Introducing the 'Recovery Vault Theory' (RVT)

Mainstream Egyptology insists that the early, giant pyramids of ancient Egypt were constructed as tombs for ancient Egyptian kings and that these kings were interred with the stone boxes (i.e. the ‘sarcophagi’) within these structures. Indeed, the very fact that the stone boxes found in these pyramids resemble stone sarcophagi found in mastaba tombs of the period have brought Egyptologists to conclude that the mummyless stone boxes found inside the early, giant pyramids must also, at one time, have held the mummified body of the king. And we should keep in mind also here that a number of the so-called ‘sarcophagi’ found within the early giant pyramids were intrinsic to the construction and were not added in much later times. For example, the granite box found in Khufu’s so-called ‘burial chamber’ is wider than the Great Pyramid passage system and so must have been lowered into the chamber from the ceiling during construction.

But just how safe a conclusion is this? And, if not sarcophagi, how else might these stone boxes within the pyramids be explained?

A Curious Fact

It is well known that the so-called ‘burial chambers’ and ‘sarcophagi’ of the early giant pyramids were undecorated and uninscribed with any official hieroglyphs of the king’s name and/or titles. This cannot be said, however, of the mastaba burials that were contemporary with this period. What we find is that, whilst a number of mastaba burial chamber and sarcophagi were inscribed with the names and titles of the deceased, the pyramid ‘burial chambers’ and ‘sarcophagi’ are completely devoid of any such official inscriptions. There is a very important point to this which I shal come to shortly.

As stated, we do find the burial chambers and sarcophagi in mastaba tombs of this period inscribed. Here are some examples:

An inscription in the doorway of Kawab's mastaba tomb reads:

“Her son, her beloved, Kawab, the daughter of her god, she who is in charge of the affairs of the jmAt, Meritites, his mother, who bore (him) to Khufu."

Inscriptions are also found on the sarcophagus of Kawab:

“...priest of Selket, Kawab... the king's son of his body, Kawab... king's eldest son of his body, officiant of Anubis, Kawab.”

Likewise, the sarcophagus of Khufu's daughter, Meresankh II, is also inscribed with inscriptions that include her name:

“King's Daughter of his body, Meresankh”

The sarcophagus of Minkhaf I, another son of Khufu is likewise rendered with various offering inscriptions that also include his name:

“Minkhaf held the titles Eldest king's son of his body, Chief Justice and Vizier and these inscriptions, including his name, were found in four niches within his mastaba tomb.”

It seems somewhat peculiar that the 4th dynasty mastaba tombs/sarcophagi were inscribed with hieroglyphs but not a single so-called 'pyramid tomb' was ever inscribed in this way.

This is all the more puzzling when one considers our understanding of AE religious beliefs and, as such, how the early, giant pyramids would completely fail as a 'resurrection machine' for the king. As noted above, the 4th dynasty inscribed their mastaba tombs and sarcophagi with the names of the deceased but completely failed to inscribe the king’s name in a single burial chamber or upon a single 'sarcophagus' within any of the early, giant pyramids. Such an omission of the King's name within the so-called pyramid burial chambers and/or inscribed on the sarcophagus would have been fatal for any AE king using such a chamber for his burial for this would have made it impossible for the king’s soul (his Ba) to find the burial chamber, thus terminating the king’s blissful Afterlife and consigning his soul to eternal oblivion:

”Now let's return to the ba for a moment, and see why the name (ren) is so crucial. Figure 9. Each day, the ba would ascend to the sky, and each night return to the tomb, eternally - as long as it could find the tomb, which meant that the name on it had to be clear and provided that the proper prayers and incantations were made, both by the living and by the 'living words' inscribed in the tomb. If the name was chiseled off, the ba would not be able to find its home and the dead person would cease to exist. This is the reasoning that underlies the damnatio memoriae, the practice of removing a person's name, thereby eliminating the possibility of his existence for all eternity.” Source

An anonymous burial chamber and sarcophagus simply could never have functioned as an effective tomb for an ancient Egyptian king of this period. The logical implication of this, of course, is that these chambers were not burial chambers and the stone boxes therein were not sarcophagi.

So what were they?

I have argued widely and extensively that mainstream Egyptology has completely misinterpreted the true nature and function of the early giant pyramids, their chambers and the stone boxes contained therein. And the irony is that the writings of the ancient Egyptians themselves tell us reasonably clearly what the pyramids were and why they were built:

"There was a king named Saurid, the son of Sahaloe, 300 years before the Deluge, who dreamed one night that he saw the earth overturned with its inhabitants, the men cast down on their faces, the stars falling out of the heavens, and striking one against the other, and making horrid and dreadful cries as they fell. He thereupon awoke much troubled. A year after he dreamed again that he saw the fixed stars come down to the earth in the form of white birds, which carried men away, and cast them between two great mountains, which almost joined together and covered them; and then the bright, shining stars became dark and were eclipsed. Next morning he ordered all the princes of the priests, and magicians of all the provinces of Egypt, to meet together; which they did to the number of 130 priest and soothsayers, with whom he went and related to them his dream.

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(continued from previous)

"Among others, the priest Aclimon, who was the greatest of all, and resided chiefly in the king's Court, said thus to him: - I myself had a dream about a year ago which frightened me very much, and which I have not revealed to any one. I dreamed, said the priest, that I was with your Majesty on the top of the mountain of fire, which is in the midst of Emosos, and that I saw the heaven sink down below its ordinary situation, so that it was near the crown of our heads, covering and surrounding us, like a great basin turned upside down; that the stars were intermingled among men in diverse figures; that the people implored your Majesty's succor, and ran to you in multitudes as their refuge; that you lifted up your hands above your head, and endeavored to thrust back the heaven, and keep it from coming down so low; and that I, seeing what your Majesty did, did also the same. While we were in that posture, extremely affrighted, I thought we saw a certain part of heaven opening, and a bright light coming out of it; that afterwards the sun rose out of the same place, and we began to implore his assistance; whereupon he said thus to us: "The heaven will return to its ordinary situation when I shall have performed three hundred courses". I thereupon awaked extremely affrighted."

The priest having thus spoken, the king commanded them to take the height of the stars, and to consider what accident they portended. Whereupon they declared that they promised first the Deluge, and after that fire. Then he commanded pyramids should be built, that they might remove and secure in them what was of most esteem in their treasuries, with the bodies of the kings, and their wealth, and the aromatic roots which served them, and that they should write their wisdom upon them, that the violence of the water might not destroy it."

Murtadi - (992 AD at Tithe, in Arabia). Translated in 1672.


Essentially then the ancient Egyptians saw in the sky around 2,600 BCE something they believed would threaten the very existence of the kingdom and, as a result of this, this king ordered the construction of the pyramids as ‘Recovery Vaults’ into which would be placed everything of value that would ensure that the kingdom had a chance of rebirth/regeneration after the worst effects of this coming cataclysm has passed. The pyramid ‘Recovery Vaults’ would store everything of value needed for this purpose: their sacred texts, tools, storage/distribution containers (stone vases, pots, plates etc), seeds (barley, wheat etc), linens, water etc – anything that would be useful to help the kingdom reboot itself should the worst effects of the expected cataclysm come to pass.

Interestingly, this is not so unlike what our own civilisation is doing at Svalbard in the Arctic Circle:

Svalbard Doomsday Vault

Since the AE god, Osiris, was their god of rebirth and regeneration as well as their god of agriculture, it is hardly surprising that this particular god should be so associated with the pyramids. We know from the myth of Osiris and Isis that Seth, the evil brother of Osiris, had the body of Osiris cut into 14 pieces (some versions of the story say 16 pieces) and that these body parts were scattered across the land of Egypt. We also learn from the Pyramid Texts of Osiris’ intrinsic connection with the pyramid:

"This king is Osiris, this pyramid of this king is Osiris, this construction of his is Osiris' - Pyramid Texts 1657

Here the pyramid texts tell us in fairly unambiguous terms that the ‘pyramid construction’ is Osiris i.e. the 'body' of Osiris. And curiously, there are 14 early giant pyramids scattered across ancient Egypt (16 if you include two that were never finished). Could it be that the 14 pyramids of the early Old Kingdom period represent the symbolic 14 scattered parts of the ‘body of Osiris’ just as the Pyramid Texts tell us?

(Continued......)

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Well, if the early pyramids represented the symbolic 'body of Osiris', what about his Ka and his Ba (two key aspects of the AE soul within the body)? We are told this from the Pyramid Texts:

"I consecrate this pyramid, this temple, to N. and to his ka" - PT 1277b.

"that which this pyramid, this temple, contains is for N. and for his ka" - PT 1277c.

So what we are being told from these texts is that the pyramid, being the 'body' of Osiris, also contains the Ka of Osiris. But where and in what form would this take?

As the god of agriculture and rebirth, Osiris is often coloured green and shown to be resting upon a bier with wheat seeds growing from his body symbolising rebirth. The growing seeds of wheat also symbolise the unseen life-force behind all living things, that vital spark of life which the AEs called the 'Ka'.



If one then wished to represent the Ka of Osiris (the god of agriculture and rebirth) then all one requires is a container filled with earth, seeded with grain and moistened. When the grain sprouts forth from the earth this then is the 'vital spark', the ‘rebirth’ taking place. As such a stone container filled with Nile silt and seeded with grain would become the Ka aspect of the soul of Osiris placed inside the 'body' of Osiris i.e. placed inside the pyramid.

One of the ancient Arab legends tells us that when the Caliph Al Ma'mun entered the pyramid all he found within the granite box of the King's Chamber (the supposed 'sarcophagus') was a dark pitch-like substance. This dark, pitch-like substance is precisely what earth and germinated grain would have turned to after thousands of years. In essence then the stone boxes in the pyramids were placed therein as containers to hold the Ka and the Ba of Osiris (the pyramids representing the 'body' of Osiris).

But did such a practice ever occur in Ancient Egypt? It most certainly did. Whilst the practice is testified most clearly in the much later New Kingdom, there is some evidence to suggest that the practice was much more ancient.

"…in the tomb of Tutankhamun was a huge black box containing a figure of Osiris swathed in linen. This "Osiris-Bed" or "germinated figure of Osiris" consists of a wooden frame moulded in the form of this deity, hollowed out, lined with linen, filled with Nile silt, and planted with barley. This was moistened, the grain germinated, and the inanimate form became green and living thus symbolising the resurrection of Osiris, and, of course of the deceased. The life-size effigy found in Tutankhamun's tomb was completely bandaged in the same way as a mummy.

Other examples of "Osiris-Beds" with germinated barley are known: two were found in the tomb of Yuya and Thuya, measuring 1.63m. and 1.73m. respectively in length. Another specimen, 1.78m. long and 68cm. wide, was found in the tomb of Mahirper at Thebes. In the Cairo Museum is an empty specimen from the tomb of Horemheb, and in the Egyptian Museum at Stockholm is a small "Osiris-Bed", of unknown date, dug into a brick about 25cm long and filled with germinated barley"

Peter Ucko, G. W. Dimbleby, The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, p.135

"To return to Scharff; he is mainly concerned with what might reasonably be called an early predecessor of the practice we have been discussing. It was discovered by Quibell at Saqqara, and is described by him as "an oblong litter consisting of matting stretch on four poles". He adds that "above this lay a quantity of grain in the husk" and asks "Is this the Osiris Bed of later days?" This tomb appears to belong to the Second Dynasty, so that the object obviously raises questions of great interest."

John Gwyn Griffiths , The Origins of Osiris and His Cult, p.169

"The god Osiris was closely associated with vegetation, and particularly with germinating grain. The emergence of young growth shoots from the fertile mud of Egypt was regarded as a powerful metaphor for human resurrection, and this notion was given physical form in Osirian images and figurines in which earth and corn were basic constituents. Some royal tombs of the New Kingdom contained an 'Osiris Bed', a seed bed in a wooden frame or on a piece of textile, made in the shape of Osiris. This bed was planted with barley, which germinated in the tomb, symbolising the renewal of life for the dead king via the agency of Osiris. A similar concept underlay the creation of “corn mummies”, figurines composed of earth or mud mixed with grains of barley and fashioned into a miniature mummiform image of Osiris. These figures were manufactured in an elaborate temple ritual during the month of Khoiak, and then buried in areas with sacred associations."

John H. Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt, p.212

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Now, if the so-called 'sarcophagus' of the Great Pyramid was actually the archetypal 'Osiris Bed' containing the Ka of Osiris within the 'body' of Osiris (i.e. the pyramid), what about the Ba aspect of Osiris' soul? Well the Ba aspect of the soul is likened to the person's individuality or personality. In this regard, the Ba of Osiris was depicted as a Bull (used for threshing grain).

So, was there a bull found within any of the early pyramids (within the 'body' of Osiris)? Indeed there was. When Giovanni Belzoni first entered G2 at Giza, he found the 'sarcophagus' half-open and filled with earth and bones. These bones were sent to London and later identified as the bones of a bull - the Ba of Osiris found in the 'Osiris Bed' of the second pyramid at Giza.

Thus we have an explanation for the mummyless 'sarcophagi' found in all the early pyramids that is in keeping with the religious beliefs of the AEs. As containers for the Ka and the Ba they were not intended to hold a body, but rather as receptacles for the soul of Osiris within the 'body' (pyramids) of Osiris. Thus why we have never found a body within them.

And, of course, it does not require a great leap to see how, as the religious ideas of the AEs developed, these early concepts of ensuring the rebirth of the kingdom would be taken and adapted and embellished for the purposes of the later Osirian burials of the king:

If Osiris and his cult cannot be claimed to have originated the belief in life after death, it may properly be asked whether his cult made any distinctive contribution to Egyptian thought on the matter. The three passages quoted above make it clear that there was something different in the Osirian conception of immortality. First, it was a corporeal conception. Whereas the other religious systems involved the ascent of the deceased to heaven or his temporary transformation into another form, the Osirian system is clearly concerned with the body of the dead king and desiderates continued life for his body. Death indeed is not usually admitted. As Osiris, the tired god, was able to revive from his sleep, so the king will awake and stand… Death is really only a sleep, then, a phase of tiredness; and the firm denial of it in other references shows that it is denied both as a state and as an occurrence.

O king, thou hast not gone away dead; though hast gone away alive. Sit on the throne of Osiris. (Pyr. 134a-b)

Here then is a doctrine of continued life rather than of resurrection or resuscitation after death. In view of the pretence or euphemism involved one should possibly not object to the common use of the term resurrection as a description of the doctrine, although it is not precisely correct; it is the non-Osirian doctrine, in various forms, which amounts to a belief in resurrection [a spiritual life after a corporeal death].

J. G. Griffiths , The Origins of Osiris and His Cult, p.66-67

‘… when the dead king came to be regarded as Osiris the ceremony of washing his corpse was retained as an episode in the Rite of Embalmment, being performed when the corpse was taken out of the salt-bath.’ He goes on: ‘But the view now held was, not that the dead king was reborn as a result of this lustration, but that his body, like that of Osiris, was revivified.’ These remarks involve a recognition that embalming was essentially an Osirian rite.
That the ceremony of Opening of the Mouth, which was the climax of the rite of embalming, was a means of imparting life and energy is shown by its extension to images and heart-scarabs. A further more interesting extension is the ‘Opening of the Mouth’ of a Temple which is recorded in the Ptolemaic texts from the temple of Edfu, and which aimed at making the temple as a whole alive and active, and also, as Blackman and Fairman have shown, at animating its reliefs, figures and vessels. [Just as the opening of the mouth (entrance) of the Recovery Vaults (the ‘body’ of Osiris) to gain access to its cache of life-supporting recovery goods would originally have done].

Ibid, p.74

It seems rather clear then that the later Osirian burial of the AE kings came from a concept that was actually based upon a physical (as opposed to meta-physical) continuation of life such as would be achieved with the early, giant pyramids (the ‘body’ of Osiris) serving as Recovery Vaults for the kingdom. When opened, the recovery cache contained therein would be brought forth, bringing new life to the kingdom in a true and physical sense.

Through the agency of Osiris (the AE god of vegetation and rebirth) the great Recovery Vaults (pyramids) and the seeds and other recovery goods contained therein, a rebirth of the kingdom (after its 'death') was made possible. The placement of the stone 'Osiris Beds' containing the Ka and the Ba within the 'body' of Osiris (the pyramids) was a powerful metaphor for the rebirth of the kingdom (NOT the king) through the 'body and soul' of Osiris.

SC

Was their more specific evidence as to the reasons for the shift in practice?

How much of this was interlated with the wider egyptian culture?

Edit: Very intersting piece and well worded. Thank you for the read.

I think your theory is most definitely plausible.

Only after discovering actually ingredients to re-birth a nation, rather than a mummy (pharoah) inside the chamber itself, would your theory make sense. Of course the answer lies in what they found.

One has to wonder what calamities these people once witnessed or were subject to in order to build such a massive vault. The time spent to build these gigantic pyramids wasn't too long, so I also assume they did not want to waste much time "prepping" for survival.

Egyptians...ancient "preppers".

And I bet no one called them anything remotely derrogatory like today with "survivalists" or the such.

Very good thread, Scott.

reply to post by havok

Hi Havok,

Thanks for your input.

Havok: Only after discovering actually ingredients to re-birth a nation, rather than a mummy (pharoah) inside the chamber itself, would your theory make sense. Of course the answer lies in what they found.

SC: We would not expect to find 'recovery goods' because the idea was that they were intended to be removed and, by and large, they were. But remnants of them were still found:

"Except for a small lot of fruits of nabq (Zizyphus Spina-Christi) discovered beneath the Step Pyramid itself, and a single fruit of hegelig (Balanites aegyptiaca) gathered at the northern entrance to the great underground in the west (see pl. I), all other elements come from the group of underground galleries near the northern enclosure wall."

pg. 122, [EXTRAIT DU BULLETIN DE L'INSTITUT D'EGYPTE, T. XXXII - SESSION 1949-1950], LES PLANTES D'COUVERTES DANS LES SOUTERRAINS DE L'ENCEINTE DU ROI ZOSER - SAQQARAH (IIIE DYNASTIE), J.-P. LAUER, V. LAURENT TACKHOLM ET E. ABERG, 1950]

"...Solomon (1965) recorded Sitophilus Granarius from barley deposited in a tomb beneath the step pyramid at Saqqara..."

- Journal of Archaeological science (1999) 26, 547-551 Article No. jasc.1998.0328

"Once again, the investigation of the west mounds is not yet complete, but excavations here have shown that there are no chambers in their superstructures... five shafts and staircases provided access to the substructure, which is composed of long, partly destroyed corridors and projecting side chambers. In some sections, a large number of fragments of stone vessels were found, together with grains (barley and wheat) and dried fruit." - from here.

"Various complimentary explorations in the Zoser complex were undertaken by Firth. He found in the northern area near a vast rock-cut alter, simulated store-rooms [granaries] above subterranean galleries containing great quantities of provisions of wheat, barley, sycamore figs and grapes..." - Lauer, JP, Saqqara:
the royal cemetery of Memphis : excavations and discoveries since 1850, p.98

"Finally, in the obviously unfinished northern part of the complex, there is a gigantic altar carved into the rock, with the remains of a limestone casing. Offerings must have been exposed on the alter before being taken, through a shaft 60m away, down into the storerooms that branch from a gallery running east-west. These chambers contained mostly wheat and barley..."

- Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Kathryn A. Bard, p.864

"At the north end of the pyramid complex is a very large courtyard, still not fully cleared of debris, with an altar near the northern wall. Underground galleries along this wall contained real food - granaries of wheat and barley, but also figs, grapes, and bread. An extensive system of underground galleries, mostly inaccessible, is also located to the west of the pyramid and southern court..... Entered from 11 vertical shafts, some of the subterranean corridors lead to long narrow storerooms for an astonishing number of carved stone vessels (about 40,000!), many of which were made in the first two dynasties." - Kathryn A. Bard, An introduction to the archaeology of ancient Egypt, p.129

SC: It is plainly evident that this complex - including the Step Pyramid itself - was host to a massive amount of 'recovery items' (we have found but the last remains of such). Seeds, of course, would be very important but also important would be other items like vessels for the secure storage of such seed and, equally important, for the distribution of such. It is unsurprising to me that, in this regard, we would find around 40,000 storage/distribution vessels within the underground galleries of the Step Pyramid.

There is little doubt in my mind that these items found within the Djoser pyramid complex present to us the last remnant of the Djoser Recovery Vault complex, a pyramid complex built to ensure the rebirth of the kingdom after the Earth had passed through its cycle of creation and was upon the cusp of its 'death'. The Djoser pyramid Recovery Vault (and all others), in mimicking and echoing the primeval mound of creation, would ensure the rebirth of the Earth, of the kingdom.

Regards,

SC

I was wandering where they got the name "corn mummies" and "corn Osiris".
Egyptians then wouldn't have known about corn.
It wasn't brought from the Americas to Europe until late 15th or early 16th century, and then later to Egypt.

The ritual they did in the month of Khoiak, did it have 28 days in it?
The pitcure of Osiris laying on bier had 28 wheat seeds growing on his body, and someone watering the 7th one.

Originally posted by MDDoxs
Was their more specific evidence as to the reasons for the shift in practice?

How much of this was interlated with the wider egyptian culture?

Edit: Very intersting piece and well worded. Thank you for the read.

edit on 17-7-2012 by MDDoxs because: (no reason given)

edit on 17-7-2012 by MDDoxs because: Simpify my question...

Hi MDDoxs,

Since there is very little written evidence of AE religious practices from before the end of the 5th Dynasty, it is almost impossible to understand the precise nature of the religion prior to this point. Certainly many Egyptologists accept that Osiris, much mentioned in these later texts, probably existed in much earlier times and certainly before the construction of the early, giant pyramids. Of course, whilst Osiris may well have existed in much earlier times connected to agriculture, it is probable that he was not yet the fully formed god attested in the Pyramid Texts i.e. ruler of the underworld, god of rebirth etc.

It does seem quite clear that the rise of Osiris as one of the most important AE gods was fairly rapid. And his importance as the AE god of rebirth/regeneration was celebrated during the Festival of Khoiak from mid September to mid October, a festival celebrated across all Egypt for about 2,000 years. During this festival, participants would make small effigies of Osiris which they would pack full with grain and, at the culmination of the festival, bury in a mound of earth. You can read more about this festival here.

It is often the case that religious ceremony often arises out of some actual event. My view is that the 14 early, giant pyramids represented the 14 scattered body parts of Osiris and that these pyramids were built as part of a national recovery system for the Kingdom (not the king - that would evolve as a religious burial practive in later dynasties). Naturally these pyramid Recovery Vaults (the 'body of Osiris') would be packed full with all manner of grain (and other imporatant recovery items - tools, storage/distribution vessels etc) to ensure the possible rebirth of the kingdom - a tangible, physical rebirth as opposed to a spiritual, meta-physical rebirth. And this original concept is being celebrated by the creation of Osiris effigies and filling these with grain and placing in a mound of earth (the symbolic pyramid) in the later Festival of Khoiak.

Regards,

SC

Originally posted by irgust
I was wandering where they got the name "corn mummies" and "corn Osiris".
Egyptians then wouldn't have known about corn.
It wasn't brought from the Americas to Europe until late 15th or early 16th century, and then later to Egypt.

The ritual they did in the month of Khoiak, did it have 28 days in it?
The pitcure of Osiris laying on bier had 28 wheat seeds growing on his body, and someone watering the 7th one.

Hi Irgust,

Like many names tagged onto AE artifacts, the tag 'corn mummy' is a complete misnomer. Look at, for example, the 'Queen's Chamber' in the Great Pyramid. This chamber was never intended as a burial chamber for any queen. The term 'corn mummy' was fashioned by early British explorers since back then the Brits tended to call most grains 'corn'. The Osiris effigies were generally filled with wheat or barley grains.

You can read more about the Festival of Khoiak here.

Regards,

SC

Great post! Well researched and it makes good sense. The one thing that doesnt make sense is the size of the pyramids. Why so large? And then theres other pyramid like structures around the world....

Very well done.

I can already see the ancient snake-oil peddlers outside the temples.

"Step right up and get your very own Chia-Osiris. Be the first one on your block to have one"
A small one for chicken or a large one for a goat.
Collect them all!

There is also a practicable, everyday use for the germinated grains as well.

Beer.

Now the way I understand it, ancient egyptian beer was quite a bit different than what it is today. I've read that it was more like a meal. Beer that you can chew on. And according to Hawass, beer was part of the daily rations for the folks that built the pyramids.

Originally posted by Mike.Ockizard
Great post! Well researched and it makes good sense. The one thing that doesnt make sense is the size of the pyramids. Why so large? ....

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your post and apologies for not replying sooner.

If you are building a series of Recovery Vaults to facilitate the 'rebirth' of the Kingdom after an anticipated natural disaster, then one of your priorities is to make them very strong and highly visible - they need to be found quickly and sooner rather than later. That necessitates that they be seen for miles in all directions and, therefore, be built on the high plateaus of the land - and that is precisely where we find the pyramids.

Ironically, this is the precise antithesis of what you would do for the tomb of a king whose mortal remains needed to be protected at all costs. Such a highly visible tomb would only serve to attract robbers for miles around, placing the king's mortal remains at greater risk.

In short, high visibility would be essential for Recovery Vaults. Not so for tombs of Egyptian kings.

Regards,

SC

reply to post by Scott Creighton


I'm torn between your theory and another that they were designed as capacitors. Have you heard of that one? Neither of these explain the broken "sarcopagus" in the great pyramid.

Originally posted by Scott Creighton


Essentially then the ancient Egyptians saw in the sky around 2,600 BCE something they believed would threaten the very existence of the kingdom and, as a result of this, this king ordered the construction of the pyramids as ‘Recovery Vaults’

I found your date value of circa 2,600 BCE as a historical pointer to some form of significant and/or cataclysmic global event, to be extremely interesting and one that very closely (within a span of a few hundred years) coincides with a thread of mine from a couple years ago.

In that thread, The earths axial tilt - presenting evidence for it being much larger 4000 years ago, I presented significant astronomical data and accompanying analysis that indicated that roughly in the neighbourhood of 2,400BCE, that some major event resulted in a sudden shift of the Earths axial tilt by 3 degrees from it's current (approx) 24 degrees to (approx) 27 degrees.
Such a repositioning of the axial tilt would have had sudden and immediate impact on environmental and sociological environments globally. Perhaps this ties in with your own research theories and conclusions regarding the role played by the major pyramids and their sarcophagi.

If we consider that your premise and mine do overlap, then rather than the pyramids being built as a repository PRIOR to the "event", they were actually constructed as quickly as possible in the immediate AFTERMATH of the event as emergency repositories. In other words, a dramatic and civilization altering event happened suddenly and unexpectedly around 2400 - 2600 BCE, and the pyramids were Egypt's immediate and desperate response to changing environmental conditions.

Originally posted by tauristercus

Originally posted by Scott Creighton


Essentially then the ancient Egyptians saw in the sky around 2,600 BCE something they believed would threaten the very existence of the kingdom and, as a result of this, this king ordered the construction of the pyramids as ‘Recovery Vaults’

I found your date value of circa 2,600 BCE as a historical pointer to some form of significant and/or cataclysmic global event, to be extremely interesting and one that very closely (within a span of a few hundred years) coincides with a thread of mine from a couple years ago.

In that thread, The earths axial tilt - presenting evidence for it being much larger 4000 years ago, I presented significant astronomical data and accompanying analysis that indicated that roughly in the neighbourhood of 2,400BCE, that some major event resulted in a sudden shift of the Earths axial tilt by 3 degrees from it's current (approx) 24 degrees to (approx) 27 degrees.
Such a repositioning of the axial tilt would have had sudden and immediate impact on environmental and sociological environments globally. Perhaps this ties in with your own research theories and conclusions regarding the role played by the major pyramids and their sarcophagi.

If we consider that your premise and mine do overlap, then rather than the pyramids being built as a repository PRIOR to the "event", they were actually constructed as quickly as possible in the immediate AFTERMATH of the event as emergency repositories. In other words, a dramatic and civilization altering event happened suddenly and unexpectedly around 2400 - 2600 BCE, and the pyramids were Egypt's immediate and desperate response to changing environmental conditions.

edit on 8/3/13 by tauristercus because: (no reason given)

edit on 8/3/13 by tauristercus because: (no reason given)

Hi Tauristercus,

There is little doubt in my mind that the Earth's axis was disturbed ca.2,600 BCE (we can't know the exact date). I am of the opinion that this disturbance--as discovered by Australian astronomer, George F. Dodwell--had two effects:

1) A rapid migration of the geographic pole (i.e. Rapid True Polar Wander - RTPW), and

2) An axial tilt of the Earth's axis to around 26.5 degrees (according to Dodwell).

The combination of these two effects would have been to geographically relocate Giza closer to the equator by some 6 degrees or so (from around 36*N to its present 30*N). The RTPW would have occurred over a longer period and would have occurred in a spiral motion (to maintain law of conservation of angular momentum). This spiral motion of the RTPW would have Giza (and most other locations around the world) shifting its geographical location (relative to the poles and equator) in a spiral motion - i.e. it would at times be nearer to the equator (hotter/drought) and over time further away from the equator (cold/wetter), eventually settling with Giza at 30*N.

The Arab chronicles tell us that, according to the Egyptian astronomer-priests, the heavens were changing from their normal course some 300 years an anticipated flood and that the king (Saurid), upon hearing this, ordered the construction of the Egyptian pyramids to preserve in them "all that was of esteem in the kingdom - i.e. 'Arks'. Into one of these pyramids, the Great Pyramid, the builders recorded how the sky (and Giza's latitude) had changed using the so-called 'star-shafts'. You can see this here:

The GP Shafts and the Earth Tilt

Here are some articles you might find of interest that cover some other aspects of the tilt and, importantly, how it could have come about:

The Great Pyramid and the Axis of the Earth - Part 1

The Great Pyramid and the Axis of the Earth - Part 2

Further information can be found in my book (with co-author, Gary Osborn), 'The Giza Prophecy' (Bear & Co, 2012).

Regards,

SC

reply to post by Scott Creighton


Maybe the shafts that lined up with stars were for detecting another movement of the axis? Justa thought...

Good stuff, very logical.

I feel like I've been to a college class on ancient Egypt.

Thanks.