Brilliant Ancient Egyptian stuff

originally posted by: hellobruce

originally posted by: booyakasha
they accomplished building the pyramids, which we can not replicate today.

What makes you think we could not replicate building the pyramids today?

If I might add, we could built a pyramid similar to the G1-G3 using our present methods but what we could not do would be to built them using the techniques the AE used. The reason for that is simple the exact method is not known and such methods of construction even if known have no current crop of craftsmen. It would take a lot of money, lives and time to relearn the lessons and skills the AE developed from making the early pyramids before they tackled Giza.

originally posted by: Hanslune

originally posted by: hellobruce

originally posted by: booyakasha
they accomplished building the pyramids, which we can not replicate today.

What makes you think we could not replicate building the pyramids today?

If I might add, we could built a pyramid similar to the G1-G3 using our present methods but what we could not do would be to built them using the techniques the AE used. The reason for that is simple the exact method is not known and such methods of construction even if known have no current crop of craftsmen. It would take a lot of money, lives and time to relearn the lessons and skills the AE developed from making the early pyramids before they tackled Giza.

You wouldn't need to do it physically in the real world. You could run "minecraft" type simulations. Make a topological model of the local geology. There are some clues that there four teams responsible for the construction of a pyramid; each took charge of one corner. So that would suggest that there would be four
production lines of stones. It would make sense to roughly carve stones out of the bedrock, then as they are
being rolled or dragged along, that would help polish the sides. Then the final clean up would be performed before they are put in place.

Here's another Egyptian game:



The game of dogs and jackals. It would have taken on average around 60 turns, and would have lasted 30 minutes. The didn't use dice, but instead used six reeds with different colors on each side. Demonstrates understanding of probability, short-cuts and chance.

originally posted by: undo

originally posted by: Klassified
a reply to: undo
The ancient Egyptians used hypnosis, as well as harmonic frequencies to help with healing the body and mind.

there was some info on their use of whole body healing, instead of just physical, they also addressed the emotional and spiritual.

Indeed. I should have said body, mind, AND spirit, but didn't think of it at the time. Either way, they seemed to be keenly aware that we are more than just bags of water.

a reply to: stormcell

that's a cute one.
what did the colored reeds look like? got any pics?

originally posted by: stormcell
Here's another Egyptian game:



The game of dogs and jackals. It would have taken on average around 60 turns, and would have lasted 30 minutes. The didn't use dice, but instead used six reeds with different colors on each side. Demonstrates understanding of probability, short-cuts and chance.

Another game was Mehen

Link to ancient Egyptian and other games

a reply to: undo

Batteries,light bulbs,electrolysis...

originally posted by: FalcoFan
a reply to: undo

Batteries,

As nothing even remotely resembling a battery has ever been found in Egypt dating earlier than the modern advent of such technology, I have to assume you are referring to the alleged "Baghdad Battery" dated to the Parthian era roughly 250 BCE - 224 CE. While some have been able to demonstrate via experimental archaeology that it is possible to generate an electrical current with one of these items, what is seldom discussed or mentioned is that this was not able to be done with the original configuration and modifications were required to do so. Furthermore, there have never been any wires or conductors found in association with the artifacts in situ and bitumen completely covers the copper, electrically insulating it making it impossible to draw a current without again, modifications. The design, while it can be modified to generate a 1/2 volt current, is not very conducive or convenient towards its design being a galvanic cell. The bitumen I mentioned above was a seal for the cylinder and a hermetic one at that. This made is quite ideal for long term storage purposes, not so much for generating electrical current. Irregardless of all the above, it was not an Egyptian device nor found or used in Egypt so no... Not one of Egypts wonder ous creations.

light bulbs,

While this one, what has become known as The Dendera Light, is located in Hathor Egypt, it is not a light bulb. Nothing resembling the hieroglyph outside of the wall inside the Hathor Temple has been found anywhere else. As there has never been anything found in Egypt to create or supply electricity, its extremely unlikely that the fringe view of this relief has any ground to stand on and instead the view of those who dedicated their lives to studying Egyptology are correct in their interpretation that it is a representation of a Djed Pillar with a lotus flower spawning a snake within which is in line with Egyptian mythology. Unless you can provide so,e sort of actual evidence of electricity, lighting and fixtures there's not much to argue on.

electrolysis...

No evidence from anywhere in the world for electrolysis prior to 1875. If there were, we wouldn't have copious evidence of Egyptian women's obsession with hair removal and their use of various caustic based depilatory methods. Once again, for electrolysis you would need a method of developing enough voltage to do so.

Unless you meant electroplating, which some attempt to associate with the Baghdad Battery. as I demonstrated above, it wasn't a very likely or useful way to generate electricity nor have any wires connectors etc. ever been found in association with them nor was this item of Egyptian design or use so again I have to call BS

Keep in mind that just because we can demonstrate that it was possible to do something or that an item of the nature of the alleged Baghdad Battery could have been used in a certain way does not mean it actually was.

a reply to: peter vlar

Good comments, a lot of the earlier posts had other false claims in them too. It would seem that the new age and fantasy version of ancient Egyptian culture and history reigns supreme in that dark land known as Phringee.

originally posted by: Hanslune
a reply to: peter vlar

Good comments, a lot of the earlier posts had other false claims in them too. It would seem that the new age and fantasy version of ancient Egyptian culture and history reigns supreme in that dark land known as Phringee.

which things are fringe besides the light bulb and battery?

a reply to: undo

Mummies with coca and tobacco indicating trade with South America was the first one that popped into my head from page 1.

originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: undo

Mummies with coca and tobacco indicating trade with South America was the first one that popped into my head from page 1.

you mean they never found coca or tobacco in a mummy?

excerpting from peter's post:

the ladies used depilatory substances to remove unwanted hair.

originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: undo

Mummies with coca and tobacco indicating trade with South America was the first one that popped into my head from page 1.

Well,Thor Heyderhal sailed a boat made of reeds based on an ancient Egyptian design across the atlantic proving that their technology at least,was up to the job of reaching South America.
Heres the boat:



Theres a really good book on the project:

www.amazon.co.uk...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415790055&sr=8-2&keywords=the+ra+expedition

They used a binary code numbering system for math similar to what we use in computers

leolady

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

There is also an Oscar nominated film

a reply to: JungleJ

I would like to see that-its hard to find these days.
I have seen the recent (non documentary)film of Kon Tiki,which was Heyderhals balsa wood raft expedition in the other direction,from Easter Island to Polynesia I think.

He certainly proved it could be done,with the technology of the ancients.

a reply to: undo

they were also the first civilisation known to have documented brain surgery and the release of pressure on the brain cavity using drilling due to head trauma

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

In all fairness, the voyage of Ra and Ra2 are certainly impressive. There is no doubt about it. But when you get right down to it, there were 2 designs. Ra(the first attempt to cross the Atlantic) was the one based on a similar design to AE ships. It never made it. Ra 2 was based on a South American design and did in fact cross the Atlantic from Morocco to Barbados. That is however not nearly the same as sailing down the Nile to the Mediterranean through Gibraltar, into open Ocean and then making landfall in a South American area that grew coca and THEN managed to miraculously make its way back to ancient Egypt. And then some rather fastidious record keepers who were all about boasting of the accomplishments of Pharaoh completely neglected to make any mention of what would certainly have been an extraordinarily historic moment more than worthy of mention. Hell, they were so proud of the fact that they were able to sail up the Nile and make their way to what is now Eritrea that it was written about repeatedly but not a single mention of this history altering event. Because if we are to believe Ms. Sevetla and her team, the mummies they tested ranged from roughly 1500 BCE to the 3rd or 4th century CE which would indicate nearly 2 millennia of trade that nobody, not the Romans nor previously the Ptolemaic Greeks thought to mention or exploit despite it occurring under their rule. and then theres the pesky problem where the only mummies ever to test positive for these substances are the 9 tested by Sevetla. As interesting and cool of an idea it is, open and shut this is not. Again, Heyerdahl's voyages and attempts are nothing short of impressive. And while show the possibility of making the journey partially one way and the wrong direction for the basis of the craft, what it does NOT show is that Ancient Egyptians actually did any such thing. All we have are the results of one groups tests that are interesting and anomalous but without additional, independent work done on the matter it doesn't mean a whole lot from a scientific standpoint.

a reply to: peter vlar

It was a long while since I read the book,and I seem to remember there were scientific experiments which suggested the boat would lose buoyancy due to the reeds soaking up water after 4 weeks-Heyderhal solved this by using a design where the reeds were folded over to prevent water getting in-maybe that part of what he learned from the South American designs?I forget,its been a while.
The ottoman cartographer Piri Ries mentioned that he used "eight Ptolemaic maps" amongst his sources for his now famous map,which depicts a very accurate coastline of the Americas,and bizarrely Antartica without the ice-complete with the big channel seperating two land masses(we only found out how accurate when we used ice penetrating radar to image the continent).
I believe I read about that in Graham Hancocks "fingerprints of the gods."
Although people debate the reality of these ptolemaic maps.

Some have claimed that the source maps were found in the ancient Library of Alexandria,[27] based on Piri's allusions to Alexander the Great, the founder of Alexandria, Ptolemy I, who ruled Alexandria in the 4th century BC, and Claudius Ptolemy, the Greek geographer and cartographer who lived in Alexandria during the 2nd century AD.[20] Gregory McIntosh states "Arab writers often confused Claudius Ptolemy, the geographer of the second century C.E., with Ptolemy I, one of Alexander's generals... Piri Reis has undoubtedly made the same error, resulting in his believing the charts and maps were from the time of Ptolemy I instead of Claudius Ptolemy

en.wikipedia.org...

Pretty amazing that they mapped Antartica without the ice though,was that info from some pre ice age seafearing people long since forgotton I wonder?




2nd edit:I think I may be mixing up my ancient maps...maybe it was The Oronteus Finaeus map that depicted the ice free antarctic.I will have to dig out some old books and check.