published September 2019: DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31223.16800

FREE download of Chapter 1 of the book “Why the pharaohs built the Pyramids with fake stones” which includes the extended abstract of the theory from an official Press Kit. You can buy the book in hard cover or ebook here:  Book: Why the pharaohs built the Pyramids with fake stones.

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(Fabrication de céramique Étrusque
(Bucchero Nero) au VII-VIII siècle av. J.-C.)

by
Frédéric Davidovits (1), Alessandro Nasso (2),
Joseph Davidovits (3)
(1) Université de Caen, France
(2) Universita di Udine, Italy
(3) Geopolymer Institute, Saint-Quentin, France
( in English, en Français )

The results obtained with LTGS (Low Temperature Geopolymeric Setting of ceramic) have been surprising and very interesting from the archaeological point of view, e.g. the fabrication of ceramic whose surface is covered by an intense black color, identical in appearance to numerous European ceramics especially the Etruscan pottery of the Bucchero Nero type (630 B.C.) and Impasto marrone (650 B.C.). The Etruscan civilization florished in Italy before the creation of the Roman Empire (Tarquinia, Cerveteri, Orvieto, Veio, Chiusi). Instead of the complicated process involving temperatures of 900°C and strong reducing atmosphere, with LTGS the black color actually comes about at temperatures as low as 250°C, through a migration of black organo-mineral complexes. The optimal relationship between curing temperature, strength and black color is obtained at 450-550°C in a simple garden wood fire. The ceramics manufactured with this process are identical to the Etruscan Bucchero Nero and Impasto maronne from the VII-VIII Centuries B.C.

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Hérodote (II, 125) au début de son texte sur la construction de la pyramide de Khéops utilise krossai et bômides, mots rarissimes dans la littérature grecque, pour désigner la forme en “degrés de la pyramide”. L’emploi par Hérodote de bômides, traditionnellement traduit par “plates-formes” ou “autels”, est surprenant, car pour désigner les degrés de la pyramide, il pouvait se servir ici de termes plus courants, qu’il utilise ailleurs (anabathmos “degré, marche”, bathron “base, degré, marche…”). Quant à krossai, on le rapproche traditionnellement d’un mot identique usité dans l’Iliade d’Homère. Mais, on peut aussi envisager l’origine égyptienne du terme. Dans cette hypothèse, krossai peut être l’adaptation phonétique d’un mot égyptien, khes (O 41 de Gardiner) signifiant “bâtir”. On sait que les touristes grecs avaient des interprètes égyptiens (hermèneis), qui avaient appris le grec à l’oreille avec une grande facilité. On pourrait alors expliquer l’apparition de krossai et bômides dans le texte par les échanges verbaux qu’Hérodote avait avec son interprète. Pour décrire les degrés de la pyramide, le traducteur “grécise” le signe O 41 khes signifiant “bâtir” et Hérodote comprend krossai. Voulant insister sur le côté religieux de la pyramide, l’interprète choisit un terme grec qui contient à la fois l’idée de marche et de religion et il invente un mot nouveau : bômides.

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30,000 blue faience tiles were found in Djoser’s funerary complex at Saqqarah (3. dynasty). It is generally assumed that the tiles underwent a self-glazing process during firing in the range of 800- 850°C (C. Kieffer and A. Allibert, 1971) or by dipping in a liquid glaze (S. Schiegel, 1988). SEM microanalysis shows the presence of phosphorus in the glaze that suggests the use of the blue mineral turquoise (mafkat), an aluminium-copper phosphate, intensively extracted by pharaoh Djoser in the Sinai mines. Our aim was to replicate the self-glazing process with a soluble silicate binder involving a synthetic turquoise (mafkat) mixture made of pure aluminium phosphate hydrate and copper phosphate hydrate. We were astonished to get a turquoise blue-self-glazed ceramic, stable and identical to Egyptian faience, at a temperature as low as 250°C. Post treatment at 350°C changes the blue colour into grey-black (chemical transformation of blue copper phosphate into black tenorite CuO) that remains stable up to 800°C, where it turns back to blue. Did Djoser’s ceramists use this low temperature process? Apparently yes, if we look at the colours of the tiles. It is striking to notice that in contrary to their labelling, numerous Djoser’s tiles are not blue but grey, black, blue-green and even brown, colours that we have replicated at self-glazing temperatures in the range of 250-350°C.

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Abstract in English:

Carbunculus, as described by Vitruvius (2, 4, 1; 2, 6, 6; 8, 1, 2), is a mineral used like a pouzzolana, which, when added, yields a very good mortar. The nature of this sand has remained enigmatic. The works of Italian researcher G. LUGLI enable us to have a first outlook. In chapter 4 of book 2, Vitruvius describes the use of every different kind of sand:

1. quartz-like river sands: harena fluuiatica,
2. limestone sea sand: harena marina, both of these sands are used in regular coatings;
3. pozzolanic sands, which are ground extracted, and differenciated from one another through respective color: harena fossicia.

Vitruvius advises the use of harena fossicia for opus caementiicium and distinguishes through color 4 harenae fossiciae: nigra (black), cana (gray or white, depending on deposit), rubra (red) and carbunculus. By comparison, the sands from the river and the sea cannot be used to elavate walls and concrete vaults (2, 4, 2), whereas freshly dug fossiciae have this ability. According to both Vitruvius and G. LUGLI, harena fossicia, thus carbunculus, is a pozzolanic sand. COLUMELLA (De re rust. 3, 11, 7) describes a stone called carbunculus used in vine growing. This stone, which has the ability to absorb and release humidity, can be described as a zeolith.

Carbunculus is labeled by Vitruvius (2, 6, 6) as materia excocta: an “heat-treated material”. TACITUS (H. 5, 7) uses this verb to designate the sand melting in the manufacturing of glass. Excoquo is a technical verb which designates an industrial process: oven curing. In the Vitruvian context, the prefix ex- expresses a high-temprature treatment process. Heat treatment transforms the color of the zeolith: from black, red or white, it becomes red, the color of embers. Carbunculus, this heat-treated zeolith, is for VITRUVIUS a product just as good as natural pozzolana.

Résumé en français:

Le carbunculus, décrit par Vitruve (2, 4, 1; 2, 6, 6; 8, 1, 2) est un minéral qu’on emploie comme une pouzzolane, et son ajout donne un très bon mortier. La nature de ce sable est restée énigmatique. Les travaux de l’Italien G. LUGLI permettent une première approche. Vitruve indique, dans le quatrième chapitre du livre deux, l’utilisation de chaque différente sorte de sable:

1. Les enduits fluviaux (quartzeux): harena fluuiatica.
2. Les sables marins (calcaires): harena marina. Ces deux sables sont utilisés pour les enduits.
3. Les sables pouzzolaniques que l’on extrait du sol et que l’on distingue les uns des autres par la couleur: harena fossicia.

Vitruve (2, 4, 1) conseille l’emploi de l’harena fossicia pour l’opus caementicium et distingue 4 harenae fossiciae par la couleur: nigra (noire), cana (grise ou blanche tout dépend du gisement), rubra (rouge) et le carbunculus. Par comparaison, les sables de rivière ou de mer ne peuvent pas servir à l’édification des murs et des voûtes concrètes (2, 4, 2), alors que les fossiciae fraîchement extraits ont cette capacité. Pour Vitruve comme pour G. LUGLI, l’harena fossicia, donc le carbunculus, est un sable pouzzolanique.

Columelle (De re rust. 3, 11, 7) décrit une pierre, employée dans la culture de la vigne. Cette pierre, qui a la propriété d’absorber et de restituer l’humidité, est une zéolithe.

Vitruve (2, 6, 6) qualifie le carbunculus de materia excocta: un “matériau cuit au four”. Tacite (H. 5, 7) emploie ce verbe pour désigner le sable qui fond dans la fabrication du verre. Excoquo est un verbe technique qui désigne un procédé industriel: la cuisson au four. Dans le contexte vitruvien, le préfixe ex- exprimerait un processus de traitement à haute température. La cuisson transforme la couleur de la zéolithe: de noire, rouge ou blanche, elle devient rouge, couleur de braise. Pour Vitruve, le carbunculus , cette zéolithe cuite au four, est un produit aussi bon que la pouzzolane naturelle.

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DEA thesis by Frédéric Davidovits,
université de Nanterre – Paris X, 1993
( in French, en Français )

Contrairement à ce que l’on croit généralement, les sables employés dans les mortiers dits hydrauliques chez les romains sont de nature pouzzolaniques car d’origine volcanique. Des archéologues comme Marion Elizabeth Blake et Giuseppe Lugli ont établi que seul le sable de carrière dont parle Vitruve (Livre II, chap 3) qui est le seul apte à entrer dans la composition du mortier romain est en fait un sable volcanique comme la pouzzolane et donc, réagit complètement avec la chaux.

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Fabrication of stone objects, by geopolymeric synthesis, in the pre-incan Huanka civilization (Peru)

Joseph DAVIDOVITS and Francisco ALIAGA
Abstract of a paper presented at the 21st International Symposium for Archaeometry, Brookhaven National Laboratory, New York, USA, 1981 (page 21).

It is now agreed, that the TIHUANACO civilisation is modeled on the pre-incan HUANKA civilisation revealed by an extraordinary skill in fabricating objects in stone. A recent ethnological discovery shows that some witch-doctors in the HUANKA tradition, use no tools to make their little stone objects, but still use a chemical dissolution of the stone material by plant extracts. The starting stone material (silicate or silico-aluminate) is dissolved by the organic extracts, and the viscous slurry is then poured into a mould where it hardens. This technique, when mastered, allows a sort of cement to be made by dissolving rocks; statues which could have been made by the technique of the pre-incan HUANKA, by dissolution followed by geopolymeric agglomeration, are found to contain Ca-oxalate in the stone.

The disaggregation of stone materials with organic acids from plant extracts, an ancient and universal technique

Joseph DAVIDOVITS, A. BONETT and A.M. MARIOTTE
Proceedings of the 22nd Symposium on Archaeometry, University of Bradford, Bradford, U.K. March 30th – April 3rd 1982. Pages 205 – 212.

At the XXI Archaeometry Symposium we presented the hypothesis that the large stones in precolumbian monuments were artificial, having been agglomerated with a binder obtained by disaggregating certain rocks (in agreement with local legend and tradition). We present here the first results on plant extracts on the dissolution or disaggregation of calcium carbonate containing rocks (Bio-tooling action). The feasibility of chemically working calcium carbonate with various carboxylic acids found in plants (acetic, oxalic and citric acid) has been studied. Maximum bio-tooling action is obtained with a solution containing:

• vinegar (1 M) (acetic acid)
• oxalic acid (0.9 M)
• citric acid (0.78 M)

The great surprise was actually to discover very ancient references to their use since Neolithic times for working materials which are very hard but easily attacked by acids, such as chalk. Thus, a bas-relief from the tomb of Mera, at SAQQARAH (VI dynasty, 3Millenium B.C., Egypt) (Fig.6 ) shows the hollowing out of “Egyptian alabaster” (CaCO3) vases by a liquid contained in a water skin or bladder. An experiment of interest was to compare the “bio-tooling” technique with the shaping of a hole using steel tool and the quartz sand technique recommended by prehistorians. The hole resulting from sand abrasion has rough walls, whereas bio-tooling gives a smooth finish.

The precolumbian farmers were quite capable of producing large quantities of acids from such common plants in their region as:

• fruits, potatoes, maize, rhubarb, rumex, agave americana, opuntia, ficus indica, oxalis pubescens

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Egyptologists have long claimed that no records exist which describe how the Pyramids were built. A stone stela is engraved on a rock at the island Sehel, near Elephantine, Egypt, north of Aswan. It was discovered in 1889 by C.E. Wilbour and was deciphered by various egyptologists:Brugsch (1891), Pleyte (1891), Morgan (1894), Sethe (1901), Barguet (1953) and Lichtheim (1973). This stela features three of the most renowned characters of the Egyptian civilization:

• Pharaoh Zoser, around 2,750 BC, built the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Saqqarah. This monument is claimed to illustrate the invention of building with stone.
• Imhotep, scribe and architect of Zoser’s pyramid, who has been honored and deified for having invented the building with stone.
• God Khnum, the potter who, as in the Bible, is fashioning the bodies of humans and gods with the Nile silt, with clay, in other words processing minerals.

Called “The Famine Stele”, it was engraved during a recent epoch, under the Ptolemees (200 BC), but certain reliable clues have led egyptologists to believe that, in an amplified form it had already become an authentic document by the beginning of the Old Kingdom (2,750 BC).

Yet, the most controversial aspect of this text resides in the fact that to build temples, pyramids and other sacred buildings, Khnum’s instructions and Imhotep’s revelations do not mention any constructional stone, such as limestone or sandstone or granite blocks. These materials are not found in the list. In Zoser’s dream (col. 19) Khnum is giving minerals and “since former times nobody ever worked with them to build the temples of the gods..”. To build monuments, Zoser was given a list of minerals and ores whose hieroglyphic names have not been translated so far. This is the reason why we started an in-depth study of each hieroglyphic word, in order to determine the technical key-words, those which are obviously difficult to translate.

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published in Science in Egyptology, Proceedings of the Science in Egyptology Symposia, Manchester, U.K., pp. 511-520, 1984.

The hypothesis that the limestone that constitutes the major pyramids of the Old Kingdom of Egypt is man-made stone, is discussed. Samples from six different sites at the traditionally associated quarries of Turah and Mokattam have been studied using thin-section, chemical X-Ray analysis and X-Ray diffraction. The results were compared with pyramid casing stones of Cheops, Teti and Seneferu. The quarry samples are pure limestone consisting of 96-99% Calcite, 0.5-2.5% Quartz, and very small amount of dolomite, gypsum and iron-alumino-silicate. On the other hand the Cheops and Teti casing stones are limestone consisting of: calcite 85-90% and a high amount of special minerals such as Opal CT, hydroxy-apatite, a silico-aluminate, which are not found in the quarries. The pyramid casing stones are light in density and contain numerous trapped air bubbles, unlike the quarry samples which are uniformly dense. If the casing stones were natural limestone, quarries different from those traditionally associated with the pyramid sites must be found, but where? X-Ray diffraction of a red casing stone coating is the first proof to demonstrate the fact that a complicated man-made geopolymeric system was produced in Egypt 4,700 years ago.

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