MARGINALIA
Astronomy and the Great Pyramid
J. Donald Fernie
Pyramidology! The very word produces groans and upturned eyes in an
audience of scientists, along with sighs of "here we go
again." As well it might. The rubbish written about pyramids
generally, and the Great Pyramid of Khufu (or Cheops) in particular,
is overwhelming. Bizarre theories about its construction and
supposed metaphysical properties have only multiplied over the
centuries. The Internet is filled with this nonsense.
Yet these age–old monuments are a marvel, and they do tether
our modern civilization to its origins. So there is a danger that
the baby of rigorous scholarship can all too easily be thrown out
with the bathwater of mystical blather, particularly by those
scientists or educators who are plied with questions from
well–meaning New Age disciples. But in fact, there are, and
long have been, serious scientists applying careful methods to the
study of ancient pyramids. Henry Petroski penned a thoughtful
analysis of the engineering challenges of pyramid construction in a
recent issue of American Scientist (May–June). Here I
look at some studies that examine the astronomy of the pyramid builders.
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