Martin Stower Wrote:
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> cladking Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> [. . .]
>
> > The masons of that time usually made mastaba
> sides
> > and other steep walls at 70 to 72 degrees for
> > stability. I'm merely assuming the five 81' 3"
> > steps of G1 which show up on the gravimtric
> scan
> > are similar. If they could make them steeper
> they
> > would have but the steeper they are the more
> > fragile they are.
>
> So, you’re assuming that the task was one of
> building a step pyramid—and that building a step
> pyramid was the entirety of the task, with nothing
> else needing explaining.

No! I'm making no such assumption. I am saying that all thge evidence including the gravimetric scan suggest that the great pyramids were five step structures. I'm saying they are five steps because they couldn't lift the stones to build pyramids without building them one step at a time. I'm saying I'm ASSUMING these steps are 70 to 72 degrees. I'm saying this is how they lifted the stones.

The fact I haven't solved every ancient mystery takes nothing away from this one I probably did solve.

> Would you now like to explain how the topmost
> stones of a true pyramid were raised, within the
> constraints of your “no ramps allowed”
> stipulation?

Ramps were "allowed" there was simply no use for ramps so they weren't used at all. Top stones were lifted exactly like all the others. They were pulled up from above. The highest stones were lifted one at a time instread of a sled full at a time. Ropes were draped over the top and the force was imparted through these ropes.

> How the stones converting the posited stepped core
> into a true pyramid were raised?

All stones were lifted the same way; one step at a time. After the five step pyramid was complete they began filling in the step tops starting at the top. The pyramid really was completed from the top down and it had to be so because they needed the step tops to work and to lift stones one step at a time.

> And again, reducing friction to a minimum is not
> necessarily an overriding consideration, if the
> low-friction or no-friction solution is
> infeasible. There are the larger stones (roofing
> blocks, including the granite ones) to
> explain—and, again, all of the ones which are
> not part of the posited stepped core.

Indeed. But using steps was the necessary consideration. They could only lift stones 81' 3" at a time. It was extremely convenient that they had no choice but to use the most efficient means.

> No, common sense insists that they did what was
> doable.

No.

Reality suggests they did what was doable. This is what "doable" means and is a very smnall part of why ramps are debunked.

> If proposing that stones were raised by
> essentially a straight lift, perhaps you would
> like to explain how they were secured, without any
> sign of lewises being used—and what was used to
> stop them scraping that nice, dressed Tura.

Stones were pulled up the 70 degree step sides not the tura dressing. They were weighed and reckoned in the quarry and then rigged with rope for easy handling. They had to be lifted an average of about 1.7 times on the steps so this saved rigging. Once they got to their final position the ropes were removed and sent back to the quarry. This process explains some of the glyphs such as the cartouche was a belaying loop and F46-50 were chain links. The "proto-pulley" was probably a coupler. The sled they rode on was known scientifically as the dndndr-boat and colloquially as the henu boat. The vulgar term was the boat that flies up and alights.

I believe this can all be deduced from their rituals but there's a lot of work to do on these yet and a cheat sheet lies yards away behind a heat anomaly of G1.

> Also, it might help if you worked through your
> ideas (covering inter alia the points mentioned
> above) and presented them pictorially.

I can draw more pictures if anyone needs them. I believe if you try to picture the process you can see it though. This process is what left the physical evidence that we see and it's the only thing that probably could leave that evidence. As you're probably aware I don't believe they used human effort to lift these stones though pulling them up the side like this can't be ruled out. It appears that they were large counterweights full of water to pull the stones up and this is why they said the gods built the pyramids; osiris was that water and they said "osiris in his name of seker tows the earth by means of balance". They said that "the earth is high under the sky by means of the arms of tefnut". These statements mean exactly the same thing from different perspectives.