Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
against each face of a pyramid is anything but a trivial matter, and would add a
considerable item to the construction program. Again such steps would deliver
the building units but would supply no external working platforms for setting
masonry or for
in situ
dressing of masonry.
In the light of the apparent disadvantages and inadequacies of traditional external
installations for pyramid building, more recently speculation has taken another
turn: to suggest the provision of necessary installations inside the structure of the
pyramid itself (D. Arnold,
Building in Egypt
, p. 101). Both ramp and steps can be
contrived within the rising masonry of the pyramid. Here it is advisable to call
attention to inadequacies of language. It is a matter of linguistic course to speak of
an internal ramp as opposed to an external ramp, but this apposition refers to the
location only. It does not import any parallel in construction of the external and of
the internal ramp. In this respect the two entities have nothing in common, they
are not two species of the same genus. An external ramp is an additional structure
requiring additional building material for its fabrication. An internal ramp con-
trived within a pyramid is a mere passageway recessed within the structure of the
pyramid. It requires no extra building material. Rather it subtracts from the total
amount of building material required for the project—it does not add to it.
Obviously ramped and stepped passageways can be contrived within a ground
mass of masonry in any position and of all dispositions—straight, angled, winding.
h e most ef ective disposition for the basic installation for building a pyramid would
seem to be a winding ramp parallel to and set somewhat inside the faces of the
pyramid so that the core blocks can be delivered on the interior side of the passage
way and the casing blocks delivered and set on the exterior side of the passage way.
A construction gap is let at ground level for the entrance of building material to the
passage way until completion of the building programme. Ideally the casing bricks
are set from the inside and fair faced. For an internal ramp so disposed there is
some evidence. Tests conducted in 1986 by Japanese physicists on the fabric of the
Great Pyramid revealed anomolies close inside the faces. Although not accounted
for at the time they were identii ed subsequently as exactly conforming to an ideal
concept of a winding ramp (Brier, Archaeology, May-June 2007, p. 27).
In this way, in principle, the circumstances of the construction have been
returned to that of a stepped pyramid—i.e. the entire construction can be ef ected
without any additional installations. Variant procedures, of course, will be adopted
for special items, e.g. extremely massive blocks. h ese are introduced into the inte-
rior of the pyramid at the lowest possible level and are simply levered up vertically
from one course to the next as the core masonry rises.
h e foregoing discussion of installations and equipment for pyramid building in
massive stone masonry has been limited to installations and equipment attested as
used for Egyptian massive stone building in general. It may be possible to question
Internal
ramps &
steps
65.B2
73
