Hello Manu; welcome back to the Boards.

You wrote: “The stellar method likely depended on the rare instance of a north pole star...alpha-Draconis in during the Old kingdom.”

J. A. Belmonte, "On The Orientation Of Old Kingdom Egyptian Pyramids", considered the observation of a ”…”pole” star of the epoch of the construction of the pyramids”, writing: ”This was the method suggested by Piazzi Smyth in the nineteenth century when the age of the pyramids was not known, and later followed by Proctor and Brugsch. Thuban (α Dra) reached its nearest position to the Pole in 2787 B. C. when it was a mere 2’ away. However, most scholars have proposed much later dates (by a least two centuries) for the Great Pyramid, the only known monument oriented with such precision.”

Edwards, The Pyramids of Egypt, Figure 55, page 261, proposed a method for sighting circumpolar stars without the need of an infrequent polar star to determine true north. Utilizing a pair of merkhets, a bay, and a circular wall to allow an assisted observer an unobstructed artificial horizon, he demonstrated the alternate method of bisecting the rising and setting of chosen stellar elements for establishing an accurate north-south axis. It is noteworthy that Dr. Edwards also proposed ”observing the rising and setting of the sun on the two equinoctial days”, á la Dash, for an east-west axis.






Dr. Troglodyte