The theory has many supporters around the world, but there are still opponents criticizing and repeating the same arguments. This page is here to help supporters counter critics.

First, you find below a list of the main opposing ideas, opinions and sometimes evidence, and how to reply to them. Then, we expose an extended abstract of the theory with a simplify list of arguments.

More details, information, videos are available at this page. Only a lengthy summary is disclosed here.

List of the main opposing arguments

1- The context. What you need to keep in mind.

An hypothesis that has a long life.

The theory is now well-known by the public since 1988 (first publication of the book in english), but presented earlier in official egyptology congresses since 1979. The Geopolymer Institute website exists since 1996 and, since the beginning, the theory was exposed in detail. Since then, new scientific papers, new books, new videos, new webpages have been published with the latest updates. Nevertheless, most opponents are always expressing their opinions based on hearsays, preconceived ideas, clichés, and are not taking 10 minutes of their precious time to read what is presented here. Some of them are publishing rebuttals using “wrong” arguments that Davidovits’ has never raised instead of quoting his work (for example, we do not claim to crush stones as aggregates, a useless exhausting effort, but instead asserting the use of weathered or eroded stones). A parody of science since some studies were made on “fake” pyramid samples. See section #5 below and the page: Deep misleading publications by geologists. These published sloppy papers are taken for serious references by the opponents of the re-agglomerated theory. You will be disappointed by the fact that this misleading behavior represents the vast majority of the opponents. Why? Because the artificial stone theory is the truth, they don’t know how to counter it. They are missing the big picture.

A global thinking

People trying to solve the Pyramids mysteries are always thinking in terms of engineering and technique, and worse, they are only focusing on Kheops’ pyramid, forgetting the previous ones and the hundred more built after. If an idea sounds valid for Kheops, it is immediately invalid for the others. Davidovits’ theory is the only theory with a global view encompassing the building of all the pyramids of Egypt for 250 years, from the first of Zoser to those in crude bricks, with solid and valid scientific evidence in geology, mineralogy, chemistry, hieroglyphic studies, religion and Egyptian history… Read the extended abstract below or buy the book to learn more. No other theory has this global approach.

Official theory

The man-made or re-agglometared stone theory exists, is still discussed and countered for more than 40 years! If the arguments against are so easy to expose, to denigrate and are self-evident, why people are still talking about it? Why people are still not convinced by carving theories?

By the way, what is the official theory? Ask the opponents before starting the discussion. The bare truth is that there is none. After centuries, so many studies, scientific investigations, archeological discoveries, carving theories are still a weak hypothesis. Nobody agrees on the main scenario around carving and hoisting. None is approved by the mainstream. What a massive failure after more than one century of egyptology! When someone raises a solution, it lasts 6 months up to 1 year after it vanishes because it leads to other insoluble problems. And the artificial stone theory is there for more than 40 years. After so much time, the carving theories fail !

So, the opponent of the re-agglomation hypothesis believes he acts in the name of truth, when actually he is found defending one of the many unofficial speculative carving theories! Is he convincing? Not at all. It is easy to criticize that his (un)official theory brings up more problems than solutions, and, above all, where is the evidence?

The ultimate evidence

Here is the solid argument that everybody understands:

More and more scientists agree and support the theory. Classical methods of investigation are not relevant. They cannot make a difference between a natural and a synthetic mineral.

Several studies, carried out by independent scientists using the most modern equipment, exposed the ultimate proofs that the pyramids blocks are not natural. You may find various papers or opinions challenging the theory, but all prefer ignoring these independent analysis. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth that is still fought by some people for irrational purposes.

2- There is stone everywhere. Why bother to make a concrete?

This is common sense, isn’t it? You are thinking of the use of stones with a modern mind, in terms of architecture. For 3000 years long, Egyptians used stones (whether man-made or carved) only for religious purposes: temples, tombs and statues. Where are the houses, where are the palaces, where are the garrisons? They were built in crude bricks. During the pyramids time, it was forbidden to carve stones. Man-made stone bears a specific religious meaning related to the creation of life. Read more about this topic in the extended abstract under the “Religious context“.

If it is not convincing enough:

Recent scientific studies using very powerful and modern equipment found the ultimate evidence that the pyramids stones are synthetic. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth.

3- We see fossil shells, so it is a natural stone.

Man-made stone holds around 90% of natural mineral aggregates (here nummulites, fossil shells), and between 5 to 10% of the synthetic geopolymer binder. Some opponents believe that we claim that the geopolymer chemistry is manufacturing fossil shells in situ, which is absurd. But where do the fossil shells come from? From the quarry where we extract the natural stone aggregates. It is like claiming modern concrete is a carved and natural stone because it contains natural sand and natural stone aggregates ! If the stones were carved, why are all shells intact? Why none of them are cut?

There is evidence that limestone blocks come from different quarries. Since we know their origin, without a doubt, the stones are natural? But to make re-agglomerated limestone concrete, it is necessary that the 90% of limestone aggregate come from somewhere. Of course, they come from the same place! So, people have 90% of chance of analyzing a natural aggregate (here, nummulite fossil shell) and stating the artificial stone theory is wrong, setting aside the 10% synthetic binder.

If it is not convincing enough:

Recent scientific studies using very powerful and modern equipment found the ultimate evidence that the pyramids stones are synthetic. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth.

4- If it is a concrete-like stone, all block would have the same dimensions. But they are all different.

Before the first pyramid built out of stone, the ancient Egyptians constructed very imposing crude brick monuments. We find large funerary temple enclosures of the second dynasty, like the Khasekhemwy one (2,730 B.C.). Its massive wall is of crude clay bricks, therefore in a molded material. It is generally agreed, since these bricks were worked in molds, that their dimension must be uniform. However, this is wrong. Despite having been manufactured in molds, the clay bricks are of approximately 5 different sizes, implying the use of several patterns. We find these differences in proportions in all pyramids. This heterogeneity gives the monuments the ability to resist earthquakes by avoiding the amplification of seismic waves.

If it is not convincing enough:

Recent scientific studies using very powerful and modern equipment found the ultimate evidence that the pyramids stones are synthetic. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth.

5- One scientist / expert has analyzed the stones and claims they are natural, so you are wrong!

The analysis methods used today by geologists are not relevant. These methods are used to CLASSIFY not to determine natural or artificial species. They cannot make a difference between a natural and a synthetic mineral. Indeed, the molecule of a mineral is by essence always the same, whether it is natural or synthetic, otherwise it would be another molecule, so another mineral. In addition, experts / scientists who oppose the theory of re-agglomeration have scarcely knowledge or understanding of the geopolymer chemistry. They will not know how to analyze this and will miss the evidence. Have the opponents ever analyzed a geopolymer and gain some understandings? Never! Ask them for their scientific papers on geopolymers, if they have ever published one. Take a close look at their studies: they assert that the stones bear the features of natural rocks, and these are their only claims. They imply that the geopolymer is inherently artificial and therefore that its synthetical nature would be immediately obvious, superbly ignoring the principles of geochemistry. Their ignorance of geopolymers deceives them. To our knowledge, no geologist has yet published a comparative analysis between a present-time geopolymer fossil shell limestone and an ancient pyramid stone. They criticize the system without having the slightest idea of what we are talking about. This leads to an unproductive debate with inconclusive results. Geopolymer is a hard science, not a speculative study. To show the geopolymerization and the artificial nature of the material, they need to work with more powerful methods. These tools are seldom used by them. Studies have been made with modern and powerful equipment, and all show that the stones are artificial. Opponents prefer to ignore them, it is out of their skill to argue against.

To find out more, here are our answers to the 3 geological studies most often cited by the opponents. Our claims are so straightforward that no scientific knowledge is required to understand them. It is time to put an end to this pseudo-science. Read: Deep Misleading Publications by Geologists

If it is not convincing enough:

According to recent scientific studies, believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth.

6- There are granite blocks that are carved but roughly trimmed. So, your theory is wrong.

We have never claimed granite was artificial (another hearsay). Indeed, granite is not carved (they did not have the right tools) but split (a very different skill). You will read below in the extended abstract under the “Religious context” why they used granite, because it represents the southern country. The granite was not carved in a quarry, but simply taken from individual boulders found in great quantities in the Aswan region. The boulders were split to fine dressed faces, leaving a typical rough undressed back. They represent less than 0.1% of the total blocks. Workers had 10 years to install them in the pyramid, and 10 years to carve a unique sarcophagus with whatever technique they have at their disposal. In short, we don’t care! We care about the 99.9% of limestone blocks. For Kheops, one block must be placed every 3 minutes.

If it is not convincing enough:

Recent scientific studies using very powerful and modern equipment found the ultimate evidence that the pyramids stones are synthetic. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth.

7- The analysis in favor of the artificial stone theory are invalid because they are not official.

Right. Egyptologists are historian, linguists, archeologists but none are material scientists! So, there will never be official analysis carried out by them, they will always rely on experts like us. By the way, are the opponents officials? Are there published rebuttals official? And the person you are talking with, who is against the re-agglomerated stone theory, is it an official person expressing an official opinion? Absolutely not, never, none of them can claim that. Their argument has no more value than yours. You are at the same level! And what about the numerous carving theories, are they official? Are they promoting another new unofficial carving theory? (see above)

If it is not convincing enough:

Recent scientific studies using very powerful and modern equipment found the ultimate evidence that the pyramids stones are synthetic. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth.

8- Another new study / investigation shows something strange in the pyramids…

None of the recent studies, using new tools and high-tech equipments are countering the artificial stone theory. It is often the opposite, it may be interpreted as a new evidence for re-agglomeration. Each time, they raise new questions and enigma that the carving theories cannot answer, fueling crazy speculations.

And, by the way:

Recent scientific studies using very powerful and modern equipment found the ultimate evidence that the pyramids stones are synthetic. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth.

9- Aliens and/or ancient advanced civilization built the pyramids.

These people are reading all the contradictory, unofficial, numerous carving theories, and because all of them raise more questions than answers, they imagine a radical solution: a super civilization must have done it. We consider this belief as an insult to the genius of mankind, as if Homo sapiens is a stupid creature and what we believe are human achievements are a fraud. The geopolymer chemistry used to build the pyramids is a very simple technology, much easier than you think. They have all ingredients at the vicinity. It is a natural evolution of a technology having its origin from mineral binders, ceramics, pigments, ores, and simple chemistries. It gives extraordinary results, yet with straightforward knowledge. It is much more complicated to make copper tools, or metallurgy in general, by selecting the right ore (there are many that look like the same), using the right process at the right time and temperature…

More pictures, drawings, details, information, videos are available at this page. Only a lengthy summary is published below.

Extended abstract of the theory with a simplify list of arguments

In his books, Why the Pharaohs built the Pyramids with Fake Stones (2009-2017), 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.

A- 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.

2. Why do geologists see nothing?

This is due to the geological glue, which, though artificial, is seen by the geologists either as an impurity, and therefore useless to study, or as a natural binder. At best, the analysis tools and the working methods of geologists consider the glue as a perfectly natural “micritic binder”. Joseph Davidovits manufactured an artificial limestone containing 15% of synthetic binder, and submitted it to geologists who, on studying it, suspected nothing [6].

A geologist not informed of geopolymer chemistry will assert with good faith that the stones are natural.

3. The chemical formula:

The geosynthesis aims to react the kaolinite clay (naturally included in the Giza limestone) with caustic soda (see chemical formula 1). To manufacture this caustic soda, they use Egyptian natron (sodium carbonate) and lime (coming from plant ashes) (see chemical formula 2). Then, they get soda which will react with clay.

But the most interesting point is that this chemical reaction creates pure limestone as well as hydrosodalite (a mineral of the feldspathoids or zeolites family). [6]

Chemical reaction 1:
Si₂O₅,Al₂(OH)₄ + 2NaOH = > Na₂O.2SiO₂Al₂O₃.nH₂O
kaolinite clay + soda = > hydrosodalite

Chemical reaction 2:
Na₂CO₃ + Ca(OH)₂ = > 2NaOH + CaCO₃
Sodium carbonate (Egyptian natron) + lime = > soda + limestone

Summary of the re-agglomerated stone binder chemical formula:
clay + natron + lime = > feldspathoids + limestone (i.e. a natural stone)

The re-agglomerated stone binder is the result of a geosynthesis (a geopolymer), which creates two natural minerals: limestone and hydrated feldspar (feldspathoids). We understand why the geologists can easily be misled.

4. Scientific analysis:

Now that more and more scientists agree and support the theory, some have decided to carry on researches without my help and without requesting any approval from egyptologists, so in total independence from both parties.

The analysis methods used today by geologists are not relevant. They cannot make a difference between a natural and a synthetic mineral. Indeed, the molecule of a mineral is by essence always the same, whether it is natural or synthetic, otherwise it would be another molecule, so another mineral. To show the artificial nature of the material, they need to work with more powerful methods (analysis by synchrotron, transmission and electronic scan microscopy SEM TEM, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Paleomagnetism, Particle Induced Gamma-Ray Emission, Particle Induced X-Ray Emission, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray Diffraction). These tools are seldom used in this situation. Studies have been made, and all show that the pyramid stones are artificial. [7]

This last paleomagnetism study is simply the ultimate proof that the pyramids blocks are not natural. You may find various papers or opinions challenging the theory, but all prefer ignoring these independent analysis. Believing in the artificial stone theory, or countering it, is simply no longer relevant. It has become a fact, a truth that is still fought by some people for irrational purposes.

We can quote the following scientific papers:

• Paleomagnetic investigation of the Great Egyptian Pyramids, Igor Túnyi and Ibrahim A. El-hemaly, Europhysics News 2012, 43/6, 28-31.
• Were the casing stones of Senefru’s Bent Pyramid in Dahshour cast or carved? Multinuclear NMR evidence, Kenneth J. D. MacKenzie, M. E. Smith, A. Wong, J. V. Hanna, B. Barryand M. W. Barsoum, Mater. Lett., 2011, 65, 350.
• Microstructural Evidence of Reconstituted Limestone Blocks in the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Barsoum M.W., Ganguly A. and Hug G., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 89[12], 3788-3796, 2006.
• The Enigma of the Construction of the Giza Pyramids Solved?, Scientific British Laboratory, Daresbury, SRS Synchrotron Radiation Source, 2004.
• PIXE, PIGE and NMR study of the masonry of the pyramid of Cheops at Giza, Guy Demortier, NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS and METHODS in PHYSICS RESEARCH B, B 226, 98 – 109 (2004).
• X-Rays Analysis and X-Rays Diffraction of casing stones from the pyramids of Egypt, and the limestone of the associated quarries., Davidovits J., Science in Egyptology; A.R. David ed.; 1986; Proceedings of the “Science in Egyptology Symposia”; Manchester University Press, UK; pp.511-520.
• Differential thermal analysis (DTA) detection of intra-ceramic geopolymeric setting In archaeological ceramics and mortars., Davidovits J.; Courtois L., 21st Archaeometry Symposium; Brookhaven Nat. Lab., N.Y.; 1981; Abstracts P. 22.
• How Not to Analyze Pyramid Stone, Morris, M. JOURNAL OF GEOLOGICAL EDUCATION, VOL. 41, P. 364-369 (1993).
• Comment a-t-on construit les Pyramides: polémique chez les Égyptologues, HISTORIA Magazine, Paris, No 674, fév. 2003, dossier pp. 54-79 (2003).

B- The Archaeological Evidence

1. The hieroglyphic texts:

We know the Egypt of the Pharaohs quite well, thanks to its numerous steles, frescos and papyrus describing all kinds of religious, scientific, technical knowledge, the craft industry, agriculture, medicine, astronomy, and so on. However, there is not a single hieroglyphic document revealing the pyramids’ construction with carved stones, ramps, and wooden sledges. On the contrary, we find many texts showing that the ancient Egyptians had the knowledge of man-made stones:

The Famine Stele is engraved on a rock at Sehel island, close to Elephantine. It stages the god Khnum, Pharaoh Zoser and his architect Imhotep, builder of the first pyramid at Saqqarah. This inscription contains 650 hieroglyphs depicting either rocks and minerals, or their transformation processes. In column 12, we read: “With these products (mineral) they built (…) the royal tomb (the pyramid)“. In columns 18 to 20, the god Khnum gives to Zoser a list of minerals needed in the construction of these sacred monuments. This list does not mention the traditional hard and compact construction stones like limestone (ainr-hedj), monumental sandstone (ainr-rwdt) or Aswan granite (mat). By studying this text, we notice that we cannot build a pyramid or a temple with simple minerals, except if they are used to manufacture the binder of a re-agglomerated stone. [8]

The Irtysen stele (C14) at the Louvre Museum is an autobiography of the sculptor Irtysen under one of the Mentouhotep Pharaohs, eleventh dynasty (2000 B.C.). It explains the method of manufacturing synthetic stone statues (with “cast stone”). [9]

The Ti fresco, fifth dynasty (2450 front. J.-C.), illustrates the sculptors work on a wooden statue, the manufacturing of a stone statue and mixtures in vases. This fresco perfectly shows the difference between carving a statue (here in wood with hieroglyphic signs depicting the operation of carving), the fashioning of a statue (made out of synthetic stone with hieroglyphic signs representing the action “to synthesize”, “man-made”), and mixing caustic chemicals in ceramic vases to work on this statue. [10]

2. The invention of re-agglomerated stone: growth and decline of a technology

Before the first pyramid built out of stone, the ancient Egyptians constructed very imposing crude brick monuments. We find large funerary temple enclosures of the second dynasty, like the Khasekhemwy one (2,730 B.C.). Its massive wall is of crude clay bricks, therefore in a moulded material. It is generally agreed, since these bricks were worked in moulds, that their dimension must be uniform. However, this is wrong. Despite having been manufactured in moulds, the clay bricks are of approximately 5 different sizes, implying the use of several patterns. We find these differences in proportions in all pyramids. This heterogeneity gives the monuments the ability to resist earthquakes by avoiding the amplification of seismic waves.

20 years later, Zoser ordered Imhotep to build him a stone monument for eternity. The scribe Imhotep is the inventor of re-agglomerated stone (2,650 B.C.) and the architect of the first pyramid of Egypt. Instead of using crude bricks, he simply replaced the clay with a re-agglomerated limestone and kept the same method of moulding bricks. This is why the first pyramid is made in small bricks, which become bigger in dimension as the invention is better mastered. The bricks are manufactured where the stones are extracted, in the Wadi (at the east of the complex [11]) at the Nile flooding period, then carried and placed on the pyramid under construction.

Its invention, inherited from pisé and crude brick, improves with time during the pyramids’ construction at the third and fourth dynasties. Starting from the small limestone bricks at Saqqarah, the stone dimensions increase gradually. For the Meidoum and Bent pyramids, the blocks are produced in the vicinity and are moved up to the pyramid. There is always a Wadi nearby to easily disaggregate limestone with water and to prepare the mixture at the Nile flooding time.

From Sneferu’s red pyramid in Dashur, the blocks are manufactured on the spot, because the dimensions are now too large for them to be transported.

In Giza, some stones (in particular those at the Khefren temple) weigh more than 30 tons. How would they have simply carved them with soft copper tools, without wheels or pulleys?

According to Guy Demortier [12], re-agglomerating stones on the spot greatly simplifies the logistic problems. Instead of 25,000 to 100,000 workmen necessary for carving [13], he deduces that the site occupancy never exceeded 2,300 people, which confirms what the Egyptologist Mr. Lehner discovered with his excavations of the workmen’s village at Giza.

The decline of the agglomerated stone technology appears with the pyramid of Mykerinos, which represents only 7% in volume of Kheops. Why is this pyramid suddenly so small? This decline would have been caused by a sudden reduction in reactive mineral resources, like the exhaustion of the principal Sinai mines at the end of the fourth dynasty. Expeditions of B. Rothenberg [4] showed that they had extracted enormous quantities of turquoises and chrysocollas (called mafkat in Egyptian), quantities so large as to rule out their use in jewellery and decoration, as confirmed by the Egyptologist Sydney Aufrère [14].

The decline would also result from an ecological and agricultural disaster radically limiting the production of lime coming from plant ashes burned for this purpose. If we burn more than what we can produce or renew, a famine or an ecological disaster can occur. Analyzed by D.D. Klemm [15], lime, present in mortars of the third and fourth dynasties, disappears in mortars of the fifth and sixth dynasties. Indeed, the succeeding pyramids, and in particular that of Userkaf, first king of the fifth dynasty, is ridiculously small compared to Mykerinos. In the beginning, they were covered by a limestone coating which hid the bulk of natural blocks, badly worked out. This pyramid is only an uneven stone assembly covering a funerary room made, this time, out of re-agglomerated stone and protected by enormous beams of several dozen tons. Only the core of this pyramid was carefully manufactured, the remainder being botched, because the reactive materials were rare. Thus, we are in the presence of a very different system, which cannot be explained by carving stone. If the pyramids of Giza had been hewn, how can such a drop in architectural quality be explained, while stone is an abundant material? Carving would have resulted in a construction quality equivalent to those of Giza, even with pyramids more reasonable in height, but this is not the case.

With respect to a resource impoverishment, starting from the twelfth dynasty (1,990-1,780 B.C.), Pharaoh Amenemhat I and his successors built crude brick pyramids. But here also, only the funerary room is built, with great care, out of re-agglomerated stone. However, the Egyptians did not choose to carve stone for the body of the pyramids, preferring crude bricks, even though they had harder and more efficient bronze tools had they wished to use them.

We note, then, that the technology of re-agglomerated stone, after a formidable rise, a perfect mastery of the process, an intense exploitation of its resources, went on to  an extremely rapid architectural decline. A mining exhaustion of the chemical reagent resources, and an ecological and agricultural disaster explain this decline. [16] [17]

3. Religious context:

Why did they maintain this need to build out of agglomerated stone or to preserve the agglomeration system, while they could carve stone?

For ancient Egyptians, stone had a sacred quality, used only for religious purposes, that prohibited its use for secular buildings (built rather out of crude bricks, clay and wood, never out of stone). It is only under the Ptolemys, 2,000 years after the pyramids, that stone became a trivial building material. The reasons for this distinction come from religion.

Egyptian civilization lasted more than 3,000 years and, contrary to what the general public thinks, it was not homogeneous. Thus, there are 2 geneses explaining the creation of the World; two distinct gods claim the creation of the World and man: Khnum and Amon.

The god Khnum was worshipped during the Old and Middle Kingdoms (3,000 to 1,800 B.C.). He is depicted as a man with a ram’s head and horizontal horns. He personalizes the nutritious Nile, and at Elephantine, Thebes, Heracleopolis, Memphis, he is the god of creation. In the act of creation, he “kneads” humanity on his potter’s wheel with the Nile silt and other minerals (mafkat, natron) as in the Biblical and Koranic genesis. This does not give an unspecified clay, but a stone called “ka”, i.e. the soul that is not spirit, but eternal stone. Khnum and all the divine incarnations of Râ appear by the act of manufacturing stone. His hieroglyphic sign is a hard stone vase like those of the Nagadean era (3,500 to 3,000 B.C.). Thus, under the Old Kingdom, the purpose of the agglomeration act was to reproduce the divine intervention at the time of the creation of the World and the human soul.

For the two main Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom, Zoser and Kheops, the relationship with Khnum is proven by archaeological discoveries (cf. the Famine Stele). Also, the true name of Kheops is Khnum-Khufu (may the god Khnum protect Kheops). Would Kheops have attached his name to an inferior god? No, Khnum is a major god. It is simply the perception of the Egyptian Pantheon which is not correct.

Amon is the second god of creation. In the beginning, he was only an average god. He became a dynastic god in the twelfth dynasty (1,800 B.C.), but he was not yet the god of creation, this role still being the privilege of Khnum. Then, he became the “king of the gods” and the priests gave him the ability to create the world. In the genesis myth, Amon is identified as a sacred mountain and he “carves” each human being in a part of himself, i.e. in this sacred mountain. Amon and all the divine incarnations of Amon-Râ appear by the act of carving stone, and are at the origin of the New Kingdom monuments, like those of Ramses II, 1,300 years after the pyramids.

Thus, we understand why the tombs were no longer under pyramids, symbols of agglomeration, but under a sacred mountain, the Valley of the Kings, symbol of Amon. In the same way, the temples are built out of stone hewn with great care and the obelisks are called “Amon’s fingers”. During the Old Kingdom, where the name of Khnum (“the one who binds”) is in the complete name of Kheops (Khnum-Khufu), the name of Amon (“the one who is hidden”) is found in the New Kingdom Pharaohs’ names like Amenhotep.

Arguments against the carving theory

Here are arguments presented by the partisans of carving to show that this technique was in use at the pyramids’ time. However, these evidence are anachronous; they date from the Middle to the New Kingdom, in times when the stone was hewn, and not from the Old Kingdom, the time of the pyramids.

The extraction of blocks would have been possible by means of wooden dowels that, once in place, were wetted to cleave the stone. However, D.D. Klemm shows that the Romans only used this primitive technique very late on. Each period left distinct patterns of cut traces in quarries, thus making it possible to date them, except at the time of the pyramids, when no trace remains. [18]

The bas-relief of Djehutihotep illustrates the transport of a colossal statue on a sledge [19]. In the same way, R. Stadelman discovered that Amenemhat II workmen had stolen stones on sledges from the Sneferu pyramid, used as a vulgar quarry. These two events took place under the twelfth dynasty (1,800 B.C.), that is 700 years after the construction of the pyramids.

The Tura stele depicts a stone block dragged on a sledge by oxen [20]. It does not constitute a proof because once again, it goes back to approximately 1,000 years after the construction of the pyramids.

The Rekhmire fresco presents the work of masons setting up blocks with bronze tools. But these new tools were unknown to pyramid builders 1,300 years earlier.

Any ramps would have been made out of crude clay bricks, several kilometres in length (in straight or spiral lines, with the attendant problem of turning corners), representing a considerable amount of material. Each team would have sprinkled the ground with water to ease the motion of the sledge. But the action of water would have transformed the ramp into a soapy and very slippery path. After several teams had passed by, it would have been transformed into mud where sledges and hauler would be stuck!

There is no official theory of carving, hauling blocks on sledges and ramps. There are approximately twenty or so that propose various solutions. These theories are not based on hieroglyphic texts, do not match the technology found on archaeological sites, and do not take into account the historical and religious environment. These theories are essentially focused on the pyramid of Kheops, the most remarkable one, but not on the pyramids that precede or follow it, and even less on those made out of crude brick.

Notes and references

[1] Klemm, Steine und Steinbrüche in Alten Ägypten, Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 1993.
[2] M. Lehner, The Development of the Giza Necropolis: The Khufu project, Mitteilungun des Deutschen Institutes, Abteilung Kairo, 41, p. 149, 1985.
[3] L. Gauri, Geological study of the Sphinx, Newsletter American Research Center in Egypt, No 127, pp. 24-43, 1984.
[4] B. Rothenberg, Sinai exploration 1967-1972, Bulletin, Museum Haaretz Tel Aviv, 1972, p. 35
[5] J. Davidovits, Ils ont bâti les pyramides, éd. J-C Godefroy, Paris, 2002, pp. 161-162, 307-311
[6] J. Davidovits, La nouvelle histoire des pyramides, éd. J-C Godefroy, Paris, 2004, pp. 57-58 et 72
[7] See ref. [5] and [6] for comprehensive bibliographics notes and debates with geologists.
[8] Pyramid Man-Made Stone, Myths or Facts, III. The Famine Stela Provides the Hieroglyphic Names of Chemicals and Minerals Involved in the Construction , Davidovits J., 5th Int. Congress of Egyptology, Cairo, Egypt, 1988; Egyptian Antiquities Organization; EGY; 1988; pp. 57-58 in Résumés des Communications. See also ref. [5] and [6].
[9] J. Davidovits, Ils ont bâti les pyramides, éd. J-C Godefroy, Paris, 2002, pp. 229-236
[10] J. Davidovits, La nouvelle histoire des pyramides, éd. J-C Godefroy, Paris, 2004, pp. 145-150
[11] M. Lehner, The Complete Pyramids, Thames and Hudson, 1997, p. 83
[12] G. Demortier, La construction de la pyramide de Khéops, Revue des questions scientifiques, Bruxelles, 2004, Tome 175, p. 341-382
[13] M. Lehner, The Complete Pyramids, Thames and Hudson, 1997, p. 224
[14] Sydney Aufrère, L’univers minéral dans la pensée égyptienne, IFAO, Le Caire, 1991, Volume 2, p. 494
[15] D.D. Klemm and R. Klemm, Mortar evolution in the old kingdom of Egypt, Archaeometry ’90, Birkhaüser Verlag, Basel, Suisse, 1990, pp. 445-454
[16] J. Davidovits, Ils ont bâti les pyramides, éd. J-C Godefroy, Paris, 2002, pp. 297-328
[17] J. Davidovits, La nouvelle histoire des pyramides, éd. J-C Godefroy, Paris, 2004, pp. 207-228
[18] Klemm, The archaeological map of Gebel el Silsila, 2nd Int. Congress of Egyptologists, Grenoble, 1979, Session 05.
[19] J. P. Adam, l’Archéologie devant l’imposture, éd. Robert Laffont, Paris, 1975, p. 158
[20] Vyze-Perring, The Pyramids of Gizeh, Vol. III, p. 99

Pyramids (1) Are Pyramids Made Out of Concrete?
 Pyramids (2) The evidences
Pyramids (3) The formula, the invention of stone
Pyramids (4) Videos and book
Pyramids (5) FAQ for artificial stone supporters
Pyramids (6) Deep misleading publications by geologists

The scientific proofs

The “Lauer” sample under the optical microscope.

This photo shows a sample of the casing from the ascending passage of Kheops great pyramid, given by the French egyptologist Jean-Philippe Lauer in 1982 to J. Davidovits. Now, the cross section is characterised by the presence of organic fibers and air bubbles that do not exist in normal situation, especially in a 60 millions years old limestone from the eocene ere !
Ref.: X-Rays Analysis and X-Rays Diffraction of casing stones from the pyramids of Egypt, and the limestone of the associated quarries., Davidovits J., Science in Egyptology; A.R. David ed.; 1986; Proceedings of the “Science in Egyptology Symposia”; Manchester University Press, UK; pp.511- 520.

We recently (May 2020) detected a fraudulous scientific study carried out by geologists to discredit our research. They used a false “Lauer” sample. Go to Pyramids (6) Deep misleading publications by geologists

Another study used Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopie

Al and Si NMR spectra of a geopolymer (A and C) are also found in a Kheops stone (B and D). The Kheops stone may hold 15% of artificial geopolymeric cement.

The nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopie depicts similarities between a Kheops stone and a reconstituted stone.
Ref.: PIXE, PIGE and NMR study of the masonry of the pyramid of Cheops at Giza, Guy Demortier, NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS and METHODS in PHYSICS RESEARCH B, B 226, 98 – 109 (2004).

Left: electronic diffraction of amorphous alumino-silicate from a Kheops casing. Right: electronic diffraction of a natural alumino-silicate (illite) from the Turah quarry near Giza.

In natural stones, we expect to find elements that had the time to cristallize. However, silicates in pyramids stones are completely amorphous (not cristallized). This allows us to think that we are in presence of a cementitious process. The silicates were formed in a very short period of time. Read the paper abstract
Ref.: Barsoum, M. W., Ganguly, A. and Hug, G. (2006), Microstructural Evidence of Reconstituted Limestone Blocks in the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Journal of the American Ceramic Society 89 (12), 3788-3796. More details are found in Davidovits’ recent book in English (2009) Why the Pharaohs built the Pyramids with fake stones, and scientific background information in Geopolymer Chemistry & Applications.

We can also quote the following scientific papers:

• Paleomagnetic investigation of the Great Egyptian Pyramids, Igor Túnyi and Ibrahim A. El-hemaly, Europhysics News 2012, 43/6, 28-31.
• Were the casing stones of Senefru’s Bent Pyramid in Dahshour cast or carved? Multinuclear NMR evidence, Kenneth J. D. MacKenzie, M. E. Smith, A. Wong, J. V. Hanna, B. Barryand M. W. Barsoum, Mater. Lett., 2011, 65, 350.
• Microstructural Evidence of Reconstituted Limestone Blocks in the Great Pyramids of Egypt, Barsoum M.W., Ganguly A. and Hug G., J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 89[12], 3788-3796, 2006.
• The Enigma of the Construction of the Giza Pyramids Solved?, Scientific British Laboratory, Daresbury, SRS Synchrotron Radiation Source, 2004.
• Differential thermal analysis (DTA) detection of intra-ceramic geopolymeric setting In archaeological ceramics and mortars., Davidovits J.; Courtois L., 21st Archaeometry Symposium; Brookhaven Nat. Lab., N.Y.; 1981; Abstracts P. 22.
• How Not to Analyze Pyramid Stone, Morris, M. JOURNAL OF GEOLOGICAL EDUCATION, VOL. 41, P. 364-369 (1993).
• Comment a-t-on construit les Pyramides: polémique chez les Égyptologues, HISTORIA Magazine, Paris, No 674, fév. 2003, dossier pp. 54-79 (2003).

These analysis are the first and seem to invigorate J. Davidovits’ theory, and, obviously, more work has to be done. To join the team of scientists and offer your expertise and means of investigation, please, contact us .

The Geological Proof, part 1.

Jumbled fossil shells in a limestone block of the Great Pyramid. Natural sedimentation at sea bottom normally leaves them in horizontal layers.

In prehistoric times most of present-day Egypt was submerged under the sea. The decomposing remains of marine organisms, shells and skeletons, plants, seaweed and algae, fallen to the bottom of the sea, formed mud that condensed itself into a sedimentary rock we call limestone.
A natural process that lasted thousands of years consolidated and hardened them, forming banks of limestone. The pyramid blocks are made of this limestone, a sedimentary rock formed from skeletons and large fossil shells of marine organisms. These fossil remains are normally found in sedimentary horizontal layers. Yet, in the stones of the Great Pyramid, Professor Davidovits found them in disarray, jumbled up together quite haphazardly as if they were artificially mixed with some kind of pestle.

Another phenomenon observed in the pyramid stones was the presence of air bubbles, organic fibers, bones and animal teeth, foreign materials never found in natural limestone – which would seem to be further proof that the stones were man-made.

Fossil shells

The numilitic limestone (the jumbled fossil shells in pyramid stone)

Mr. XX.. does not specify why he thinks that intact fossil shells in the pyramid blocks prove that they are not concrete. If Mr. XX.. had even the most fundamental knowledge of the cast-stone theory, he would know that the fossil shell rubble of the Giza quarries provided the aggregates for the pyramid blocks.
I hope that Mr. XX.. is not merely repeating Dr. Mark Lehner’s ill-considered critique of the cast-stone theory. In 1988, Dr. Lehner used this very same argument to convince NOVA that the cast-stone theory is bunkum. Even as late as the filming of “This Old Pyramid,” when Lehner and his colleagues on the NOVA staff were busily trying to discredit Davidovits and the cast-stone theory, they still did not understand the basis of the theory. This is a sad affront to science. Their lack of knowledge is demonstrated by the fact that when Dr. Davidovits went to the Giza quarry to examine the limestone, he was driven to the spot by one of Lehner’s assistants (whose name is unknown to me). Dr. Davidovits told me that this assistant turned to him as they were driving along and said, “We know you are wrong.” Dr. Davidovits replied by saying something like, “Oh really? I have researched and studied for over 20 years and you know I am wrong. How is that?” The assistant said, “Because there are fossil shells in the pyramid blocks, just as there are fossil shells in the quarries.” Dr. Davidovits replied by saying something like, “Well, where do you think the aggregates for the pyramid-concrete-blocks came from, the Moon? No, the shells came from the quarries.” The assistant’s eyes opened wide and he said nothing.

The fossil shells would remain intact for the most part but would be jumbled in pyramids blocks. Why would the pyramid builders make more work for themselves by crushing them? As I stated, “When he participated in the filming of NOVA’s “This Old Pyramid”, Dr. Davidovits showed how easily wet Giza bedrock comes apart and releases clay within 24 hours. Sadly, his 10-minute demonstration showing how to make geopolymeric pyramid blocks with Giza limestone was cut from the film in the 1997 edited version.” In other words, the quarry material is rather loosely bound by clay. The clay releases in water so that the shells are no longer bound. Once the shells are loosened, they can be gathered as aggregate. For full information on making geopolymeric concrete in situ in the quarries, see the debates published in the Journal of Geological Education (see the Library for the list of references and also Archaeology applications ).

The Geological Proof, part 2.

Geological Knowledge of the Pyramid Plateau, hard limestone and soft limestone

The Figure displays a simplified cross-section of the Giza Pyramids Plateau. The Giza Plateau is an outcrop of the Middle Eocene Mokkatam Formation. A second outcrop of the Upper Eocene Maadi Formation borders the Pyramids Plateau on the South-South West. A large sandy wadi separates the Mokkatam Formation from the Maadi Formation, created by the South-East dip of the Mokkatam Formation. The North side of the wadi, or the southern line of the Mokkatam Formation outcrop, and the South side of the wadi, or the northern line of the Maadi Formation outcrop, where both Formations dip into the wadi, were extensively quarried during the erection of the Giza pyramids.

Simplified NNW-SSE cross-section of the Giza Plateau. The soft-marly nummulite limestone bed (in yellow) that was extensively quarried (Wadi quarries, Sphinx trench) is sandwiched between two hard-gray nummulite limestone beds (pyramids basement and Sphinx head).

According to geologist Thomas Aigner and egyptologist Mark Lehner, the original ground surface of the Mokkatam Formation that constitutes the basement of the pyramids, is made of a very hard and massive limestone bank of the nummulite type (gray limestone banks on the Figure). On the opposite, the outcrop that dips into the wadi, where the quarries are located and also the trench around the Sphinx and the Sphinx body, consist of softer thickly bedded marly nummulite limestone layers with a relative high amount of clay (yellow bank in the Figure). Concurring to the traditional carving theory, Mark Lehner states “… the builders took advantage of the thickly bedded softer limestones of the south part of the Mokkatam Formation, while founding the pyramids on the hard nummulite bank to the north.”

Lehner postulates that the builders did not use the nearby hard limestone but favored the softer material.

Kheops quarry as designated by geologists. The quarry face shows the soft limestone layer that cannot be used for carving stones.

Disaggregation of soft limestone with water

In October 1991, during the shooting of the TV production “This Old Pyramid” by NOVA, aired on the American PBS network on September 1992, Prof. Davidovits had the opportunity to present this unique property of the Giza limestone. A chunk of limestone taken in the quarry was very easily disaggregated within 24 hours, leaving the nummulites and the clay gently separated from each other, whereas a chunk of the hard Mokkatam limestone did not disintegrate at all.

Joseph Davidovits and Mark Lehner in the TV film “This Old Pyramid”, WGBH, Boston, 1992 (NOVA, PBS)

After 24 hour soaking in a plastic bag with water, the limestone chunk separated into clay and mummulites. In the presence of an excess of water, the heavier clay settles down leaving the nummulites separated from each other. “This Old Pyramid”, WGBH, Boston, 1992 (NOVA, PBS)

This topic has been extensively outlined and discussed in the Session F: Applications to Archaeology of Geopolymer Conferences and published; see details in Archaeology applications in geopolymer proceedings.

The Irtysen Stele Proof

Irtysen Stele at the Louvre Gallery proves that Imhotep’s Formula existed

The Louvre gallery in Paris is where the Irtysen Stele is preserved (room 7 of the thematic circuit). This ancient stone inscription does not go back quite as far as the era when the Great Pyramid was built. But it is very old. Some four thousand years old…
It is the autobiographical funerary stele of Irtysen, a master craftsman of the priestly caste, who lived 2.000 years BC. In this text Irtysen says he possesses a “secret knowledge” to fabricate stone statues, not by carving them but by casting them in molds.

Irtysen affirms he used a material mixture that hardened when cast inside molds to reproduce any kind of object or figure – a material that fire could not consume, nor water dilute. This suggests that Irtysen worked with a chemically-produced binding matter that could be mixed with certain minerals and poured into a mold, to produce statues.

The Sehel Stele Proof

Famine Stele at Sehel Island contains the revelations of Imhotep, with a list of mineral ingredients for a chemical formula.

On Sehel Island, some kilometers downstream from the city of Aswan on the river Nile, an ancient rock can be seen. It is known as the Famine Stele, and its text appears in hieroglyphs occupying 32 columns, that must be read from right to left. The first columns deal with the famine that occurred in the reign of the Pharaoh Djoser, around 3.000 years B.C, in a period earlier than the reign of Kheops.
The engraved hieroglyphs tell the following story: For years, the Nile had periodically flooded its banks, watering the surrounding fields and making them apt for agriculture. In the reign of Djoser, however, the river did not rise. Hence, crops were unable to grow, the soil dried up and became sterile, and the result was a great famine throughout the land.

The stele text was originally deciphered in 1889, but due to the limitations of scientific knowledge of the time, that part containing the formula was misunderstood or not properly translated. Now, professor Davidovits, thanks to his chemical knowledge, has been able to decode its true meaning.

The ARI-KAT hieroglyph, a key to the stone technology

Professor Davidovits was particularly interested however, not so much in the historical passages on the flood as in those which describe a chemical formula used in ancient times by a priest and sage – the great Imhotep – to fabricate an agglomerated block of stone. A section of the stele (known by scholars as “The Revelations of Imhotep”) contains significant words. One of them is ARI-KAT, a composite of two hieroglyphs which form one single adjective. ARI, is a verb meaning “to work with, to fashion, or to form”. It is symbolized by an eye, alongside a seated human figure, which represents the man who does the work. The addition of KAT – two hands held aloft and a semicircle – gives a new meaning: man-made, created by man. ARI-KAT, therefore, is something fashioned by man and, when associated with minerals, something processed or synthetically made.

A discussion of the FAMINE STELE ( read this comprehensive chapter ) was presented at the Vth International Congress of Egyptology, held in Cairo, Egypt, on Oct. 29, 1988. This paper (see the Library to download the full text) is introducing the first study which could be a good step forward in the discovery of other texts. See also Davidovits’ recent book in English (2008) They built the Pyramids.

The Vessels Proof

One of Sakkara’s 30.000 stone vessels at the Cairo Museum.

Beneath the earth, below the base of the Sakkara Step Pyramid, Imhotep his builder and designer quarried out almost three miles of stone and built a series of corridors and inner chambers.
He decorated some of the chambers with blue enamel tiles, as far we know the first ever made by man; a proof of his advanced knowledge of alchemy.

In addition to all this, some thirty thousand stone vessels of the utmost perfection were found in these subterranean chambers. There are unique and enigmatic hard stone vessels, made of slate, diorite and basalt. Some of these materials are harder than iron. No sculptor today would even attempt to work with such material.

One wonders how could they have been carved? Their design is extremely beautiful and impossible to carve. No tool marks are found on their surfaces. They must have been cast in molds, in accordance with the indications suggested by the Irtysen Stele at the Louvre gallery. See also more details on the Fresco of Ti (Vth Dynasty) in Davidovits’ recent book in English (2008) They built the Pyramids.

The Le Chatelier Proof

Henri Le Chatelier.

The first man to posit a reasonable solution to how the Egyptians made their stone statues, was Henri Le Chatelier, a chemist, ceramist and metallurgist, born in France in 1850.
In the early twentieth century, he noticed that the famous statue of Pharaoh Khafra (or Khefren) revealed no sign of tool marks. Yet it had been made of diorite, the hardest type of stone, at a time when artisans possessed only simple stone or copper chisels. He concluded that with tools like these it would have been impossible to produce such a masterpiece.

Diorite statue of Pharaoh Khefren.

Le Chatelier suspected that it had not been carved at all, but made of agglomerated stone cast in molds, so he began to examine other statues. He looked at ones that were apparently enameled, and cut thin sections of them with a diamond-tipped saw, and found that the enamel was not an applied coating but part of the material from which the statue was made. He asserted that they were cast in some kind of synthetic material not sculpted in natural stone.

Summary of the Conference
by Joseph Davidovits
Vth International Congress of Egyptology, Cairo, Egypt,
Oct. 29-Nov.3, 1988.

Egyptologists have long claimed that no records exist which describe how the Pyramids were built. A stone stele 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 Saqqara. 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 contructional 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.

Technical Key-words not translated by previous authors:

Word ‘aa’: This word is translated “pyramid” by Brugsch, “tombs for kings” by Sethe and Barguet, and “palaces for kings” by Lichtheim. All translations relate to the hieroglyphic word ‘aa’ and the determinative for pyramid. According to Sethe and Barguet, this word ‘aa’ is an archaism from the Old Kingdom.

Key-word ARI KAT: This verb occurs three times. In col. 13 and 19, associated with minerals, it has been translated by: “to work with”; in col. 20, the god Khnum “fashions” or “creates” humanity (with clay). The first part of the verb, ARI, means to make, to create, to form, to fashion, to beget; the second part, KAT and the ideograph “man”, means the work done by man. The adjective, ARI, designates an artificial material, for example synthetic lapis-lazuli. The best meaning for the verb, ARI- KAT, could be to process, to synthesize, to manufacture.

Key-word ideograph RWD: Found in col. 11, this ideograph is part of a sentence which qualifies the materials employed for building temples and pyramids (col. 11 and 12).

Translated by Barguet as hard stone, RWD has been thoroughly discussed by Harris (1961) who states (p.23) that ”…in all events, there can be little doubt that RWDT is a term for hard stone in general, though which stone would come into the category it is difficult to say, especially in view of the reference to alabaster as RWDT”.

Yet, generally, the element RWD refers to Egyptian sandstone (INR RWDT not listed here), more precisely the stone material found in the quarries of Southern Egypt, and used to built the temples of the New Kingdom and Late Periods at Karnak, Luxor, Edfu, Esne, Denderah, Abu-Simbel. This material, Egyptian sandstone is a soft material, which, in some cases can be easily scratched by the fingernail (Rozière, 1801). It is the contrary of a hard stone. It is two times softer than Giza limestone, four times softer than Carrara Marmor or eight times softer than Aswan granite. It becomes obvious that the element RWD does not mean hard stone.

On the other hand, the ideograph RWD also means: germinate, grow, and the causative verb, S-RWD, to make solid or to tie strongly. Gravel and pebble contain also the ideograph RWD. Finally, sandstone, quartzite, in some cases granite, and other stones qualified with RWD, are the natural solid stones resulting from the geological solidification of aggregates, such as sand or quartz particles.

Key-word AAT: Col. 16 gives the different names of AAT. According to Harris (p.21) AAT is to be regarded as a word for minerals, and refers to ores. In col. 19, these ores are processed for the first time, yielding the invention of building with stone materials.

Key-word TESH: The composite word AAT NEB RWD UTESHAU, at the end of col. 11 is of particular interest. Barguet translates: ‘matières precieuses et pierres dures des carrières’, but states in a note that his reading may be doubtful due to the strange writing of this word, in hieroglyph. Instead of TESHAU, Barguet reads SHETI.

The root TESH has the general meaning of: crush, separate, split, and the verb BETESH indicates the action of dissolving, disaggregation. A stone which is crusched, or disaggregated, or split, is called an aggregate.

This leads us to conclude that the word RWD UTESHAU indicates any natural aggregate, or naturally split material, such as weathered and naturally disaggregated material. RWD could be extrapolated as being the ideograph describing agglomeration, here at the beginning of the word, or of agglomerated stone (geologically or man-made) when put at the end.

If our assumption is right, the stony materials listed in col.15 should be in a loose form, or easy to disaggregate. Two names contain the root TESH, four names do not.

The BEKHEN stone has been found in inscriptions located in the Wadi-el Hammamat, in the desert South-East of Aswan, and is referred to as being either black basalt, or diorite, or sandy skist, or porphyry, or greywacke, or psammite gneiss (Lucas and Rowe, 1938; Morgan, 1894). Yet, according to the Hammamat Inscriptions (Couyat-Montet), quarrying of BEKHEN at the Wadi-Hammamat was carried out in a very primitive way. The chosen blocks were generally thrown down to the bottom of the mountain where they arrived split into numerous lumps.

The MTHAY stone is more interesting to discuss. This name seems to contain the root of the word MAT which means granite. Harris (p.72) agrees with Barguet when he notes that it is strange that granite is not otherwise mentioned in the text. Since it was the most typical stone of this region, it is therefore the more likely that this remarkable form of writing conceals MAT, i.e. granite. However, except for the peculiar hieroglyphic orthography which occurs in the Famine Stele, the referenced writings for granite always contain the same hieroglyph, the sickle MA, with different adjectives. In col. 15, the letter ME is not the sickle, but a denuded bird, without wings and feathers. This way of writing the letter ME is to be found in the word MUT, to kill himself. The word METH also means to die. On the other hand, the granite MAT is often written with the ideogram heart, life, suggesting the idea of living granite. Assuming that the writer of the Famine Stele wanted to stress, in a condense form, that the granite is a weathered, loose, disaggregated material found in some geological outcrops, he could have tried to emphasize the idea of dead granite.

Key-word AIN: Col. 15 begins with: Learn the names of AIN (stone). The hieroglyphic word for solid stone, constructional stone and block, is AINR. The majority of solid rocks is called AINR, with an adjective. Harris makes no distinction between AIN and AINR, the coptic word for stone, ONE, being very similar to AIN. However AINR is essentially applied to stone used in building. AIN should be recognized as a generic word for stone, as a substance, i.e. a stony material, in opposition to other materials like wood or metal.

Key-word ideograpgh: The phonetic value of this ideograph is not known; from the dictionary, it is a determinative for smell and odor, but is not associated with perfumes. It essentially relates to substances which give out smells, effluxes or emanations. Yet, these odors are not necessarily bad, and it does not mean to stink. Sometimes this ideograph has been associated with the notion of pleasure.

Found in Col. 12, it is for Brugsch a word for unguent (in German “salbe”). Barguet and Lichtheim do not translate it using the general term “products” in connection with those cited in col. 11, ‘aat nb rwd uts3u’ the minerals and stones.

The ideograph could represent a bladder or a vase containing a liquid, which gives out an odor, but is not a perfume. In other words it could be the determinative for chemical product. The majority of chemicals have a characteristic smell, and chemists have learned how to detect, recognize and associate any peculiar odor. According to col. 11 and 12, those products which smell are the ores and stone materials which are essential for the building of temples and pyramids.

Lexicographs studying ancient minerals make the assumption that their names should derive from their color. They rely on the fact that, in ancient Greek, various gem names are closely associated with a color, for example the semi-precious stones containing the root chryso, yellow. The minerals, ores and stone materials, featured in Barguet’s, Harris’ and Lichtheim’s translations of the Famine Stele, demonstrate that this type of lexicographical research is not successful. The majority of hieroglyphic names has not found any contemporary equivalence. We think that, by introducing the concept of odor, and perhaps later that of taste, we are simply following the ancient and classical methods of characterization of chemicals, namely the determination of their color, odor and taste.

Products having an odor are to be found in a text related to the Great Pyramids. In his Book II, Euterpe, the Greek historian Herodotus relates what priests at Memphis told him on the pyramid of Cheops: “Engraved on the pyramid in Egyptian characters is the amount spent on the workers in horseradish, onions and garlic; and the person who interpreted these inscriptions for me told me, as I remember well, that this expense came to sixteen hundred talents of silver. (more than 100 Million Euro of 2001)”. Popular imagery is found in this description and the workers are described as stinking of garlic and onions.

We have claimed (Davidovits, 1978, 1982) (see also books from J. Davidovits ) that this description relates to the cost of the expeditions undertaken for collecting minerals of the arsenate types, located in the turquoise and copper mines of the Sinai. A simple method in petrography for the identification of natural minerals and ores is to heat them with a small blow lamp. If they immediatly release a smell of garlic, they belong to the arsenate family (arsenate of copper or of iron).

We looked at the hieroglyphic names of minerals and ores which could contain the meaning of onion, garlic, radish. We found a representative for each of these 3 odors:

The onion-stone: in col. 15 the “uteshi stone” ends with an ideograph which has been the subject of discussion. Brugsch reads HEDSH, and gives the meaning white, whilst Barguet reads differently, and does not translate, whereas Harris states from the photograph that the reading must remain in doubt. Our reading from the photograph is HEDSH, but our translation is onion. The uteshi stone could be the stone which smells like onion.

The garlic stone: Garlic has been suggested for HUTEM and TAAM, i.e. the root word TEM. In col. 16, the ore TEM-IKR could represent the garlic stone, the prefix KR meaning weak, i.e. the stone which has a weak smell of garlic.

The radish stone: Radish corresponds to KAU and KA-T. In col. 16, the ore KA-Y could mean ‘ore with a smell of radish’.

UTESHUI HEDSH (onion , left), TEM (garlic, center), KA-Y (radish, right)

The translation introduces the elements discussed above:

(Col. 11): There is a mountain massif in its eastern region (of Elephantine) containing all the ores, all the crushed (weathered) stones (aggregates suitable for agglomeration), all the products
(Col. 12) sought for building the temples of the gods of the North and South, the stalls for sacred animals, the pyramid for the king, all statues that stand in temples and in sanctuaries. Moreover, all these chemical products are set before the face of Khnum and around him.
(Col. 13)…there is in the midst of the river a place of relaxation for every man who processes the ores on its two sides.
(Col. 15) Learn the names of the stony materials which are to be found…bekhen, dead (weathered) granite, mhtbt, r’qs, uteshi-hedsh (onion stone),… prdny, teshy.
(Col. 16) Learn the names of the rare ores located upstream…gold, silver, copper, iron, lapis-lazuli, turquoise, thnt (chrysocolla), jasper, Ka-y (radish stone), menu, esmerald, temikr (garlic stone), more over, neshemet, ta- mehy, hemaget, ibehet, bekes-ankh, green make up, black antimony, red ochre…
(Col.18).. .I found the god standing.. .he spoke to me: “I am Khnum, your creator, My arms are around you, to steady your body, to
(Col. 19) safeguard your limbs. I bestow on you rare ores upon rare ores… since creation nobody ever processed them (to make stone) for building the temples of the gods or rebuilding the ruined temples…”

The Famine Stele describes the invention of building with stone attributed to Zoser and Imhotep, builders of the first pyramid, the Step Pyramid at Saqqara (2,750 BC). According to the text, this invention of building with stone occurs through processing different minerals and ores which could be chemicals involved in the fabrication of man-made stone, or a type of concrete.

Famine Stele: Columns 11-19 (read from right to left)

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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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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