than building the small channels of the Great Pyramid if the builders wanted the channel straight they would have been built straight but the earlier explanation of ventilation was thrown into turmoil by the discovery of the Queen's chamber channels they never penetrated to the chamber or the outside of the pyramid so how could ventilation be their purpose thus a spiritual explanation was the best that could be established here is egyptologist zahi Haas explaining his version my theory that I believe that the South shaft functioned uh it's a symbolic Corridor for the soul of the king as the son god Ra the northern one it's also a model Corridor for the king as the G Horus to join the northern egyptologist mark laner conc s there is some uncertainty but strongly asserts a similar argument with a high probability they are not channels to conduct air in here they are channels for the king's soul to come out of his sarcophagus through the northern Channel up to the northern sky and to join the circumpolar Stars I can see why this explanation appeals to anyone presenting as an expert on the topic it makes it sound like you've really earned your PhD and possessed Arcane wisdom about the pyramid which a lay person could not appreciate this Soul Channel Theory became widely popular in egyptology and was adopted by experts such as reer stelman and I Edwards before Mark laner and zahi Haas pyramid texts from centuries later were also cited in support of Stellar connections examples include pyramid text 821 which says the king ascends and descends with the constellation Orion in the Eastern Sky also pyramid text 882 which says the king is associated with Sirius as the companion of Orion while the spiritual explanation for channels was gaining widespread acceptance the Great Pyramid was experiencing a growing problem the trapped heat and moisture perspiring from tourists made the interior unpleasant and caused damage to its surfaces to solve this zahi hawas hired German engineer Rudolph ganton Brink to construct a robot which could once again clear the king's chamber channels and install an electrified ventilation system ganton Brink wasn't interested in ventilation he wanted to explore the Queen's chamber channels and observe their termination points consequently he completed the king's chamber air conditioning work as a requirement to explore the Unseen Queen's chamber channels in 1992 ganton Brink's system reduced the great pyramid's humidity from 79% to an atmospheric 53% within a day this was accomplished by blowing air at only 30% of the system capacity the following year ganton Brink's robot finally reached the end of the Queen's chamber Southern channel to observe copper pins inserted within a blocking Stone about 15 M shy of where it could have exited the pyramid the discovery of copper pins within the Great Pyramid was met with excitement and egyptologists such as Mark laner hailed it as a signature ific find the fact there's a blocking stone with two mysterious copper pins on the south and then in the shaft going from the north there's another blocking stone with two mysterious copper pins makes it all the more an act of meaning on the part of the pyramid Builders Haas would go on to describe the blocking stones with copper pins as miniature doors but laner did not agree with that assessment in his book The Complete pyramids laner writes quote the find was labeled a door though in fact nothing larg ler than a small rat could get through it so perhaps slab is a better description end quote two decades later in a book Haas and laner co-authored they still maintain the importance of the copper pins writing quote it seems almost unavoidable that the blocking slabs and copper pins carried a ritual function possibly related to the bolts of the sky spoken of in the later pyramid texts end quote now these two gentlemen know more about the spiritual beliefs of ancient ient Egyptians than I do but I find their logic a bit strained every other pyramid has a humanized northern passage taking the pharaoh to the stars but in the Great Pyramid a rat-sized passage is used instead using Mark lner's example of a rat how does he think kufu envisioned this journey lacking any frame of reference for the copper pins their purpose is pure speculation they seem important to us in the present day because they're a rare unspoiled piece of the monument but for the ancient Egyptians they might be the equivalent of some rusty nails left out of sight in a construction project notably the copper pins are bent into rounded handles on the outer faces of the stones thus any interaction with these pins would come from looking down the channels rather than up them as the pyramid was constructed every channel would need to be sealed intermittently to prevent rain and sand from clogging it up the copper pin blocking Stones we see today are perfectly suitable for that task the floor and ceiling stones of the channels have separated joints and so the protruding floor could hold a blocking slab in place with gravity until the next ceiling Stone was ready in the king's chamber Southern Channel there are two anomalous niches cut into the walls which would also facilitate a similar sized blocking Stone the Queen's chamber channels May Simply Be unfinished and the copper pin blocking Stones left in place after the channels were abandoned it's possible the copper hook and handle were part of a tool used to pry the blocking slabs loose if they were temporarily plastered during construction but they could be totally unrelated items as well it's important to clarify that labeling any part of a pyramid as unfinished is difficult to prove because the craftsmanship within them varies substantially the great pyramid's Subterranean chamber is the only space within any Old Kingdom pyramid that can be called unfinished without controversy assessing if the Queen's chamber channels were unfinished requires an evaluation of the Queen's chamber itself and so let's take a closer look there are four main characteristics of the Queen's chamber to support the idea it was never finished and I will list them from weakest to strongest the first is that older accounts claim its walls were rough and unpolished but as fenders Petri observed there was a large amount of crystalline salt growth in the chamber which would create this appearance with the salt removed the quality of the Finish is quite standard we can strike this one as evidence completely the second is the openings of the channels themselves remaining sealed for a period after their Discovery this was a common assumption that they were unused channels due to their concealment but it would be circular reasoning to use them as evidence for the Queen's chamber being unfinished if our purpose is to evaluate the channels so we can't count this one the third is the condition of the chamber floor and the floor of the the passage leading to it the entire surface of both chamber and passage are rough core masonry finished Chambers have smooth fine quality pavement which is not present in the Queen's chamber an excuse put forth is that the floor must have been entirely ripped up by treasure Hunters but this is an extremely weak argument other pyramid Chambers with Dugout floors have some bits left at the edges even the single example of the red pyramid's entirely missing Floor shows obvious traces of where it once existed the problem is Complicated by the Queen's chamber subfloor showing signs of having been built upon but not in a manner for setting finished pavement the subfloor has been cut down in the center of the room with a consistent 75 cm gap between the cuting and the walls Egyptian Builders always cut down a lower block to fit one that would be set a top it observing this in the Queen's chamber Petri writes quote these sunken edges are well well seen in other parts of the core masonry and their meaning here is unequivocal Petri is thus left to conclude of the floor quote it has been built over with similar rough masonry which was afterwards stripped down to insert the chamber walls End quotes additionally it does not make sense why lutters would strip the entire horizontal passage of thin pavement without further excavation the missing floor of the Queen's chamber and passage are thus probable evidence of an un finished space finally the Western corner of the Queen's chamber threshold has a projection of extra Stone which was never dressed smooth of this projection Petri writes quote it is really a surplus left on both sides of the corner in order to protect the stone in transit and in course of building this undressed part in the chamber is cut away down to the true surface at the top and at the middle joint in order to show the workmen exactly to where it need needed to be dressed in finishing it off end quote this is 100% unfinished work and this corner would perhaps be the last part of the Queen's chamber walls to complete because it's the most fragile and vulnerable Edge interpreting this unfinished Corner gets interesting because the physical evidence is incontrovertible as Petri points out even the unfinished part has been meticulously crafted with a reference line in the middle joint so that the job could be finished as as quickly and easily as possible this is not comparable to other undressed Stones where the Finish is haphazardly incomplete accidentally leaving the edge rough is highly suspicious because of the minimal effort necessary to complete it an hour of one worker's time is nothing compared to the Great Pyramid as a whole I should also add that the Queen's chamber passage was designed so that it would be blocked off and this is not comparable to any other pyramid it's an important anomaly which lacks explanation interpreting the Queen's chamber and its channels as incomplete would support a ventilation theory for the king's chamber channels and so let's discuss that idea in detail a common argument against ventilation is that the channels are not optimized for airf flow based upon their Design This is an extremely weak argument because the channels do conduct air quite efficiently as proven three separate times that they were unplugged in the modern era it's often suggested that channels would be more efficient if they were entirely horizontal but this is incorrect the aperture of the channels combined with the shortness of their length are the most important variables for air to push through a relatively straight conduit by angling the channels upward the Egyptians gave them the shortest path to the edge of the pyramid this is also the simplest explanation for their varying angles of inclination the Queen's chamber channels are within one degree of each other but the king's chamber Northern channel is is 12° less than its counterpart on the south the king's chamber is off center from the pyramid's axis and thus the difference in inclination still follows the shortest path to the pyramid's edge for both channels it's true that the lateral bends both Northern channels take would slightly reduce air flow but this seems a minor complaint compared to sending the pharaoh's soul on a dog leg Journey to the circumpolar Stars finally the location of the channels in the pyramid Chambers seems perfectly adequate for this purpose of ventilation placing them near the ceiling would greatly complicate the roofing process and make them even more vulnerable to the lateral thrust of the saddle vaults the lowest joints in the Queen's chamber channels are constructed differently to perhaps resist some of the extra lateral force in that location the Egyptians may also have simply preferred to have the channels at a height where they could set a lamp or inspect for intrusive debris a study by Gunther mug calculated an an Air transport of 75 to 118 cubic mph through the channels for the king's chamber and so a design for ventilation was perfectly adequate it's also important to investigate the architecture of the channel blocks to determine what the egyps were intending for their purpose except where the channels Bend or open they consist of two stones fitted together the same way the walls and ceiling are made from a single Stone cut into a u shape and then inverted this upside down U is set on top of a flat stone which makes up the floor it's a great design because three out of four surfaces are made of the same block and thus prevent settlement or falling out of alignment we still see some lateral movement of the joints in a few locations but the more serious vertical pressure has been mitigated the channels are a novel pyramid feature but what might have inspired this design at Giza and other pyramid complexes you will find very similar u-shaped stones used to channel water away from buildings a natural line of thinking might be to invert the blocks and use them to channel Air instead of water as above so below I believe someone once said but if you're holding firm on a rat-sized channel for the soul perhaps a sewer drain could be considered as a similar inspiration the channels have proven effective for climate control within the pyramid however there is a very big problem with this EXP explanation there is no established reason why a burial chamber within a pyramid would require ventilation in the first place the Great Pyramid is unique in that its entrance is below the chambers within it and this does cause a buildup of smoke heat and condensation that does not quickly dissipate groups of people with heat emitting lamps make it uncomfortable as seen by zahi Haas perspiring within them on live TV but the workers of ancient Egypt endured worse en environments than the king and queen's Chambers including the well shaft Subterranean chamber and the miles of tunnels underneath jer's pyramid furthermore most of the work on the king and queen's Chambers would be complete before they were roofed over with restricted air flow it is this lack of explanation for why the Great Pyramid would require ventilation that makes it an unsuitable answer for many researchers one more way to evaluate the importance of stonor to ancient Egyptians is to look at how finally finished the stones are this method was pioneered by flender Petri and it remains one of the best tools we have for consideration the robots of the past few decades have given us a good look inside the channels and the workmanship is highly irregular as if they weren't very important if an empty channel for a king's Soul was necessary why should the soul be chafed tripped nudged squeezed and twisted on its way through in addition to channels for air or Souls other ideas have been presented but they Venture into even greater speculation channels for communication is one idea but this seems even less necessary than air channels for Magical Waters to flow into the pyramid are another spin on a spiritual interpretation the essence of the Enigma rests upon whether the channels were open or closed closed channels wouldn't have a utilitarian purpose and open channels wouldn't have a spirit ual one if we can determine which was the case we can break the stalemate of which explanation is the likely candidate the pyramids of Egypt are so far removed from the present that any design Choice can seem mysterious the best analytical method for me has been comparing them in sequence for a greater context but the Great Pyramid channels stand alone there is no pyramid to compare them two we are very lucky however that there are four separate channels each with its own characteristics that can be compared to each other and this will be just enough to get us the answer we so greatly desire ready deep breath and here we go first we return to 1837 when John Shea pering was clearing out the king's chamber Southern Channel after having unplugged the northern one the northern channel is the longest and least inclined Channel which which made unplugging it an enormous challenge pairing was expecting a similar challenge at the South and thus had Jr Hill blast the pyramid around the channel to make a working platform for heavy equipment in preparation for this work pairing or Hill decided that it was necessary to remove the highest remaining block that comprised part of the Southern channel it's never explicitly written that they removed this block but it disappeared after their job and it's the most like explanation but pairing leaves us documentation of this missing block understanding that its removal will forever destroy a piece of evidence that was minor for him but major for us he draws a sketch of the block from two angles and writes quote it curved downward horizontally as shown by the dotted lines probably with the view of preventing the sand from choking it up end quote in 1837 after having cleared the northern Channel it was taken for granted that the channels were for conducting air but John pering was the most talented researcher to ever document the pyramids and he always went above and beyond with details I don't know how else to explain it but if you were to make a tier ranking of pyramid researchers pairing would be the only s tier there is no higher standard for a testimony in this line of work unfortunately Ping's drawing isn't quite as detailed detailed as his description he describes the channel curving downward but in his drawing only a vertical joint is certain this slight ambiguity has led countless researchers afterwards to entirely ignore pairings analysis everyone who wanted an elegant Channel pointed toward the sky just assumes pairing was wrong and nobody has ever had the guts to explain why researchers Mara Yogo and raldi even agree that ventilation is a likely purpose for the channels but they draw the southern one continuing up despite replicating the vertical joint drawn by pairing but pairing doesn't just draw The Joint he describes the channel as curving downward and while even pairing has made mistakes he got a very very good look at this block in the modern day we know that channels don't have vertical joints except where they change angles but pairing couldn't have known this was the case even if he suspected it there is one anomalous vertical joint in the four channels and thus we can never be 100% certain that Ping's analysis was correct however if you're being honest about the probability of this scenario it's much more likely that pairing got it right and that there were details other than the vertical joint that we can't see in the drawing academic egyptology has not always accepted Ping's work as part of its Canon because he predates the discipline egyptologist Muhammad Ismael khed recently excavated sahu's pyramid and he was the first researcher since paing to do so in many articles about the findings khed explains that Ping's observations at sahur were correct however the rules of the trade required khed to follow egyptologist Ludwig Bor chart's plan of the pyramid which was far less detailed here is an excerpt from an online presentation khed gave on the topic the great lvic bker came with his nicely perfect plan for the uh for the pyramid so everyone followed his plans but he did not excavate I made this mistake and I followed his plan of course I have to because it's the well accepted one we started of course with por shirt plans I couldn't work because this was the most accepted one if I I go back to to John Beering no one will believe me because I'm not following the proper one I must say khed deserves great respect for his cander on John pering in addition to his new discoveries at the Pyramid of sahur since pering was the last and only witness to the southern Channel curving to horizontal many egyptologists have pretended it never happened because none of them ever documented it as bizarre as that sounds remember John RoR is inaccurately characterizing the Queen's chamber Channel openings where the stone still exists today knowing the king's chamber channels leveled out to horizontal is extremely important because it's strong evidence the channels opened all the way through the casing Stones the reasons the builders would make this decision is obvious and it rebukes many criticisms of the ventilation Theory objections to open air channels for the Great Pyramid include that it would allow the intrusion of rainwater wind blown sand and bats but it doesn't take a modern-day engineering degree to figure out how to put a protective cover over an open hole with a horizontal Channel opening even a small projection of stone above it would eliminate all rainwater intrusion if wind blown sand was a concern the channel could dip down to eliminate that as well and there has never been any documentation of bats entering or roosting in the channels from the explorers who examined them bats much prefer to fly High than to crawl and not even the most adventurous bat will crawl over 50 m through a rat-sized hole and near the 100th course of the Great Pyramid no other Critter would be looking for a dark hole to enter lastly if there was an unforeseen issue the Egyptians could have climbed the pyramid to seal or unseal the channels as necessary not a fun job but certainly a solvable problem next we need to examine the Queen's chamber channels where they never opened to the chamber itself the southern channel was excavated from the top of a stone forming the wall and then roofed with a wall block on top of it it's a square shape about 21x 21 cm and less than 10 cm of the wall was left in place to leave it closed off after Dixon discovered this South Channel he looked to the north wall and chose the most likely location for a corresponding one in doing so he guessed the channel would be at the top corner of this block because wall joints would be a natural spot to put a channel but Dixon guessed wrong or at least slightly wrong he excavated too far to the east because the channel is actually cut into the corners of two wall blocks the smaller section of the western block is the barrier which Dixon left intact someone has carved a line into the wall about where the channel would open but it's not a real joint the original joints overlaying the channel are here the remaining blockage of this channel combined with the mistaken excavation creates the illusion that the northern channel was made from a single Corner many photographs including the earliest ones make it very difficult to see the true Channel location so easy is this mistake to make that I've never seen the Channel's location drawn correctly in books and papers this detail is important because it raises the question why didn't the builders just chisel out the corner of one block to save the work of dressing a wall in the channel the channels turn and drift and show no precise workmanship as they rise in the pyamid but here at the Queen's chamber the channels needed to be in an exact location this reveals that the channels are aligned to one thing and one thing only they are aligned to each other inside the chambers the pyramid is a monument to symmetry where it can be seen but out of sight the channels needed no precise crack craftsmanship The Logical conclusion is that the Queen's chamber channels are aligned to each other because they were meant to be seen yet remained unfinished like the chamber they intersect the king's chamber channels appear rectangular like the room they inhabit but after they rise up the dimensions change to a square similar to the Queen's chamber Channel size the design of the channels where they open in a chamber was clearly a point of consideration for the builders but all this evidence is still contextual and maybe not enough to put the matter to rest we need something strong that we can see with our own eyes to remove the nagging doubt that 45 centuries of time will provoke we live in an era in which amazing technologies have revealed many secrets of the pyramids but it won't be lasers or drones or muography or lidar or microgravimetry or photogrammetry or robots to bring us this final clue it can only be that oldest form of archaeology the kind pioneered by Vice pairing and Petri which will reveal the solution in a monument the size of the Great Pyramid knowing what to look for is by far the hardest part here at the opening of The King's chamber Northern channel is where we must search when looking for clues in a place like this you don't really expect to find anything I can't explain the impulse to do it other than an optimism that any problem can be solved with the right mindset you try to clear your head of assumptions and just take in the stones as you see them beneath the garbage and the dust the construction of the channel appears halfhazard the Eastern block was clearly sawed in the upper wall but beneath it the rounded edge of a tubular drill formed to the bottom corner in contrast the Western Wall is less smooth but the bottom corner was perfectly squared by a saw cut in its half of the floor this fact by itself is interesting it shows the builders worked the two stones differently based upon their tools and constraints at the time you can even see on the wall where the saw marks change perhaps due to the block being cut in multiple stages just when you think there's nothing more to see a detail emerges in the western corner on the floor the sharp line line of the saw cut ends it is replaced with the rounded corner of a tubular drill in the first 25 cm of the channel the channel opening however does not have a rounded Corner the first centimeter or two of the Channel's Western Corner was also squared with a straight cut this right here is the miracle the Great Pyramid left for us to see I'll preface with the disclaimer that deciphering tool mark on Stone can devolve into reading tea leaves but here we've got a very strong signal why would the builders use an entirely different method of cutting for the opening to the northern channel the answer you've already arrived at is the openings were originally sealed in the chamber and then cut open at a final stage of construction the exact way this occurred is not clear and there are some straight saw cuts on the floor which extend next next to the tube drill the builders may have opted to leave the channel partially cut in order to give themselves a reference line and save some work later but what's truly remarkable is that the inner saw cut on the western floor does not overlap the tube drill at all it also Cuts deeper into the wall than the tube drill anyone who has ever cut with a straight saw knows that inertia would cause it to overlap if the tube drill section had been cut first we can thus get an un mistakable sequence of cuts in the western corner of the channel cut one cut two cut three the third and final straight cut is very interesting because it shows the builders wanted a nicely squared Channel opening without rounded Corners at the bottom unfortunately the Eastern side is too damaged to see this effect but it also likely received a sharpened Corner even with this clear evidence I still wanted more you can never be too sure when studying something as old as the Great Pyramid so when traveling to Egypt last year I made a point of taking my time and getting the lighting just right to inspect the eastern wall amazingly the Polish on the wall changes at the same point where the tube drill ends and the tube Drilling in the Eastern Corner appears smaller before the point where the saw cut begins on the western floor perhaps a slightly smaller tubular drill was used for the Final Cut every surface of the blocks forming the bottom of this channel appear as though it was originally sealed off we now have a direct comparison for the channels in the king's chamber and queen's chamber finished unfinished the reason for leaving the channel sealed up until the final stage may be due to what Petri observed at the Queen's chamber floor the chambers were filled with masonry and sand to safely get the ceilings in place and then emptied once the heavy construction was complete the channels were kept sealed so they wouldn't be clogged or damaged during construction we now have a complete picture of the channels and can be confident their purpose was for ventilation because they were opened at a final stage while the air channel solution isn't old one let me quickly reassure you to not be disappointed with this outcome the nature of my Discovery is not really the purpose for the channels the credit for that still goes to Vice Hill and pairing who risked their lives and successfully restored ventilation to the Great Pyramid in 1837 the revelation of this new evidence is not that the channels were for air but who the air is for not the workers for as many people have intuitively guessed in ancient Egypt workers were not given the privilege of fresh air nor would a monument with the scale and Grandeur of the Great Pyramid be constructed to accommodate workers in such a manner and as we now know the ventilation for the Great Pyramid was not available until the construction of the chambers was nearly complete this is the best type of Discovery the kind that brings with it new questions and fascinating places for the mind to go no longer must we struggle to see how the channels burrow through the pyramid in instead we get to follow the channels towards a greater understanding of the ancient past and the people who lived and died there if you ever doubt the merits of your own curiosity dear viewers I want you to remember one thing about this video remember that since 1872 every person who has entered the Great Pyramid stared down this Channel and wondered what it all meant has had the most important clue quite literally under their nose it's a great reminder that the work is never finished and that the world is full of wonder for those who might seek it out at the Great Pyramid the research has barely gotten started the search isn't Just For answers it's for better questions I've waited a long time to share this discovery but in the next video coming soon you will get answers to the new questions that have been brought then at last the next chapter for the pyramid of Egypt can truly begin thanks to everyone who watched this video to the end please subscribe to the channel to see more of this content give a like or comment as you see fit and above all remember to ask your friends if they take their history for [Music] granite

Channel: History for GRANITE

Views: 1,077,935

Keywords: Pyramids, Egypt, History, Granite, History for Granite, Ancient, Old Kingdom

Id: -Wz1ARwxVGc

Length: 44min 54sec (2694 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 02 2024