Fortean Slips: Rockin' the Pyramids

A new theory purports
that the Egyptian pyramids
were build using acoustic
levitation technology.

Rockin' the Pyramids

by D. Trull
Enigma Editor
dtrull@parascope.com

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus. The Colossus of Rhodes. The Pharos of Alexandria. These are the other six wonders of the world, and no matter what astounding monuments to human achievement each of them may be, they can't help but seem kinda lame next to their big brother, the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

These days nobody but boring old dudes like Indiana Jones's dad can even recite the neglected remainder of the list, and that's partly because the pyramids were already ancient mysteries before the other six had so much as been sketched out on papyrus blueprints. No wonder people have spent more time wondering about how the wonderful pyramids were built than they've ever wondered about how the rest of the seven wonders were put together, put together.

The theories about the construction of the pyramids have run the gamut between plausibility and poppycock, ranging from levers and pulleys and millions of man-hours to tractor beams from a UFO. Now a researcher has come forward with a startling new hypothesis about the pyramids, and although it wouldn't be prudent to call this theory sound, it is indisputably a "sound" theory.

Say what? Hear me now, believe me later: writer Andrew Collins proposes that the Great Pyramid was constructed using powerful sound waves, with resulting anti-gravity fields making it a snap to slide those hefty slabs of rock into place.

In his book Gods of Eden, Collins presents what he describes as "compelling evidence" that ancient Egyptians used incredible technology to float giant pyramid stones around like the puck on an air hockey table. His argument stems from a passage written by a 10th-century Arab historian, who recorded a folk tale about the origin of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, or Cheops. The story went that the builders struck the massive stone blocks with a special rod, which caused them to rise up and drift through the air for the distance of "one bowshot."

"The ancient Egyptians were able to set up some kind of sustained sound vibration that enabled the building blocks to defy gravity," Collins said. "Although simply a legend, there are traditions from all around the world that speak of the movement of stone blocks and the construction of walls and buildings by sonic levitation."

Collins supports his thesis with the findings of researcher Christopher Dunn, who has studied samples of granite from ancient pyramids. Dunn believes the rock show signs of having been drilled with some form of ultrasonics, "the same technique that powers pneumatic drills today," as Collins remarked. Well, that's cool and all, but unfortunately we have no records of modern-day Teamsters floating steel girders up to the top of a construction site using a jackhammer.

Collins admits that his notions must sound crazy, and most archaeologists will predictably plug their fingers in their ears no matter how big a ruckus he raises. But the author has found at least one expert willing go along on his magic carpet ride. Egyptologist Jacqueline Pegg has given the theory a tentative endorsement.

"I don't think it's impossible," Pegg said. "If you read the pyramid texts, it says that when a king rises to heaven, it was always accompanied by a great noise, whether clapping or stamping. That could be a metaphor, but they saw sound could do things." (Incidentally, Pegg wrote her postgraduate dissertation at London's University College on "magic and the power of sound." Say no more.)

Aside from its deafening silliness, the real problem with Collins's levitation proclamation is this: it sounds like he's giving the Egyptians credit for space-age engineering brilliance, but it's actually an insult. Whether it's aliens or Atlanteans or magical flying rocks, these tales of supernatural intervention in olden times always vaguely smack of arrogance, tacitly denying the possibility that ancient societies could have been as smart we are today, or smarter. They couldn't have done it by themselves, we presume, so they must have had a paranormal helping hand. Particularly, it would seem, if the ancient society in question had a dark complexion.

Chain letters and multi-level marketing aren't the only pyramid schemes that demand suspicion. And this one sucks out loud.

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