Pyramid power

Mark Spurlock (‘Pyramid Power’, FT448: 63) asked whether anyone succeeded in sharpening razor blades under a mail order minipyramid. I learned of this apparent phenomenon as a child in the early 1990s from Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories: The Awesome Egyptians, wherein it was suggested that it might also keep food items fresh. I duly sacrificed some cereal boxes and Sellotape in the construction of my own miniature wonder of the world. Sadly, I have to report that the scrap of bread I tested it with succumbed to staleness and mould at the expected rate, although for all I know it may have been supernaturally healthy and robust mould!

Fraser Dallachy

Glasgow

Ancient Engineering

With all due respect to Dave Miles, [FT449:65], who I believe was commenting on my letter [FT447:63], I didn’t say that the ancient Egyptians couldn’t have built the Great Pyramid. Clearly, given “a large labour force”, it would have been possible; but it is the time factor that is the issue. The Great Pyramid is a tomb, according to mainstream Egyptology, and so needed to be completed in time for its occupant’s (King Khufu) death. Egypt did not have unlimited numbers of labourers – and other tasks necessary to the survival of the country (e.g. agriculture) also needed to be completed. And some aspects of building the edifice (e.g. the narrower part of the pyramid, near its top, and its complex internal system of chambers, which incorporate some heavy granite blocks), involved working in restricted spaces and therefore the number of workers that could be deployed would have been very limited.

So, either it was a tomb and some highly unusual and potentially advanced building methods were used or it wasn’t and therefore took considerably more than a third millennium BC human lifetime to complete. Either way, mainstream Egyptology’s views on the Great Pyramid are wrong.