Message #188111

[Qoais]

Extended Abstract of the Theory
(simplified list of arguments)
In his books, They built the pyramids (2008), Professor Joseph Davidovits presented a theory on
the pyramids’ construction: they were built by using re-agglomerated stone (a natural limestone
treated like a concrete and then moulded), and not by using enormous blocks, carved and hoisted
on ramps. Initially published in New York in 1988 under the title The pyramids: an enigma solved,
this thesis has recently been released in several books with an important update of facts missing in
the first American edition.
The theory is based on scientific analysis, archaeological elements and hieroglyphic texts as well
as religious and historical aspects. Contrary to other theories that only seek a technical
explanation for the Giza Plateau pyramids, and often looking only at Kheops itself and ignoring
the others, his theory encompasses the building of all the pyramids of Egypt for 250 years, from
the first of Zoser to those in crude bricks.

Theory
1. The formula and materials used:
The most important material is limestone. Analysis done by the German geochemist D.D. Klemm
[1] showed that 97 to 100% of the blocks come from the soft and argillaceous limestone layer
located in the Wadi, downwards the Giza Plateau. According to the Egyptologist Mr. Lehner [2],
the Egyptians used a soft and crumbly limestone, unusable for hewn stones. The workmen did
not choose the hard and dense limestone located near the pyramids, with rare exceptions for later
restorations. The geologist L. Gauri [3] showed that this limestone is fragile, because it includes
clay-like materials (in particular kaolinite clay) sensitive to water which explains the extreme
softness of the Sphinx body, whereas its head, cut in the hard and dense geological layer, resisted
4000 years of erosion.
This soft argillaceous limestone, too fragile to be a hewn stone, is well adapted to agglomeration.
Moreover, it naturally contains reactive geopolymeric ingredients, like kaolinitic clay, essential to
manufacture the geological glue (a binder) and to ensure the geosynthesis.
It was not required to crush this stone, because it disaggregates easily with the Nile water during
floods (the Wadi is filled with water at this time) to form a limestone mud. To this mud, they
added reactive geological materials (mafkat, a hydrated alumina and copper silicate, overexploited
at the time of Kheops in the Sinai mines) [4], Egyptian natron salt (sodium carbonate, massively
present in Wadi Natrum), and lime coming from plants and wood ashes [5]. They carried this
limestone mud in baskets, poured it, then packed it in moulds (made out of wood, stone, crude
brick), directly on the building site. The method is identical to the pisé technique, still in use
today.
This limestone, re-agglomerated by geochemical reaction, naturally hardens to form resistant
blocks. The blocks thus consist of 90 to 95% of natural limestone aggregates with its fossil shells,
and from 5 to 10% of geological glue (a cement known as "geopolymeric" binder) based on
aluminosilicates.