Page 273 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

figures did not do justice to the enormous care and skill required to
achieve them. I knew, too, that scholars had not yet come up with a
convincing explanation of exactly how the Pyramid builders had adhered
consistently to such high standards of precision.
3
What really interested me, however, was the even bigger question-mark
over another issue: why had they imposed such exacting standards on
themselves? If they had permitted a margin of error of 1-2 per cent—
instead of less than one-tenth of 1 per cent—they could have simplified
their tasks with no apparent loss of quality. Why hadn’t they done so?
Why had they insisted on making everything so difficult? Why, in short, in
a supposedly ‘primitive’ stone monument built more than 4500 years ago
were we seeing this strange, obsessional adherence to machine-age
standards of precision?

Black hole in history

Our plan was to climb the Great Pyramid—something that had been
strictly illegal since 1983 when the messy falls of several foolhardy
tourists had forced the government of Egypt to impose a ban. I realized
that we were being foolhardy too (particularly in attempting the climb at
night) and I didn’t feel good about breaking what was basically a sensible
law. By this stage, however, my intense interest in the Pyramid, and my
desire to learn everything I could about it, had over-ridden my common
sense.
Now, after parting company with the guard patrol at the north-eastern
corner of the monument, we continued to make our way surreptitiously
along the eastern face towards the south-eastern corner.
There were dense shadows among the twisted and broken paving
stones that separated the Great Pyramid from the three much smaller
‘subsidiary’ pyramids lying immediately to its east. There were also three
deep and narrow rock-cut pits which resembled giant graves. These had
been found empty by the archaeologists who had excavated them, but
were shaped as though they had been intended to enclose the hulls of
high-prowed, streamlined boats.
Roughly halfway along the Pyramid’s eastern face we encountered
another patrol. This time it consisted of two guards, one of whom must
have been eighty years old. His companion, a teenager with pustulant
acne, informed us that the money Ali had paid was insufficient and that
fifty more Egyptian pounds would be required if we were to proceed. I
already had the notes in my hand and gave them to the lad without delay.
I was past caring how much this was costing; I just wanted to make the
climb and get down and away before dawn without being arrested.

3 The conventional explanations, as given in The Pyramids of Egypt, for example, are
entirely unsatisfactory, as Edwards himself admits; see pp. 85-7, 206-41.

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