04x10 - The Puzzling Pyramids of Egypt

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Tonight,

impressive and mysterious,

they are among the wonders

of the ancient world.

These are the monuments

that define innovation

and technology that were meant

to last forever.

But to this day,

no one fully understands

how they were built or why.

Despite how much we've learned

from the writings

on the pyramids,

it's not always

very complete or specific.

Now, we explore the top theories

surrounding these

4,600-year-old puzzles.

The pyramids really have nothing

to do with the afterlife at all.

Are these markers

left for aliens

arriving to Earth from space?

The pyramids

could have been built

to provide a roadmap

to paradise.

Can we ever decipher

the true purpose

of Egypt's astonishing pyramids?

Saqqara, Egypt,

2650 B.C.

Workers serving under

Pharoah Djoser

are nearing completion on one

of the ancient world's

largest construction projects,

a pyramid.

We can't definitively say

which was the very first

Egyptian pyramid,

but Djoser's is certainly

one of the first.

It's 205 feet tall

with a base of 358 by 397 feet,

the size of two football fields

side by side,

and it's an amazing feat

of engineering and technology.

Many others are built

in the same area.

There are probably even more,

but we know of at least

118 Egyptian pyramids

that still exist today

with extensive ruins.

Most of them have been intact

almost perfectly preserved

over the millennia.

Including the largest

ever built,

the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The Great Pyramid is equivalent

to the Empire State Building

of its day.

It reaches 480 feet tall,

and for about 4,000 years,

it is the tallest manmade

structure on the planet,

until it's finally dethroned

by England's Lincoln Cathedral

in the year 1311.

It's composed of an estimated

2.3 million blocks of stones,

weighing an estimated

six million tons.

And some of these stones

individually

are 50 to 80 tons each.

The workforce that was needed

to lift these stones

must have been massive.

According to ancient Greek

and Roman historians,

it is suggested that

it was a labor workforce

of around 100,000

enslaved people.

And it's not just

the size that's impressive.

The Great Pyramid is probably

one of the most unique

and most precise buildings

that has ever been built.

It is aligned to true north

within 1/20th of a degree.

That is remarkable

when you consider

the time period when

the Great Pyramid was built.

The entire base

of the Great Pyramid

is nearly a perfect square,

with the western side

being only 5.5 inches longer

than the eastern side.

This is .01% difference.

This is an amazing

amount of accuracy

for a structure this big

this long ago.

The Great Pyramid dates back

to the year 2570 B.C.

Within a span of 100 years,

ancient Egyptians have gone

from the seemingly modest

Pyramid of Djoser

to this stunning masterpiece.

But soon after,

the period of pyramid building

in ancient Egypt just stops

right around 2500 B.C.

And we're not sure

really why that is.

Eventually, the knowledge

of how these buildings

were built is lost.

Also lost,

the reason why they were built.

Starting thousands of years ago,

people were already

trying to find out

the purpose of the pyramids.

You can imagine

the first explorers

crawling in by torchlight.

The first thing they would see

in these narrow chambers

would be these

thousands of lines

of hieroglyphic inscriptions

carved into the stone.

Can you imagine?

You go in to solve the mystery,

and all of a sudden,

you're given a brand-new mystery

that you have to work on.

What is all of this?

At this point,

no one understands

what these hieroglyphics mean.

But there's more than just

writing inside.

There are these

sarcophagus-shaped stones

that are cut right into

the central chambers,

and they're also the right size

to hold a human body.

Now, the bodies are not there,

and that's because

maybe they were stolen

at a certain point in time.

We do know that this evidence

has been found

by the 5th century B.C.,

because it's at this time

that we get the very first

written theory

about the pyramids.

Because in the 5th century B.C.,

Greek historian Herodotus

describes the sarcophagi,

and he writes

that the pyramids

are burial chambers.

Other pyramids

provide more clues.

Herodotus visits Egypt

and speaks with many

of the local guides

who have been taking people

to the pyramids for years.

And they describe

seeing mummified remains,

sarcophagi, wooden coffins

enough evidence to support

the theories of Herodotus,

that these are tombs.

For centuries,

this remains the accepted theory

on why the pyramids were built.

But without understanding what

the hieroglyphics say,

this is all

somewhat speculative,

because they might describe

these buildings

as something totally different.

Then, a visit to Egypt

by a famous emperor

changes that.

In a way, we have

Napoleon Bonaparte to thank

for our current knowledge

of the pyramids.

The emperor

has a great appreciation

for art and culture.

During his campaign in Egypt,

he orders a team of scholars

to take possession

of key artifacts

for the glory of France.

In 1799, you've got

Napoleon's soldiers

that are digging out

the foundation of a fort

near the Egyptian town

of Rosetta.

And they come across

this four-foot-long black stone

that's just embedded

right into the wall.

It's completely smooth

on one side

and covered with three

different languages

ancient Greek,

an ancient Egyptian

Demotic script,

and hieroglyphics.

But this time, we have

two accompanying languages

telling the same story.

The Greek

and Demotic texts are the same.

Translations of a royal decree

from Egyptian King Ptolemy V

in 196 B.C.

The message is

essentially royal propaganda,

and it's declaring how wonderful

and how generous

the newly coronated king was.

But that's not

the real importance.

What is important is that

we have the same story

written in three

different languages.

All of a sudden, after thousands

of years of wondering,

we finally have the ability

to translate

Egyptian hieroglyphics.

We can use

the ancient Greek inscription

to finally understand

what they had to say.

It is not an overstatement

to say that this is probably

one of the most important

historical finds of all time.

The Rosetta Stone,

as it's called,

becomes the key

to unlocking ancient Egypt,

and perhaps the secrets

of the pyramids.

Jean-Francois Champollion

is able to cr*ck the code

hidden within the hieroglyphs,

and it took him

20 years to decipher

what the Rosetta Stone

actually said.

Champollion published

his findings in 1822,

and he had actually created

a decoder ring

for Egyptian hieroglyphics.

According to

the hieroglyphic texts,

the pyramids are indeed tombs.

But we get a lot more insight

into the nature of the tombs.

Finally, for the first time,

we know who the tombs

were built for.

As the hieroglyphics describe,

these buildings are meant

to be much more

than just a burial place.

They're massive monuments

built to the power

of the Egyptian kings.

The hieroglyphics

identify each one

of the pyramids with

the pharaoh who commissioned it.

And according to these

hieroglyphics,

each pyramid is given

a boastful name

like "Enduring are the Places

of Nyuserre,"

"Great is Khafre,"

or "Menkaure is Divine."

These were designed

to be big boastful monuments

to each of the pharaoh's

power and permanence.

But could there be

more to the pyramids?

Despite how much

we've learned from the writings

on the pyramids, it's not always

very complete or specific.

That's the reason

why some suspect

we don't really have

the full picture.

This has been suspected

since long before

hieroglyphics were translated.

In fact,

during the 10th century A.D.,

the Arab historian al-Masudi

theorizes that these pyramids

are more than likely tombs.

However, he also posits

that they could contain

a wealth of scientific,

mathematical,

and astrological knowledge.

One of the greatest minds

of the late 17th

and early 18th century,

Sir Isaac Newton,

also believes that the pyramids

had additional secrets

hidden within.

Newton was really

only speculating in his day,

but thanks to modern research

and technological advances

we now have available,

we're still uncovering

new information about

these incredible buildings.

And as it turns out,

Newton may have been right.

There's in fact a lot more

to the pyramids

than meets the eye.

When hieroglyphics are

first translated in the 1820s,

it unlocks a trove

of new information

about the pyramids of Egypt

and why they were built.

They were long suspected

to be tombs for pharaohs,

and the hieroglyphics

confirm this.

But as more of these

hieroglyphics are translated,

we find out that maybe

these pyramids

had another function as well.

There's a group of hieroglyphics

that line

the subterranean chambers

of the pyramids at Saqqara,

and these date to around 2300

or 2400 B.C.

And they've become known

as the Pyramid Texts.

They're written

in vertical lines,

and they cover the walls

of almost every single room

of these pyramids.

Most Egyptian hieroglyphics,

even the ones

inside the pyramids,

they're offering you names,

they're offering you dates.

They're offering you

legacies of the pharaohs,

who the rulers were.

They're talking about

the afterlife a little bit.

But in terms of why these

pyramids were built,

we don't seem

to have that information.

But these

particular texts are different.

These hieroglyphics suggest

a potential purpose

for the pyramids, and it starts

with a fundamental

ancient Egyptian belief.

Like many other

world traditions,

these texts reveal

that they believe

in an eternal soul,

which the Egyptians

call the ka.

The hieroglyphics suggest

that the Egyptians

believe that the pharaoh's ka

travels to the starry heavens,

where he'll live in eternity

amongst the gods.

To some, that means the pyramids

could have been built to provide

a roadmap to paradise.

In 1994,

Belgian engineer Robert Bauval

and British historian

Adrian Gilbert

publish their book

"The Orion Mystery,"

which becomes an international

bestseller.

The central crux of the book

is what is known

as the Orion correlation theory.

The authors propose

that the pyramids of Giza

are designed to match

a star alignment

in the belt constellation

of Orion.

If you look at an overlay

of the Giza pyramids,

and line them up with stars

in Orion's belt,

they almost line up.

It's uncanny.

According to Bauval and Gilbert,

this alignment isn't accidental.

It could also help answer

a long-running question

about the pyramids' design.

Inside the Great

Pyramid of Giza,

there are four

long, narrow shafts

that lead out from the King's

and the Queen's Chambers

up towards the sky.

Now, that's a strange

design element,

supposedly for ventilation.

But why would the tomb

need ventilation?

If that was the goal, there are

much easier ways to achieve it.

These shafts required a much

more intricate construction

in engineering techniques.

The Egyptians went to a lot

of extra trouble to build them.

Bauval, Gilbert, and a few

other authors propose the idea

that these aren't

ventilation shafts at all,

and instead,

that they're windows

that align specifically with

the stars in Orion's belt

Sirius, Alnitak, and Kochab.

According to references

in ancient Egyptian texts,

those stars are where

the pharaoh's ka

is supposed to join

the father of the gods,

known as Sah, in the afterlife.

In addition to being

the home for the gods

and for the pharaohs

that make it to the afterlife,

Orion's appearance

in the night sky

serves another very important

purpose for Egyptians.

Every year when the stars of

Orion would appear in the sky,

the Nile River would overflow,

bringing life-renewing

irrigation to the crops.

So, through the hieroglyphics,

we actually have

a written record

that the Egyptians

believe their pharaoh

is traveling to Orion

after his death.

And then, we also have

a potential correlation

between a pyramid's design

and the stars

in that constellation.

So, it's as if the pyramid

was specifically built

to aim to that region

in the night sky.

However, some think it's more

than just souls that travel.

In 2012, Belgian author

Philip Coppens takes the idea

of the Orion correlation theory

and expands on it.

He supports the idea that

the builders of the pyramids

may have aimed

their pyramid shafts

directly at Orion.

But rather than transport

the ka of the pharaoh

to the heavens, he suggested

they could have actually been

transporting

the physical bodies.

I mean, it's a pretty

fantastical interpretation.

How do the bodies levitate

and stay up there in the sky?

Coppens doesn't explain that,

but he does cite

what he claims is evidence

that the pharaohs' bodies

were somehow transported.

As Coppens describes,

a great many of the sarcophagi

inside the pyramids

are found empty.

This is true, and Egyptologists

generally attribute that

to graverobbers.

But Coppens cites

multiple examples

of completely untouched

burial chambers inside pyramids.

No graverobbers

have accessed them,

and yet, when modern

archaeologists

finally open these chambers,

bodies are nowhere to be found.

Coppens states

that after the pharaohs

are laid to rest,

their sarcophagi

and burial chambers

are sealed up,

and then the pyramid somehow

moves their actual bodies,

and you're left

with an empty tomb.

Coppens also points

to another ancient Egyptian

burial practice

as further proof.

As we've seen inside

many pyramids,

along with the pharaoh's body,

the ancient Egyptians

often left thousands

of physical objects as well.

Egyptian burial chambers

are large

because they need to be able

to hold quite a few things.

Inside of these chambers

we have found all of the things

that a pharaoh would need

to be happy in the afterlife.

His pets were often mummified.

His slaves were often k*lled

and mummified along with him,

because he's gonna need servants

in the afterlife.

It's not uncommon to find

large quantities

of beer and bread

so that the pharaoh

can have something to eat

and drink

in the afterlife as well.

Coppens asks,

if the journey to the afterlife

is only a metaphorical trip

by one's soul,

then why pack up all this stuff?

You know, why leave it there

to be wasted?

Again, to him, this could prove

that the Egyptians intended

the voyage to be literal.

This of course fails to account

for all the many mummies

that we have found

inside the pyramids.

Is it likely

that physical bodies

were actually being sh*t up

to the stars?

Probably not.

But what we can see though,

is that these pyramids

were designed

with the afterlife in mind,

specifically a journey

to the afterlife.

Whether it's the ka

or something else entirely,

the Egyptians believed

in the pharaoh's ability

to make it to their place

in the heavens

with the help

of these buildings.

For thousands of years

scholars have debated

why the pyramids were built.

But few questioned

how they were built,

assuming vast numbers of slaves

were forced to construct them.

The ancient Greeks estimated

that the Egyptians had used

a labor force of 100,000 slaves

to build the Great Pyramid.

Then, in the late 1990s,

a surprising archaeological find

upends that notion.

Egypt's chief

archaeologist Zahi Hawass

is responsible for countless

amazing discoveries

in the country.

But starting in 1990,

he embarks on a 20-year-long dig

at the Great Pyramid.

He makes an incredible discovery

that makes us rethink

how the pyramids

were constructed.

He locates the tombs

of the people

who built the Great Pyramid,

and he learns two things.

First, they weren't

enslaved people.

And secondly,

it wasn't 100,000 people.

It was more around 10,000.

The evidence he finds

is that these men were buried

according to Egyptian

religious burial customs

meaning that the men

who built the pyramids

were from working-class

Egyptian families.

The tombs are built right

next to the king's pyramid.

Now, the workers are buried

more modestly,

but they're entombed with beer

and bread for the afterlife,

an honor not provided to slaves.

The tombs also have

graffiti on their walls

calling them "friends of Khufu,"

the pharaoh.

According to Hawass,

there's no way

that would have happened

if these were slaves.

Hawass also finds evidence

of how well these people lived.

They were given

a great quantity of food,

and luxurious food like meat.

So here, we have a labor force

that is skilled,

they're well taken care of,

they're not enslaved,

and there's only 10,000 of them.

How does this make any sense?

How exactly

do 2.3 million

gargantuan stone blocks get cut,

moved, and fit together

so precisely

that it's literally impossible

to slide even a credit card

between 'em,

all by 10,000 people?

Did the Egyptians use ramps?

That seems implausible,

since a ramp

with a low enough slope

would have to be

over a mile long.

It would be bigger than

the Great Pyramid itself.

Had the Egyptians built canals

capable of raising water levels

high enough to allow some

of these massive stones

to float to the top?

Again, at the very least,

that would take

many more

than 10,000 individuals.

According to author

Erich von Däniken,

there's only one possible

explanation.

In his bestselling 1968 book

"Chariots of the Gods?",

Erich von Däniken writes

that the Egyptians didn't build

the pyramids all on their own.

They might have had help

from extraterrestrials.

So, if we can't

figure out how 100,000 Egyptians

built the pyramids,

then we certainly have an issue

with trying to figure out how

10,000 could have done it.

In that regard,

maybe von Däniken has a point.

He calls it the Ancient

Astronaut hypothesis.

It states that extraterrestrials

came to Earth in ancient times

and helped human beings

build these various

architectural marvels.

In this case, they taught

advanced engineering techniques

to the ancient Egyptians

and instructed them on how

to build the pyramids.

According to this theory,

the pyramids were built

as a navigational tool,

not to help the pharaohs

reach heaven,

but to help

extraterrestrials reach Earth.

With the help

of modern photography

from satellites and the

International Space Station,

we know that

the Pyramids of Giza

are indeed visible from space.

And if you look at the pyramids

from that vantage point,

I mean, you can't help

but wonder if that's how

they were intended to be seen.

Could they be markers for aliens

visiting from outer space?

This could also explain

why the pyramids

may be aligned

with certain stars.

It's the final stop

of a landmark-based

navigational system

helping aliens

reach our planet

from their home world

somewhere beyond

the constellation of Orion.

These theorists

also point to alleged evidence

of alien encounters.

According to von Däniken

and many other authors

who followed this hypothesis,

at the time of their arrival,

extraterrestrial beings

would have been considered gods

by the ancient Egyptians.

This notion actually mirrors

what we see

in the ancient

hieroglyphic texts.

Many hieroglyphic inscriptions

do tell us

that the ancient Egyptians

believed that their gods

came from the stars.

The story sounds a lot

like what von Däniken

is writing about.

According to Egyptian mythology,

the gods lived among them

on Earth

and had a great impact

on their daily life.

Then, after a time,

the gods left Earth.

Where did they go?

The hieroglyphics

are pretty clear.

They went back beyond the stars.

Some also believe

this Egyptian encounter

wasn't an isolated incident.

It may have been one

of the first visits from aliens,

but it wouldn't be the last,

because Ancient Astronaut

theorists

believe this has happened

all over our planet.

Now, to date,

you have 118 pyramids

that have been found

all across Egypt.

But you can double that number

for Sudan.

They've been found all across

China, the Middle East.

And the Americas

contain more pyramids

than all other parts

of the world combined.

There's another

great pyramid complex

at Teotihuacan in Mexico.

Just like at Giza,

these pyramids

are astronomically aligned

to certain stars.

There are three main temples.

You've got the Pyramid

of the Sun,

the Pyramid of the Moon,

and the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl.

Just like at Giza,

these pyramids appear

to align with the stars

in Orion's belt.

And here again, just like Giza,

the smallest temple,

the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl

is offset from the others

and aligned with Mintaka,

the faintest star

in Orion's belt.

They're mapped according

to the very same principles,

and display the same

astronomical message.

So, it's easy to wonder,

were these pyramids

designed by the same beings,

the same alien civilization

based somewhere around

the constellation Orion?

If these structures were

designed by extraterrestrials

and of course, I'm not saying

that they were

but if so, it's easy

to see the parallels.

And you could see

how some people

might believe

they are connected.

Most Egyptologists,

however, reject this theory.

There's simply no real proof.

It is all speculation.

See, for me, the alien theory

detracts from something

that's way more awe-inspiring.

The ability of human beings,

especially at such an early time

in our history,

to come together, and to design,

and to build these

architectural marvels,

is a wonder.

When it comes to solving

the mysteries of the pyramids,

the biggest challenge

is the lack

of recorded evidence.

But in 1947, new writings

are discovered

that suggest

a surprising purpose.

There are two primary

sources of information

about the pyramids.

First, there are the Greeks.

But when you read

their histories,

you can see that they're just

as mystified as we are.

They're mostly guessing.

Then we have the hieroglyphics,

which have taught us

a tremendous amount

about the ancient Egyptian

cosmology and their myths.

But there's nothing in these

inscriptions,

nowhere that says why

they had to build the biggest

and most durable structures

anywhere on the planet.

There is, however,

one ancient text

that may provide an explanation.

In the spring of 1947,

an amazing trove

of Hebrew scrolls

is discovered

on the northwest shore

of the Dead Sea.

A Bedouin shepherd boy

is out tending his sheep,

and one of his sheep

walks up into a cave.

And he's trying to get his sheep

out of the cave,

so he throws a rock.

And instead of a sheep

coming out, he hears a crash.

The noise scares him,

and he runs away.

But later, he comes back

with a friend,

and both of them enter the cave.

They find a number

of long clay jars.

But then, they look inside,

and they see this dark object.

They bring the jars out

into the light,

and they see

that the objects are wrapped

in a layer of fine linen,

and they're covered in wax.

And when they start

unrolling them,

they find long pieces

of parchment covered in writing

that have been sewn together.

They have just stumbled upon

the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Dating back

to the 3rd century B.C.,

they're the oldest surviving

biblical texts.

It's an archaeological

and religious revelation

beyond compare.

Some would even say

it's the most important

archaeological find in history.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

expand our knowledge

of the ancient world

in countless ways.

One of those ways

has to do with Egypt.

Among these scrolls

is a very old version

of the Book of Genesis.

This ends up, of course,

being the first book

of the Jewish Torah

and the Christian Bible.

And in it is the story of Jacob

and his son Joseph.

According to Genesis,

Jacob has 12 sons

whose descendants

eventually become

the 12 Tribes of Israel.

Jacob favors

his most beloved son Joseph,

which causes tremendous friction

with his brothers.

In a fit of jealousy,

they sell him into sl*very.

Where is he taken?

To Egypt.

There in Egypt, Joseph is able

to turn his luck around

by interpreting a dream

for the pharaoh

about an approaching famine.

And Joseph warns the pharaoh

to start stockpiling grain

as soon as possible.

Some biblical scholars

believe that this grain

ends up being stored

in the pyramids.

There are two versions

of this theory.

Some theorists believe

that the pyramids

were always meant

to be used for grain storage.

That was one of the reasons

why they were designed.

Others believe that they weren't

built for that purpose at all,

but got enlisted to store grain

because of the impending famine.

Religious historians

have long proposed

that the pyramids were built

by Joseph as grain silos.

In the 5th century,

Julius Honorius,

a renowned Christian grammar

and rhetoric teacher,

creates a geographical manual

to help his students

understand the world.

His research is compiled

into a book

called the "Cosmographia,"

and it explicitly references

the pyramids of Egypt

as the horrea Ioseph,

or the granaries of Joseph.

In the 6th century,

this theory pops up again,

and this time it's found in

the work of Gregory of Tours.

He's a historian

who also becomes

a saint in the Catholic Church.

In the first volume

of his master work,

"Decem Libri Historiarum,"

Gregory of Tours explains,

quote, "Joseph built granaries"

"of wonderful workmanship made

of square stones and cement.

"They're constructed

in such a way

"that they are very broad

at the base

"but narrow at the top,

"so that corn

could be poured into them

"through a small aperture.

These granaries are still

to be seen to this day."

Gregory of Tours has to be

talking about the pyramids.

He's even referencing

those enigmatic shafts

that appear at the top

of the Great Pyramid.

Now, due to the degree

of incline,

it is plausible

that these kernels of corn

could have been poured in

from above.

You can see that this theory

is represented visually

in Christian artworks as well.

The pyramids are very clearly

depicted as grain silos

in a prominent

12th century mosaic

in St. Mark's Basilica

in Venice.

What's more, the granary idea

does not just exist

in European circles.

In fact, we find it both in

Islamic and in Byzantine texts.

The "Etymologicum Magnum,"

the Byzantine Empire's

largest encyclopedia,

explicitly references

the pyramids

as royal granaries

constructed by Joseph.

As further proof

of the alleged theory,

some authors cite the fact

that grain has been found

inside Egyptian pyramids.

Now, to an outside observer,

you can kinda see

how this theory makes sense.

Think about it, the pyramids

sort of have a shape

similar to, like the salt domes

that you'll see

on the side of the highway

when you're driving, right?

The idea is that these grains

will be poured in from the top,

and as they go in, they'll form

like a mound-like

shaped structure,

similar to like sand

in an hourglass.

Modern Egyptologists, however,

find a glaring flaw

in this argument.

If the pyramids

were hollow inside,

this theory would fit

like a glove.

But unfortunately, they're not.

They're mostly solid rock,

so there's very little

storage room inside.

But there is evidence

that the pyramids were used

to provide sustenance

to the community,

just in a different way.

The Nile River

couldn't always be relied on

to flood and irrigate crops.

As it says

in the Book of Genesis,

it references times of both

feast and famine.

In times of famine,

a pharaoh doesn't want

his subjects to starve.

But he also wants

to keep them busy

because they're not working

out in the fields.

So, in exchange for payment

in the form of grain,

he puts them to work

on government projects.

And one of these projects

may have been

building the pyramids.

So, the pyramids

did provide grain,

but in a different way

than what early

Christian theorists thought.

The fact that a theory

is widely believed

doesn't mean

it's actually feasible.

We assume the Egyptians

had many better options

for storing their grain

than the pyramids,

which included

actual grain silos.

There is no more

iconic representation

of the might of ancient Egypt

than its famed pyramids.

The pyramids might be

the most famous

and remarkable aspect

of the Kingdom of Egypt.

But they were only being built

for a relatively short time.

You have a civilization

that's around

for about 2,000 years,

yet they only spent

about 300 to 400 years

designing these magnificent

structures.

So, among the many mysteries

surrounding the pyramids,

one important question is,

why did they stop being built?

In the late '90s

and early 2000s,

an all-new theory emerges

that attempts to explain

what might have happened.

And according to this theory,

the pyramids were built with

a very specific purpose in mind.

And once this purpose

was fulfilled,

the Egyptians didn't need

to make any more.

In 1998,

engineer Christopher Dunn

publishes a book,

and in that book,

he posits that the pyramids

really have nothing to do

with the afterlife at all.

They're there to serve

the everyday life

of the people of Egypt

living throughout the kingdom

by providing electrical power.

Dunn's theory starts

with one significant word.

When you consider

the word "pyramid,"

you've got "pyra,"

which is fire,

and then "mid,"

which is the middle.

So, when you bring

the two together,

you got "fire in the middle,"

and that is essentially

what I'm proposing

for the Great Pyramid,

except that it's not a fire

of combustion,

but it's an energetic

environment.

With that in mind,

modern-day engineers like Dunn

start to examine the layout

of the pyramids'

internal structures.

Inside of

the Great Pyramid of Giza,

you have three chambers.

You have a subterranean chamber.

You've got a chamber

that's been named

the Queen's Chamber,

and one that's been called

the King's Chamber.

Traditional Egyptologists

have been long focused

on this building as a tomb.

So, they've taken

the conventional view

that the pharaoh's body was

placed in the King's Chamber,

and the other two

could have been used

if the pharaoh d*ed before

the pyramid was finished.

However, no human remains

or funerary objects

have ever been found inside

of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

But that might be the point.

When you look at these chambers

through the eyes of an engineer,

you see that they might

be serving a different function.

American engineer John Cadman

also supports this theory.

Cadman is looking

into this problem

at the same time as Dunn

in the late 1990s,

and he really seizes

upon the idea

that this building

has a mechanical function

as some kind of pump.

Water would flow in

via the tunnels

from an ancient lake

at a higher elevation.

The water would then flow

through a duct

up into the Queen's Chamber,

and then exit through

an outflow tunnel

to the Nile River.

The next question is,

why a water pump?

To find out,

Cadman makes his own model

of the pyramids'

subterranean chambers.

In the year 2000, Cadman uses

a 500-pound block of cement

to carve out a smaller replica

of the Great Pyramid

to study the fluid dynamics

that were happening

inside the chambers.

Incredibly,

when he runs water through,

the block actually

starts shaking

with long,

and then short pulses.

Now, if you scaled up

this experiment

to the full size of the pyramid,

Cadman believes the system

would have created

a heartbeat-like vibration

that shook the entire structure.

Eventually Dunn

further expands on this idea.

He outlines that

the Great Pyramid

is actually a coupled oscillator

which transforms vibrations

into energy,

and that generates power.

Dunn's hypothesis

also could account

for findings

in the Queen's Chamber

that have never been

fully understood.

Those twin shafts

diagonally extending upwards

from this chamber were once

thought of as airducts.

And others have hypothesized

that they target certain stars

in the night sky.

Now, early explorers

reported that the walls

and the ceilings

of the Queen's Chamber

were covered with up

to about an inch of salt,

and that there was gypsum

coming out of the cracks

in the limestone.

Nobody knew what to make of this

at the time.

According to Dunn,

it's evidence that the pyramid

served as a chemical reactor.

My theory on the Queen's Chamber

is that chemicals

were delivered to the chamber

through shafts.

Those solutions

were dilute hydrochloric acid

and a hydrated zinc solution.

Those two chemicals

brought together

would boil off hydrogen.

This hydrogen would cause

a chemical reaction

with the chamber's limestone,

which would explain the presence

of salt and gypsum.

The hydrogen reaction compounds

the pyramid's vibrations

exponentially.

It's now really moving

and can generate a lot of power.

Dunn believes

all of these vibrations

charge up the quartz

and granite stones

in the center of the pyramid.

This is why they're putting

these stones

that weigh 50 to 80 tons

in the center.

They're almost like batteries.

And with that, you have yourself

an energy source.

Just how would

the Egyptians use that energy?

According to a 1996 book

by Austrian writers Peter Krassa

and Reinhard Habeck,

the ancient Egyptians may have

actually had electric lights.

Their theory is based

on a relief sculpture

that was found

in the 2,000-year-old

Temple of Hathor

in Dendera, Egypt.

It shows what they believe

to be a massive light bulb

with a socket, a cable,

and a filament.

These so-called light fixtures

appear prominently

in several other

Egyptian artworks as well.

Krassa and Habeck also cite

a 1982 experiment

by Austrian engineer

Walter Garn.

He sees the so-called

Dendera light

and decides to test

if such a device

could have been built

using the materials

available

to the ancient Egyptians.

He was able to make

a working model of the device,

but his used traditional

electricity,

not pyramid power.

Did the Egyptians

actually have electricity?

According to this theory,

they did.

And once they had built

enough pyramids

to light and power

their civilization,

they could stop.

It's it's out there,

but hey, it's a theory.

In the late 1990s,

two American engineers

make headlines when they suggest

that the Egyptian pyramids

were used to generate power.

But they may not be the first

to propose this.

There are reports

of a declassified KGB operation

known as Project !sis.

It allegedly takes place

in the 1960s,

and the purpose

was to take a look

at these ancient Egyptian

artifacts and knowledge

to see if they would be of use

to the Soviet Union militarily.

One alleged KGB report

from scientists

on the Giza plateau stated

that, "during inspection"

"of the wall segment, we noted

"an odd sensation.

"A magnetic repulsive force

"seemed to be emanating

from the rock.

We were unable to find

any scientific explanation."

In the 1960s,

you have the Cuban

m*ssile Crisis happening.

And right around the same time,

the KGB scientists

are walking around Giza.

In the late 1980s,

as the Cold w*r rages on,

the Russian Academy

of Medical Scientists

funds additional research

into the power of the pyramids.

These studies are performed

by Ukrainian scientist

and defense contractor

Alexander Golod.

According to his research,

the pyramids do indeed have

the ability to harness energy.

But he doesn't think

it's electrical power

the Egyptians

were trying to use.

He thinks it was used

for healing.

As part of his research,

Golod builds a series

of pyramids

across the Soviet Union.

Golod builds

over a dozen pyramids,

each one is bigger

than the last.

And inside,

he does various tasks

measuring their

vibration frequencies,

and their ability to focus

and direct energy.

Golod finds that the shape

and size of the pyramid

dictates its energy field.

He builds his 17th

and largest pyramid

25 miles north of Moscow.

It's a whopping 144 feet tall

and weighs about 55 tons.

Golod conducts

a research experiment

in conjunction

with the Russian Air Force,

which shows that the pyramid

creates an energy field

about a mile high,

easily detected

by the censors on the aircraft.

Golod next sets out to test

the energy field's effect

on humans.

Golod brings all sorts

of test subjects

into his pyramids,

but he's not yet sure

why the Egyptians built theirs,

or what the pyramid energy

is supposed to do.

What he finds is that

after spending time

at the center of the pyramid,

people will actually have

a marked improvement

on their health.

So, he publishes

report after report

about the pyramid's energy

promoting growth,

health, and longevity.

He claims that

the subjects' blood tests

prove that standing

at the center of the pyramid

would actually boost

the immune system.

Over the years

Golod shares his research

with a select few.

Russian athletes are known

to visit these pyramids

prior to major competitions

to boost their energy

and endurance.

Russian cosmonauts

are even reported

to have brought water

from Golod's pyramids

up with them to

the International Space Station

to maintain their health.

Golod's pyramids still regularly

draw visitors

from across the country

who are eager to experience

their alleged healing energy.

And Golod is happy

to provide access

to pyramid-charged water

or healing pyramid trinkets

for a small fee.

Could the very same

health-inducing properties

have also been sought

by ancient Egypt's pharaohs?

According to this theory, yes.

Golod believes that

the Egyptian pyramids

were used for much

of the same reason

that he's using

his pyramids today.

In fact, he thinks

they could have been used

while the pharaohs

were still alive.

This could explain a few things,

like why each pyramid was built

as soon as the pharaoh

was crowned.

Perhaps the building was meant

to be used during his lifetime,

even before it was finished,

to help grant him

health and longevity.

It also potentially explains

why there are a few other

chambers in most pyramids.

Like, why is there

a Queen's Chamber

while we don't actually have

evidence

that a queen was buried there?

Maybe she was allowed to receive

the pyramid's healing

in her own chamber,

but during her lifetime.

But in death,

all that power is reserved

for the pharaoh himself.

Everything focused

on his mummified remains

to protect and preserve him

for all eternity.

Ultimately, that's the one thing

we know for sure

the pyramids represent

permanence, strength.

Whether they're actually sending

immune-boosting energy,

or electrical power,

whether they're storing grain

or serving as alien landmarks,

none of this can be proven

at the moment.

But what we can say confidently

is that the pyramids were built

to last the test of time.

And that, they have.

Archaeologists in Egypt

have no shortage of work

ahead of them.

Over 100 active dig sites

are currently being

investigated,

with many more to come.

As new evidence is pulled

from the desert sands,

new truths may be revealed.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching

"History's Greatest Mysteries."