Page 418 - Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock

Graham Hancock – FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS

of Elephantine at Aswan (Seyne) where an important astronomical and
solar observatory was located throughout known Egyptian history. It
6
seems, that this archaic land, sacred since time began—the creation and
habitation of the gods—was originally conceived of as a geometric
construct exactly seven terrestrial degrees in length.
Within this construct, the Great Pyramid appears to have been carefully
sited as a geodetic marker for the apex of the Delta. The latter, which we
have indicated on our map, is located at 30° 06’ N 31° 14’ E—a point in
the middle of the Nile at the northern edge of modern Cairo. Meanwhile
the pyramid stands at latitude of 30°N (corrected for atmospheric
refraction) and at longitude 31° 09’ E, an error of just a few minutes of
terrestrial arc to the south and west. This ‘error’, however, does not
appear to have resulted from sloppiness or inaccuracy on the part of the
pyramid builders. On the contrary, a close look at the topography of the
area suggests that the explanation should be sought in the need to find a
site suitable for all the astronomical observations that had to be taken for
accurate setting-out, and with a sufficiently stable geological structure on
which to park, for ever, a six-million-ton monument almost 500 feet high
with a footprint of over thirteen acres.
The Giza plateau fits the bill on all counts: close to the apex of the
Delta, elevated above the Valley of the Nile, and equipped with an
excellent foundation of solid limestone bedrock.

Doing things by degrees

We were driving north from Luxor to Giza in the back of Mohamed
Walilli’s Peugeot 504—a journey of just over 4 degrees of longitude, i.e.,
from 25° 42’ N, to the 30th parallel. Between Asiut and El Minya, a
corridor of conflict in recent months between Islamic extremists and
Egyptian government forces, we were provided with an armed escort of
soldiers, one of whom wore plain clothes and sat in the passenger seat
beside Mohamed fondling an automatic pistol. The others, about a dozen
men armed with AK47 assault rifles, were distributed equally between
two pick-up trucks which sandwiched us front and rear.
‘Dangerous people live here,’ Mohamed had confided out of the corner
of his mouth when we had been stopped at a road-block in Asiut and
ordered to wait for our escort. Now, although obviously rattled at being
obliged to match the high speed of the escorting vehicles, he seemed to
relish the kudos of being part of an impressive convoy, lights flashing
and sirens wailing, weaving in and out of the slower traffic on the main
highway from upper to lower Egypt.
I looked out of the car window for a while at the unchanging spectacle
of the Nile, at its fertile green banks and the red haze of the deserts a few

6 Ibid., pp. 179-81.

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