An Ancient Egyptian IQ Test
THIS IS NOT AN OBELISK!
If it was an Obelisk it would be upstanding, not lying down
in the ditch, un-finished like an unfinished symphony.
The Egyptians, being very high on the IQ scale, abandoned it
and left it where it now lies, for thousands of years.
The reasons they gave up on the completion of this major
public project are quite clear... it has a flaw which they only discovered by
the time they had done this much work.
They realised that it was not
going to work as an obelisk.
What is the work of an obelisk?
First it must be capable of being lifted out of its trench
and moved to the site where you wish to stand it up.
Then it must be capable of being stood up without breaking
in the process.
Finally it just has to stand to attention like a good soldier
for thousands of years, despite heat, cold, water, wind, and stray ballistics
from soldiers who aren’t even born when it is erected, nor the weapons they carry which have not yet been invented.
It must stand in the Egyptian sun for thousands of years to
form a tourist attraction in our time. It must avoid being stolen by foreign
invaders who might carry it home as a trophy to some distant country. Finally
it must be be protected from
the ravages of graffiti artists.
The Ancient Egyptians, who were pretty smart chappies, saw that it could not do the work which was
required of it, so they decided to leave it where it lay, as an intelligence
test for the people of the future.
On the net there are many photographs of this incomplete
obelisk available under the heading "unfinished obelisk".
These photographs all raise many big questions and to my way
of thinking they have not been properly answered by any of the texts I have
sourced.
The main questions, in order, are as follows:-
Concerning the quarrying...
given that they were using dolomite hammers, and copper chisels which are quite
soft, and given that they were working in an incredibly confined space which is
the narrow trench you can see in the photograph, how did they propose to cut
underneath this massive stone to release it from the rock-bed?
After undercutting the stone, which they would have to keep
elevated a few inches to allow rope feeds, how did they expect to be able to raise it from its narrow trench in
order to make the next move in transit? As it weighed almost 1200 tons,
considerably more than the stones moved into place on the pyramids, which were
usually only 2.5 tons, and given the limited equipment for heavy lifting which
was available to them, this step would have been a tremendously difficult task.
OKAY! So finally, by some great miracle or otherwise
mysterious process, they have elevated this "potential" Obelisk from
its rock trench, and now it’s ready to be moved.
Considering that it is much bigger than any of the smaller
obelisks they have excavated so far, and much much larger than the blocks used to build the pyramids, what sort of sled do they
move it on, or is it just a basic log-roller system? Or do they float it in a
massive canal, and if so, how do they achieve this feat?
Now they have gotten it down to the shore of the river Nile
to mount on a barge. This must be one hell of a barge for its time. They have
to be able to lift it onto the barge,
or slide it on, without toppling the barge. How did they manage to do that?
It’s possible that this can only be achieved at certain times of the year, when
the Nile is very low, and then they must wait until the next flood to lift the
barge off the river's muddy floor.
Once it is safely on board the barge, and they’ve avoided
tipping the barge in the process, transporting it to the nearest drop-off point would be the easiest part of the journey.
Getting it off the barge would probably be as difficult as getting it on. How
did they do this, or was the process simply the opposite of loading the barge?
Then they had to move it to its new home, somewhere inland. Again the work of the rolling team or the sled team.... or the
canal team. Anyhow, this will be one of the largest team enterprises
they had ever attempted in the block-moving or Obelisk-moving department. Why
do I say this? Because this particular incomplete obelisk, if
it had been finished, would have been approximately 50% heavier than any
previous one.
Once they reached the designated site they would have had
its gradual elevation planned, similar
to the manner of previous Obelisks. Some have proposed a rather simple idea of
using an earth mound, sloped to a certain pitch, to slide the base of the
Obelisk into its position, and then to stand it up with the help of a few
strong chaps and ropes. Maybe they had pulleys, block and tackle, but they
didn’t have the cranes capable of heavy lifting which we have had for more than
one hundred years.
Finally, 20,000 men to tamp the soil
down around the standing Obelisk and invite the Pharaoh and his priests out for
a look-see.
Why
go to all this trouble, in any case?
It’s no wonder we need the imagination of an Erik von Daniken and his suggestion of the involvement of
extra-terrestrials to solve this simple IQ test which the Egyptians were kind
enough to leave for us to ponder in our time.
If
there is anyone out there who has some really good answers to the many
questions I’ve raised, it would be a great kindness if you could let me in on
the secret. I have spent many fruitless years trying to solve this riddle, and
it’s driving me crazy. It has even made me start to doubt my own native
intelligence.
PETER TAMMER
MONDAY, JULY 14, 2008
Some Links which may be helpful:-
How an Ancient Egyptian Obelisk Ended Up in NYC
Ancient Ships: The Ships of Antiquity
Manners and customs of the ancient Egyptians
How the ancient obelisk nearly sank to the bottom of the ocean
How obelisks got where they are now
YOU TUBE VIDEO:
The Obelisk of Ancient Egypt: Ancient Egyptians Architecture
Feedback to this essay from
readers would be much appreciated: email
Peter.