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Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:08 am
by oldarchystudent
I just did a google as Min seems to be away right now. This would seem to indicate it's not that far away....
http://www.aeraweb.org/khufu_quarry.asp
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:12 am
by Guest
So if the ramp was half a mile long, it had about a 5 to 1 slope, which may have gotten the job done.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:15 am
by oldarchystudent
Genesis Veracity wrote:So if the ramp was half a mile long, it had about a 5 to 1 slope, which may have gotten the job done.
But I'm still not sure a ramp that long is practical. I'm no engineer but surely it would sag under it's own bulk? The wrap around model still looks best to me.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:17 am
by Guest
It was an earthen ramp.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:19 am
by Minimalist
Genesis Veracity wrote:Hey min, how far from the GP is the old quarry, and what is their difference of elevation?
Several hundred yards I think...and the elevation would have varied as the quarry got deeper.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:24 am
by oldarchystudent
Genesis Veracity wrote:It was an earthen ramp.
...which would sag constantly, especially considering the weight it had to support. Wrapping it around the pyramid itself (remembering that you would only go up to the completed levels so overseeing of the construction of those lower levels is no longer necessary) would give strength to the ramp.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:24 am
by Minimalist
Genesis Veracity wrote:So if the ramp was half a mile long, it had about a 5 to 1 slope, which may have gotten the job done.
10 to 1 is the preferred rate among ramp theorists.
We have the remains of Flavius Silva's ramp at Masada which was built many years later and designed to facilitate the movement of one tower with a battering ram. Other Roman war machines of the times (the scorpions and ballistas) would have been much lighter. Ramps which could support stones of the weight in the Kings Chamber are of a completely different magnitude.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:28 am
by Guest
Then it could have been a ramp with a ninety degree jag in it, total length about a mile.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 10:39 am
by Minimalist
Genesis Veracity wrote:Then it could have been a ramp with a ninety degree jag in it, total length about a mile.
The GP was roughly 480 feet tall so a 10-1 slope gives you 4,800 feet which is indeed the better part of a mile.
The problem is the volume of such a ramp...it would have been 3 times the size of the GP itself which would have made the ramp one of the wonders of the world. Then....they had to take it down.
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 3:24 pm
by Minimalist
In the Dr. Schoch thread, Doug has posted a link to Colin Reader's article on the sphinx which includes a site map which will answer some of your questions.