Posted on 05/01/2008 2:02:14 PM PDT by blam
Egypt's Pyramids Packed With Seashells
Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
Fossil-Filled
April 25, 2008 -- Many of Egypt's most famous monuments, such as the Sphinx and Cheops, contain hundreds of thousands of marine fossils, most of which are fully intact and preserved in the walls of the structures, according to a new study.
The study's authors suggest that the stones that make up the examined monuments at Giza plateau, Fayum and Abydos must have been carved out of natural stone since they reveal what chunks of the sea floor must have looked like over 4,000 years ago, when the buildings were erected.
"The observed random emplacement and strictly homogenous distribution of the fossil shells within the whole rock is in harmony with their initial in situ setting in a fluidal sea bottom environment," wrote Ioannis Liritzis and his colleagues from the University of the Aegean and the University of Athens.
The researchers analyzed the mineralogy, as well as the chemical makeup and structure, of small material samples chiseled from the Sphinx Temple, the Osirion Shaft, the Valley Temple, Cheops, Khefren, Osirion at Abydos, the Temple of Seti I at Abydos and Qasr el-Sagha at Fayum.
X-ray diffraction and radioactivity measurements, which can penetrate solid materials to help illuminate their composition, were carried out on the samples.
The analysis determined the primary building materials were "pinky" granites, black and white granites, sandstones and various types of limestones. The latter was found to contain "numerous shell fossils of nummulites gen." At Cheops alone, "(they constituted) a proportion of up to 40 percent of the whole building stone rock."
The findings have been accepted for publication in the Journal of Cultural Heritage.
Nummulites, meaning "little coins," are simple marine organisms. Shells of those that lived during the Eocene period around 55.8 to 33.9 million years ago are most commonly found in Egyptian limestone. Fossils for the organisms have also been unearthed at other sites, such as in Turkey and throughout the Mediterranean.
When horizontally bisected, a nummulite appears as a perfect spiral. Since they were common in ancient Egypt, it's believed the shells were actually used as coins, perhaps explaining their name.
Fossils for ancient relatives to sand dollars, starfish and sea urchins were also detected in the Egyptian limestone. Liritzis and his team argue that since the fossils are largely undamaged and are distributed in a random manner within the stone, in accordance with their typical distribution at sea floors, the large building stones used to construct the monuments must have been carved out of natural stone instead of cast in molds.
To further their argument, the scientists say the X-ray patterns detected no presence of lime, which would be expected along with natron, a salt found in early cast materials. They also point out that no references about molds, buckets or other casting tools exist in early Egyptian paintings, sculptures or texts.
Joseph Davidovits, professor and director of France's Geopolymer Institute, formulated the theory that natural limestone was cast like concrete to build the pyramids of Egypt.
Davidovits told Discovery News that Liritzis and his team "should have taken into account the scientific analysis" conducted by himself and other researchers before backing the carved-not-cast theory.
Robert Temple, co-director of the Project for Historical Dating and a visiting research fellow at universities in America, Egypt and Greece, has also studied Egypt's monuments. He agrees with Davidovits about the casting.
"There is no evidence known that suggests the ancient Egyptians had cranes," he said. "Without cranes, it is difficult to imagine how they could have lifted giant stones, some as heavy as 200 tons."
Temple, however, agrees, "Egyptian pyramid blocks of limestone tend to contain fossil shells and nummulites, often huge quantities of them, many of them intact, and many of them of surprisingly large size."
He added, "Frankly, not many people pay attention to the shells, which I have always thought was a shame. 'Seashells in the Desert'-- a good story."
In other words, ‘if I can’t imagine it, it couldn’t happen’.
Precisely.
The person who was cited as making the statement about the Egyptians not having cranes? Here you go: http://www.hiddenmysteries.com/xcart/product.php?productid=18165
The Aliens did it. ::rolls eyes::
I had a professor who, while lecturing on one ancient marvel or another was interrupted by a student who put forth the "aliens did it!" argument.
The professor turned to us, the class, and asked how we would have done it. Several people came up with credible answers, and the professor was careful to stop and correct us when something that wasn't possible at the time was suggested.
Then he asked about Stonehenge, and again, several credible answers as to it could have been done were proposed.
He asked about a couple of other "mysteries of the ancient world" and in every case, we managed to come up with ways that could have worked using technology and materials available at the time.
Then he asked why anyone would think that people just four millennia ago were so stupid as to not be able to think of the same things.
Of course, they weren't. They were as bright as we are, even if they weren't as advanced. People fall into the "our ancestors were backwards" trap all the time.
“To further their argument, the scientists say the X-ray patterns detected no presence of lime,”
“Egyptian pyramid blocks of limestone tend to contain fossil shells and nummulites, often huge quantities of them, many of them intact, and many of them of surprisingly large size.”
Limestone is used to make concrete.
“A lot of the earth was covered by water at one time, that is why you find seashells in the wackiest places.”
Like on top of Mt. Everest.
People have suggested many reasons for a pyramid shape, and some sort of connection between Egyptian and South American Pyramids; but the simple fact is that using the technology of the time there is no imposing structure that you can possibly build that is not basically a Pyramid.
Simple Physics.
I read about this in L. Sprague DeCamp’s “the Ancient Engineers”; a truly fascinating study of the engineering marvels of antiquity. Some very bright fellows there, truly intellectual giants.
“For if I have seen further than other men, it was because I was standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Sir Issac Newton.
The top of Mt. Everest is indeed Marine Limestone.
It was once the bottom of a shallow sea between India and Asia, and was raised to it’s current height by the collision of India with Asia.
Because there's zero evidence the earth has ever been entirely covered with water simultaneously (certainly not within the time humanity has existed on earth) and the many marine fossils you find on land are rock obviously that formed at the bottom of seas and was raised upwards tectonically.
Not entirely true based on some accounts I’ve read. Greenland was apparently named so by the Viking who discovered it so that he could encourage immigration and settlement into a newly-discovered landmass with little or no land-based natural resources. If I remember correctly, Jared Diamond discusses this point in Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Interesting!
I’d always heard that they named Greenland and Iceland backwards, as Iceland is relatively beautiful and Greenland is essentially a big snow and ice mass. They did it to discourage invaders from coming to Iceland. Of course, I could be wrong. It’s just something I heard when I was a kid.
“It was once the bottom of a shallow sea between India and Asia, and was raised to it’s current height by the collision of India with Asia.”
I have a question.
If the continental plates float about on the surface of the Earth like icecubes in a punch bowl,
where is the ‘water’ that we take most of the space up?
By ‘water’, I mean the liquid magma the plates ‘float’ on.
Since all the ‘plates’ meet at fault lines, and are already ‘jammed’ against each other, how do they move ‘nilly-willy’ all over the surface?
“where is the ‘water’ that WOULD take most of the space up?
Exactly. Plus the fact that there are many earlier, smaller, easy-for-humans-to-build step pyramids don't fit in with the whole "Aliens did it!" theory.
People have suggested many reasons for a pyramid shape, and some sort of connection between Egyptian and South American Pyramids; but the simple fact is that using the technology of the time there is no imposing structure that you can possibly build that is not basically a Pyramid.
Very true. I wanted to mention this, as it hasn't been mentioned this go-round yet, but pyramids have been built using ancient methods and techniques at least a few times in the modern era. PBS's "Nova" did it and filmed it in 1997 or so. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/1915mpyramid.html
Simple Physics.
Occam's Razor and all that. Really, if there is a simple explanation, we should probably consider that before we consider the ridiculous. But the ridiculous sells books.
I read about this in L. Sprague DeCamp’s “the Ancient Engineers”; a truly fascinating study of the engineering marvels of antiquity. Some very bright fellows there, truly intellectual giants.
Oh, now I have to read this! Thank you. He's always been one of my favorite authors.
“For if I have seen further than other men, it was because I was standing upon the shoulders of giants.” Sir Issac Newton.
Excellent quote, very apropos.
The Castillo is only 500 years old and has had a lot of repairs. The soft coquina erodes too fast to be have been used in the Egyptian monuments. They are just sand stone I believe.
What the plates float on is not something as liquid as water; it’s somewhat plastic, deformable rock.
A plate can have seafloor and continental rock on it. Seafloors are destroyed at subduction zones; they fall in towards the center of the earth. They’re made at mid-ocean ridges. The continental rock floats so highly it doesn’t subduct, and is never destroyed.
The seafloor is part of the continental plate.
The seafloor is destroyed in subduction zones, but isn’t that just where the seafloor is growing, and the expansion at the mid-ocean ridges overlaps the expansion on the other side?
IF the seafloor falls in towards the center of the earth, at such ridges, and the Continental rock floats so highly it doesn’t subduct, and is never destroyed, then there should be a large ‘gap’ between those continental rocks(plates) and the area where the seafloor subducts.
Isn’t it more likely the Earth actually is growing in circumference?
If one looks at the RING OF FIRE, it would seem there is a lot more GROWING, than there is SUBDUCTING.
If you look at a good graphic of the ocean floor, you can trace the expansion of the surface of the Earth, from the mid-ocean ridges.
The ring of fire encircles continental plates, and it grows new ocean floor all around all the continental plates.
Some appear to grow faster than others.
So, how do individual continental plates MOVE around on the plastic deformable rock, if the movement is UPWARD, from ALL SIDES?
It is. Thanks for the ping.
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Thanks Blam.Joseph Davidovits, professor and director of France's Geopolymer Institute, formulated the theory that natural limestone was cast like concrete to build the pyramids of Egypt. [he didn't -- he showed how the "limestone" blocks used to build the pyramid are actually cast artificial blocks] Davidovits told Discovery News that Liritzis and his team "should have taken into account the scientific analysis" conducted by himself and other researchers before backing the carved-not-cast theory.To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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They also point out that no references about molds, buckets or other casting tools exist in early Egyptian paintings, sculptures or texts.Since no cranes are mentioned or portrayed, it's obvious that Temple was responding in like kind.
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