Exploring the mysteries of our past, civilizations, cataclysms, and what it all means for us today
The Unsolved Mysteries of the Broken Pyramid at Meidum, Egypt
Part 2 of my investigation into the Old Kingdom pyramid side of Meidum, in Egypt. In this video we investigate the giant pyramid, go inside for a detailed look at the chambers, as well as at the ancillary structures surrounding it. We look back in time at what legendary Egyptologist Flinders Petrie discovered here, and discuss the many unsolved mysteries still awaiting investigation at this most enigmatic of ancient egpytian megalithic sites.
4 thoughts on “The Unsolved Mysteries of the Broken Pyramid at Meidum, Egypt”
Core Drilling.
Hi Ben. Has anyone tried placing a rods with some cold curing silicon on them, into horizontal drill holes for the purpose of extracting any abrasive zircon crystals left behind by ancient workmen?
Possibly, crystals with traces of copper/tin/silver adhering to them?
This would offer a new modus operandi.
1) Being observant people, it must have been noticed countless times, that the denser heavier zircon grains (which gravity naturally separates out first from the ‘black sands’ of the Mediterranean) are harder than anything else they knew of.
2) They knew a lot about metallurgy as well. Alloying copper with a bit of tin and silver, lowers the melting point to create a braze, which engineers today call ‘silver solder’.
3) This braze today is sometimes still used to bond diamond and zircon to drill-bits.
4) Bonded to the bit, they will more readily ‘cut’ rather than act like ball bearings and roll around ineffectively, when used as lose grit.
5) Don’t get misled that diamond cutters all revolve at thousands of RPM. For hard rock –when say drilling for oil– its done at a slow rpm but at high pressure (typically 20,000 pounds of pressure for a 5½ inch bit). Can achieve 1 to 2 inches per minute penetration that way. With a thin walled copper tube drill, 100 lb/sq in would be easy to achieve — for a contact surface of 1 sq inch just balance 100 lb rock on top and I bet the contact surface area of those tube drills are less.
6) More practical than continuously rotating the bit, just have a radial bar going through it and have one person at each end rotating it back on forth by a few degrees. Perhaps occasionally dripping into the centre, some more rock softening plan juice. This periodic softening may account for the wall ridges of the holes and cores – its a thought.
7) Can be bonded to saws, files and scribes for doing the finer work.
8) The presence of small and large zircon crystals would be easy to not notice, in the dirt of ancient worksites by archaeologist that lack imagination or suffer from ossification of the brain from spending too long digging up bones.
9) Why has no one suggested this possibility before?
10) Finally… Could just be coincidence that zircon takes the crystalline form of tetragonal Pyramid. Yet if survivors of a cataclysm wished to build a depositories for all their knowledge, designed to survive the next great cataclysm, what better symbol of hardness to give such a building? Look at the ‘short stubby’ crystal in this image (half way down page forth along) —it even has a Socle, like the Great Pyramid! The first depositors may have been the underground chambers which had served as refuges during the cataclysm, only to find the dampness was not conducive for the long term storage of records written on animal skin parchments. So they built the pyramids on top and moved the records to there.
Now there’s something to muse upon in one of your videos – and zircon crystals occur world wide in many places.
To end. For anyone that wants to do this. Think ordinary runny Dental Silicon would suffice and can copy fine detail. Being reasonable inert chemically, the silicon rubber might even stick to any residues of softening plant material. If it exists, I expect it will be partly hydroxyl acids like Salicylic Acid. Being a dry climate they might have survived without breaking down. Therefore, it would be best to pop the cured rods into a forensic specimen bag (or at least a poly bag) as soon as possible, to protect from contamination until analysis can be performed. As an aside. One can release more minerals in the soil for ones house plants by adding an aspirin (acetyl-salicylic acid) to their water. Lichen too, produce acid solvents to eat the rock they grow upon and thus release the minerals they need. So lithophagus methods of working stone might indeed have been used.
Forgot to mention the similarity of Bent Pyramid with crumbled corners and the bent pyramid shaped zircon with the rounded centre. 5th image on far right here: https://www.minerals.net/mineral/zircon.aspx
Hi Keith!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment! I know about your guide, it’s excellent. In fact I reference and point people towards your guide for Mastaba 17 in my ‘part 1’ video on Meidum that explores underneath that Mastaba. I’ll amend my pinned comment on the Meidum video to point people towards your site. I had meant to mention your guide in this one also. I really love your work, in particular the effort that has been put into the 3D modelling of these sites.
Core Drilling.
Hi Ben. Has anyone tried placing a rods with some cold curing silicon on them, into horizontal drill holes for the purpose of extracting any abrasive zircon crystals left behind by ancient workmen?
Possibly, crystals with traces of copper/tin/silver adhering to them?
This would offer a new modus operandi.
1) Being observant people, it must have been noticed countless times, that the denser heavier zircon grains (which gravity naturally separates out first from the ‘black sands’ of the Mediterranean) are harder than anything else they knew of.
2) They knew a lot about metallurgy as well. Alloying copper with a bit of tin and silver, lowers the melting point to create a braze, which engineers today call ‘silver solder’.
3) This braze today is sometimes still used to bond diamond and zircon to drill-bits.
4) Bonded to the bit, they will more readily ‘cut’ rather than act like ball bearings and roll around ineffectively, when used as lose grit.
5) Don’t get misled that diamond cutters all revolve at thousands of RPM. For hard rock –when say drilling for oil– its done at a slow rpm but at high pressure (typically 20,000 pounds of pressure for a 5½ inch bit). Can achieve 1 to 2 inches per minute penetration that way. With a thin walled copper tube drill, 100 lb/sq in would be easy to achieve — for a contact surface of 1 sq inch just balance 100 lb rock on top and I bet the contact surface area of those tube drills are less.
6) More practical than continuously rotating the bit, just have a radial bar going through it and have one person at each end rotating it back on forth by a few degrees. Perhaps occasionally dripping into the centre, some more rock softening plan juice. This periodic softening may account for the wall ridges of the holes and cores – its a thought.
7) Can be bonded to saws, files and scribes for doing the finer work.
8) The presence of small and large zircon crystals would be easy to not notice, in the dirt of ancient worksites by archaeologist that lack imagination or suffer from ossification of the brain from spending too long digging up bones.
9) Why has no one suggested this possibility before?
10) Finally… Could just be coincidence that zircon takes the crystalline form of tetragonal Pyramid. Yet if survivors of a cataclysm wished to build a depositories for all their knowledge, designed to survive the next great cataclysm, what better symbol of hardness to give such a building? Look at the ‘short stubby’ crystal in this image (half way down page forth along) —it even has a Socle, like the Great Pyramid! The first depositors may have been the underground chambers which had served as refuges during the cataclysm, only to find the dampness was not conducive for the long term storage of records written on animal skin parchments. So they built the pyramids on top and moved the records to there.
Now there’s something to muse upon in one of your videos – and zircon crystals occur world wide in many places.
To end. For anyone that wants to do this. Think ordinary runny Dental Silicon would suffice and can copy fine detail. Being reasonable inert chemically, the silicon rubber might even stick to any residues of softening plant material. If it exists, I expect it will be partly hydroxyl acids like Salicylic Acid. Being a dry climate they might have survived without breaking down. Therefore, it would be best to pop the cured rods into a forensic specimen bag (or at least a poly bag) as soon as possible, to protect from contamination until analysis can be performed. As an aside. One can release more minerals in the soil for ones house plants by adding an aspirin (acetyl-salicylic acid) to their water. Lichen too, produce acid solvents to eat the rock they grow upon and thus release the minerals they need. So lithophagus methods of working stone might indeed have been used.
Forgot to mention the similarity of Bent Pyramid with crumbled corners and the bent pyramid shaped zircon with the rounded centre. 5th image on far right here:
https://www.minerals.net/mineral/zircon.aspx
Hi,
I noticed your recent video on the Meidum pyramid. I have done a detailed guide on the pyramid that you might find interesting.
https://www.academia.edu/32410244/The_Meidum_Pyramid
Hi Keith!
Thanks so much for leaving a comment! I know about your guide, it’s excellent. In fact I reference and point people towards your guide for Mastaba 17 in my ‘part 1’ video on Meidum that explores underneath that Mastaba. I’ll amend my pinned comment on the Meidum video to point people towards your site. I had meant to mention your guide in this one also. I really love your work, in particular the effort that has been put into the 3D modelling of these sites.
Cheers
Ben