Read the Beforeitsnews.com story here. Advertise at Before It's News here.

By RiseEarth
Contributor profile | More stories

Story Views
Now:
Last hour:
Last 24 hours:
Total:

How old exactly are the pyramids ?

Monday, April 30, 2012 21:23

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

The ancient Egyptians used two bright stars in the Big Dipper and Little Dipper constellations to align their pyramids in a north-south direction, a British Egyptologist says. If she’s right, we can now pin down the ages of the pyramids far more accurately than before.

It’s an “ingenious solution to a long-standing mystery”, says astronomer and science historian Owen Gingerich of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “It seems quite convincing to me. This could pin down the dates of the Old Kingdom of Egypt – the oldest fixed dates in history.”

Click here for animation (82 Kb).

Click here for a Shockwave movie (7 KB).

The Egyptian pyramids at Giza were built during the third millennium BC as tombs for kings. Their relative ages are known from patchy records of the lengths of the kings’ reigns. But previous estimates of their actual ages have been accurate only to the nearest century.

The tombs are aligned north-south with an accuracy of up to 0.05 degrees. How the Egyptians did this has been unclear. Today, you could align a building north-south by pointing the sides towards the pole star, which sits roughly at true north. However, a wobble in the Earth’s axis of rotation (called precession), means that the positions of the stars changes gradually over time.

In the third millennium BC, no star sat at the north pole. Instead, all the stars in the north sky rotated around an imaginary point marking the north pole.

Experts thought the ancient Egyptians might have watched a single star circle this imaginary point and aligned their pyramid with the circle’s centre.

Every Day is Earth Day

Read more at Rise Earth

Source:

Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.

Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.

"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.

Please Help Support BeforeitsNews by trying our Natural Health Products below!

Order by Phone at 888-809-8385 or online at https://mitocopper.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomic.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Order by Phone at 866-388-7003 or online at https://www.herbanomics.com M - F 9am to 5pm EST

Humic & Fulvic Trace Minerals Complex - Nature's most important supplement! Vivid Dreams again!

HNEX HydroNano EXtracellular Water - Improve immune system health and reduce inflammation.

Ultimate Clinical Potency Curcumin - Natural pain relief, reduce inflammation and so much more.

MitoCopper - Bioavailable Copper destroys pathogens and gives you more energy. (See Blood Video)

Oxy Powder - Natural Colon Cleanser! Cleans out toxic buildup with oxygen!

Nascent Iodine - Promotes detoxification, mental focus and thyroid health.

Smart Meter Cover - Reduces Smart Meter radiation by 96%! (See Video).

Comments

Online:
Visits:	1,604,586,501
Stories:	8,153,679