by Marcus Skiles

Created on: August 29, 2009

Everyone knows about it-the Great Pyramid at Giza. Also known as Khufu's Pyramid, the colossal structure rises an impressive 450 feet above the Egyptian landscape, 35 feet smaller than its original height. But for what purpose was it built...and how was it constructed so perfectly? Many questions have arisen from the pyramid, and few have been answered.

Let's take a look at the construction of the pyramid, a feat that even with today's technology would be impossible to recreate. The pyramid was constructed of 2.5 million rough limestone blocks, ranging from 2 tons to over 70 tons apiece. It is not known for certain how these blocks arrived at the site, but it is generally accepted that they were dragged by teams of slaves and lifted into place. These blocks were cut so precisely that when assembled, a credit card could not be wedged between them. These blocks were covered by smoothly cut limestone cover stones, which gave the pyramid a smooth look. These were removed about 600 years ago to provide building materials for the Egyptians, giving the step-like appearance you see today. How these blocks were cut so precisely is a mystery-the copper tools of that age would have been much too soft to shape the limestone. The pyramid is built on nearly level land.... in fact, it is so level that it varies less than of an inch over the entire 13.1 acres of the pyramids' base. An impressive feat for the ancient surveyors, considering it is still practically impossible today.

The structure lies at a very specific point in the land-it rests exactly in the center of gravity of the continents, and divides the landmass of the world into approximately equal quarters. The longest land meridian line in the world and the longest land parallel cross at the pyramid, in fact, it is the only place on the planet where they intersect. The Great Pyramid was mathematically correct as well in regard to the planets-if you were to equate the distance across the pyramid with the diameter of the Earth, you could easily find the radius of the moon by subtracting the radius of the Earth from the height of the pyramid. This is because the dimensions of the pyramid and the dimensions of the Earth in relation to the moon all follow the same formula, known as the Golden Ratio. The four sides of the pyramid all differ in length, however the difference between the longest and shortest side is a mere 7.8 inches-impressive for such a large structure. The sides also correspond to the four Cardinal points of the compass, differing by a mere 1/12 of an inch. How the builders accomplished this without a compass (which would be invented thousands of years later) is yet another mystery. Each side was built with a depression running down the middle of each face for extra stability, a genius move on the part of the builders. This depression was built in such a way that it remained unseen from every angle except from above.... so how could they know it was correct without seeing it? In fact, the depression wasn't even discovered by modern man until the aerial age, and even then only accidentally.

How was this ancient marvel constructed so perfectly? It is quite possible that the secret will never be revealed. One thing is certain-whoever built it was either far ahead of their time, or else incredibly, coincidentally, lucky.

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