Pyramids built along dry river bed

[Arjan82]

There is a new paper in Nature saying that a now vanished branch of the Nile river (dubbed the Ahramat Branch) was much closer to where the Pyramids were build. The branch dried probably thousands of years ago.

So... It wasn't aliens after all...

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01379-7

 

[phinds]

So... It wasn't aliens after all...

Aw ... nuts! I was so counting on the pyramids being proof of ancient aliens.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I was so counting on the pyramids being proof of ancient aliens.

Did you know that if you inscribe a circle in the base of the Great Pyramid, the ratio of the circumference of that circle to the length of a side is exactly π? And if you instead circumscribe a circle, the ratio of the the circumference of that circle to the length of a diagonal is also exactly π? And the 2nd circle is exactly twice as big as the first?

It's gotta be aliens!

 

[Baluncore]

And the 2nd circle is exactly twice as big as the first?

The 2nd circle is exactly twice the area of the first?

 

[Ibix]

Aw ... nuts! I was so counting on the pyramids being proof of ancient aliens.

 

[phinds]

So... It wasn't aliens after all...

Well, I still believe in aliens because I was reliably and solemnly informed (by the TV show Ancient Aliens, which I surf through occasionally just for laughs) that Albert Einstein actually wasn't all that bright but that he had a telepathic connection to aliens and they told him all the stuff he pretended was his.

 

[berkeman]

new paper in Nature saying that a now vanished branch of the Nile river (dubbed the Ahramat Branch) was much closer to where the Pyramids were

I wonder why there aren't a bunch of Egyptian drawings of the big stones on boats. You would think they would have been proud to document their clever pyramid building techniques...

 

[Bandersnatch]

Could ancient humans with their primitive technology move the longest river on Earth like that? And if not, who helped them?

 

[256bits]

Did you know that if you inscribe a circle in the base of the Great Pyramid, the ratio of the circumference of that circle to the length of a side is exactly π? And if you instead circumscribe a circle, the ratio of the the circumference of that circle to the length of a diagonal is also exactly π? And the 2nd circle is exactly twice as big as the first?

It's gotta be aliens!

So it's ALIENS.
But which ones?
The pi aliens, or the 2 pi.
Or maybe a galactic cooperation between the two.

A curious fact, and verified by scientists.
If you measure all the interior angles, it is fascinating that all 4 angles add up to 2 pi.

 

[Arjan82]

So it's ALIENS.
But which ones?
The pi aliens, or the 2 pi.

The latter have to be the Tau aliens, they are better!

 

[Baluncore]

I wonder why there aren't a bunch of Egyptian drawings of the big stones on boats. You would think they would have been proud to document their clever pyramid building techniques...

The rocks could be supported, suspended underwater, under a raft. That is not visible from the surface. By moving the rocks underwater, the boat/raft buoyancy required is significantly reduced, while the vessel changes from being unstable to being unconditionally stable. The fact that there are no pictures of rocks on the top of boats, demonstrates ancient Egyptian intelligence.

Buoyancy is proportional to volume, so the advantage of suspending the rocks underwater is greatest for the lower-density limestones employed in the construction. The more dense granite, with a density of about 2.7, weighs 2.7 tonne per cubic metre, dry, in air on a boat. Underwater, 1m³ provides one tonne of buoyancy, so only needs 1.7 tonnes of additional buoyancy from the raft or boat to provide support.

Rock drilling produces chips that float in high density bentonite drilling mud. A rock can be moved by dragging it, submerged, through the mud on the bottom of a canal, or floated with neutral buoyancy, along a mud filled canal. That would require canals connecting still backwaters, so the lubricant mud was not flushed away by floods, to be replaced by abrasive sand at times of high river flow. The majority of the clay from such a transport system would not remain today, as the fluid mud would be lost during a 1000 year flood.

Could ancient humans with their primitive technology move the longest river on Earth like that? And if not, who helped them?

Rivers move naturally in their valley. Rivers meander and move as sediment is eroded from the outside of the bends, being deposited on the inside of the next bend.
There are many straight canals running parallel with the Nile in the valley. They follow the ancient river channels and oxbow lakes. Many have been maintained for transport and irrigation for thousands of years.

 

[BillTre]

I wonder why there aren't a bunch of Egyptian drawings of the big stones on boats. You would think they would have been proud to document their clever pyramid building techniques...

Here are some pix of Egyptian big rock river transport. not ancient pictures through.
I have definitely read somewhere about the stella (like a mini-Washington monument) transports.
Not pyramids specifically though.
The bottom one is like a catamaran.
Many of their boats are reed boats. My understanding is that the reeds in the reed boats are kind of like styrofoam floats with lots of air pockets sealed each reed.

 

[pinball1970]

Aw ... nuts! I was so counting on the pyramids being proof of ancient aliens.

A good friend of mine actually entertains this crap.

One claim is how come the pyramids over here, Africa say, are the same over there? Say Mexico?

First, they are not the same, they are similar.
Second, buildings/ tall structures, face the same stability issues everywhere so the solutions would share features.
Evolution does something similar.

If aliens really wanted to give us an observation facility I don't think it would be a Stone Pyramid.

 

[phinds]

If aliens really wanted to give us an observation facility I don't think it would be a Stone Pyramid.

But the Egyptian pyramids were not observation towers, they were created by the aliens as a gift to be used as grain storage:
pyramids-built-store-grain

 

[Vanadium 50]

I thought they were alien advertising.

Don't take this curve
At close to of c
Your mass goes up
From relativity
Burma Shave