Great Pyramid: The Hollowed-Out Monoliths Hidden Inside

The ascending passageway of the Great Pyramid incorporates large single blocks of limestone, hollowed out to form the walls, floor and ceiling of the passageway. Known as the Pyramid's Girdle Stones, you don't see them in any other part of the Great Pyramid. They're another pyramid anomaly. Passing through the corridor and you wouldn't even notice them, but the Girdle Stones must have been incorporated for a reason. So why? Why did the Great Pyramid's architects include hollowed out monoliths in the design of the ascending passageway? A corridor that the brilliant researcher History for Granite called the strangest pyramid passage ever constructed. Well, in this video we'll take a closer look. Hello everybody and welcome to Ancient Architects. Please subscribe to the channel for regular content on ancient architecture, as well as all the latest news from the world of archaeology. If you've been following the Ancient Architects channel over the years, you'll no doubt have a pretty good understanding of the layout of the Great Pyramid's internal passages. The original entrance is located on its north face and it opens up to the descending passageway. A few metres down and you reach a junction. You can either continue down until you reach the subterranean chamber, or you can go up into the ascending passageway. And, before the Robbers' Tunnel, this was the only way to reach the upper compartments of the Great Pyramid, which includes the Grand Gallery, the King's and Queen's Chambers. Of course, in antiquity, the upper access point was blocked by large granite plugstones, and today they're still lying in the lowest portion of the ascending passageway. The original looters must have known the layout of the pyramid passages, and so they simply bypassed the granite plugs when they smashed their way into the ascending passageway. And it's this ascending passageway that I'm focusing on today, and that's because of a number of strange features we don't see anywhere else in the Great Pyramid. As stated in the video's introduction, the passageway includes a number of hollowed out monoliths called girdle stones, and also some partial girdle stones, where the floor and lower walls of the passage are made up of one block, and the ceiling and upper walls are made from another, and they go together like this. Whether we're looking at a partial or complete girdle stone, either way it is a pyramid anomaly, because generally speaking, your average pyramid passage is made up of separate blocks for the walls, floor and ceiling. And whilst every block in the ascending passageway is not a girdle or partial girdle stone, they are found at specific points as you make your way to the Grand Gallery. But like every Great Pyramid anomaly, there must be a straightforward explanation. A functional and logical reason the architect incorporated these types of blocks. I'm happy to say that this video is sponsored by Opera. Happy because the web browser I use for all my research is the fantastic Opera. Gone are the days when archaeology and ancient history research involved books open all over your desk, stacks of papers, post-it notes, and highlighter pens. Now, most research is done on your web browser, but to do it efficiently, you really do need the best browser. For me, as a researcher, this browser is Opera, hands down, and I'll tell you why. If you're anything like me, you'll often have anything from 5 to 50 tabs open on your browser at any one time. But when researching, I often need to have two tabs displayed side by side. Before Opera, I'd have to awkwardly detach and resize two different windows, but Opera allows you to have two tabs open side by side in the same window. 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So download Opera through the link in the description or pinned comment below. And now back to the video. As stated in the introduction, History for Granite made an entire video on the Ascending Passageway, a corridor that hundreds of tourists pass through every day, but one that's very rarely the focus of our attention. It's seen as a means to an end, the way to get to the good stuff, to the glorious Grand Gallery, and from there you can head towards the Queen's or King's Chamber. And that is one reason the Ascending Passageway is so important, because this passageway is the only way you can reach the upper compartments. If there were some kind of structural failure blocking access, the entire pyramid becomes a failure, and the only accessible chamber would be the subterranean chamber. And well, maybe that's why the subterranean chamber exists in the first place, as a backup plan. Of course you could still reach the Grand Gallery via the crude well shaft, which because of its nature is less than ideal, and maybe this is one of the reasons the well shaft even exists, so there was another way to reach the Grand Gallery, a failsafe, in case the Ascending Passageway did encounter some major problems. But in truth, failure was never an option. The success of the pyramid hinged on this one unassuming inclined passage, and this is shown in its design, the use of these monolithic girdle stones. They clearly add strength and stability, making the passage as structurally sound as possible, which is no surprise with the volume of core masonry directly above. I wouldn't be surprised if there was also an overlying relieving chamber that was hiding as well. As diagrams show, a lot of the passage is made up of standard blocks, and these are laid perpendicular to the inclination of the passage, but the large hollowed out girdle stones are positioned vertically. This change in orientation deflects forces into the horizontal plane, meaning they make the passage more structurally sound. As History for Granite pointed out in his video from 2022, at the bottom of the passage there are more girdle and partial girdle stones bunched together. The layout does look more haphazard, just like the girdle stones higher up in the passage. These two are positioned vertically. There is no doubt the arrangement of the stones adds stability to the passageway. And this wasn't just because it's the entrance into the upper compartments, it was also part of the pyramid's security mechanism. Because one day, the giant granite plug stones would be slid down the corridor to close it off. And the plugs would come to a halt because the northern lower end of the ascending passageway tapers, therefore trapping the plugs as they reach the bottom, stopping them from entering the descending passageway. Due to the forces that would one day be imposed from the sliding granite blocks, weaknesses in the make-up of the passage had to be limited as much as possible. Cracked or disjointed blocks were not an option. Structurally, the passageway had to be perfect, and the ancient architect of the 4th dynasty ensured this in his design. And he succeeded, because 4,500 years later the passageway is still structurally sound, the plug blocks are still in place, and the passageway is used by tourists on a daily basis. But History for Granite pointed out a few more anomalies that also need addressing. Firstly, the quality of the stone that was used. Unless they're cut from the limestone bedrock, or on the rare occasion lined with granite, most pyramid passages and chambers are made from the fine Chura limestone, the same stone that once cased the pyramids. Chura limestone is high quality, it has a homogenous texture, and in terms of limestone it does have a high hardness. But the limestone of the ascending passageway is lower quality, the texture is less homogenous, and it also has a lower hardness. So, how can we explain this? Well, due to the hardness of Chura limestone, being fine grained with a homogenous texture, does this mean it's more susceptible to cracks? Is it more brittle? For example, a diamond is a 10 on the Mohs scale of hardness, but hit a diamond with a hammer and it will shatter into pieces. So, under the pressure of heavy sliding granite plug stones, Chura limestone have cracked and shattered under such forces. I think that makes sense, and a less homogenous limestone, although softer, may react better under such stress. Compared to limestone, glass is much harder on the Mohs scale, but of course that doesn't mean you'd use glass to build a pyramid, because hardness does not equal toughness. So, for the rock type that's one possible explanation, but why are there more girdle stones at the lower northern end of the passage? And furthermore, History for Granite noted that these lower girdle stones don't have a perfect finish. The work is quite rough. As Keith Hamilton points out in his Layman's Guide to the Great Pyramid, the lower end of the passageway likely had a continuous set of girdle stones, because this area was to house the plug stones, and it was also where the passage was anchored into the surrounding core masonry and where it joins up with the descending passageway. Therefore, this part of the passage had to be the most reinforced. And maybe the stonework was roughly finished around the bottom to simply create more friction against the sliding plugs, slowing them down as much as possible before they reach the bottom of the passageway. And one more thing we need to consider are the pointer carvings, a term that was coined more than 100 years ago by the Edgar Brothers. Their position closed to each upper girdle stone, but their function remains a mystery. Due to their position, they must have had some kind of relationship with these hollowed out monoliths, but what that relationship is, is open to debate. So, in conclusion, I like to think that everything we see in the Great Pyramid was cleverly thought out and is there by design. The lowest part of the ascending passage likely has more girdle and partial girdle stones bunched together, because this area needed to be the strongest. And that's because when the pyramid was eventually closed up, it would come under the most stress. It's where the granite plugs would come to a halt, and also where the ascending passageway meets up with the descending passageway. It is a major junction. So, I can see the architect thinking the lower half of this passage does need to be strong and have a solid firm footing. As stated, maybe the unfinished nature at the lower section was simply to allow more friction, to slow down the plugs as much as possible on their descent. And I suspect, although I can't confirm, compared to the harder Chora limestone, the softer limestone that was used for the ascending passageway is less brittle. Every anomaly in the Great Pyramid is open to debate and discussion, and there are plenty of points of interest in this one short pyramid passage. I admit I'm not an engineer or stonemason, but I do believe that every aspect of the Great Pyramid was planned out methodically, efficiently and with good reason. And so, if you have any different ideas, I'd love to read your thoughts in the comment section below. Thank you very much for watching this episode of Ancient Architects. If you enjoyed the video, please subscribe to the channel, please like the video and please leave a comment below.