Egypt.The "super-architects" of the pharaohs: excavated tombs at a distance of 10 centimeters
Enigma Solved the mystery of "the mummy of the screaming woman"
It was the first true pyramid.
The one he had learned from the pioneer, the stepped one from Zoser, and the one that ended up serving as a laboratory for the following.
In the arid necropolis of Dahshur, the rhomboid pyramid cannot be missed.
Its double inclination, caused by the corrections suffered in the middle of the construction, have provided it for millennia
a halo of distinction among its desert companions
.
Its structure, weakened by time, is now preparing to undergo surgery.
he symptoms that alerted the inspectors and guards of the enclosure of the ailments suffered by the structure were the incessant collapse of the blocks that make up its outer casing.
The rhomboid is the only pyramid that still retains its limestone coating
. "I was asked to build an exterior cladding similar to the work done
in the burial chamber of the step pyramid
"tells THE WORLD Peter James, the British engineer who, based on a series of
airbags
- used in Afghanistan to cushion the effect of explosive devices - saved the pyramid of Djoser about a decade ago. For centuries, the degradation of the rhomboid was attributed to the unstable foundations of the pyramid or the
thefts of blocks perpetrated by thieves
. "After careful examination of all the external elevations and the details in the outer casing stones closest to the ground, combined with the amount of movement that could be seen,
it seemed obvious that the outer shell was sloughing off due to thermal expansion
of the interior walls, built from large blocks ", argues James, director of Cintec, a company that has offered its engineering solutions to some of the world's icons, from Big Ben and the White House to Buckingham Palace , and has participated in military and intelligence commissions achieved by discretion. "Depending on the temperature, the limestone expands about 30 millimeters for every 100 meters of linear movement in all directions.
As the outer shell expands, the gaps between the stones allow sand and stone particles to enter
"explains the engineer." When the temperature drops, the space cannot close completely.
The process begins again the next day, "indicates who inaugurated his work in Egypt with the restoration of the Cairo mosque of Al Ghuri, after the earthquake that devastated the city in 1992. The rhomboid pyramid, located
about 40 kilometers south of Cairo
, It was raised around 2,600 BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Esnofru.
The monarch had abandoned his pyramid project of Meidum and had led his steps towards Dahshur.
The new pyramid, about 100 meters high, was built on an unstable rocky base.
It was initially designed with a 60 degree tilt but the project had to be ground mid-site to reduce its tilt to 43 degrees and reinforce its interior frame. "The reason for the angle change has been debated for years. The construction of the burial chamber is one of the concerns, "admits James.
"In the stepped pyramid the dangerous ceiling of the chamber had to be structurally anchored, caused by the wooden beams that
they collapsed under the extreme weight of the upper masonry
.
Today we know that if the lengths of the corbels are too great, the pressure of the masonry will tighten the room.
To rectify it, the builders of the rhomboid modified the angle and thus reduced the pressure. "
Autopsy of a unique building
The autopsy to which James has subjected the rhomboid in recent years has exposed some of his weaknesses.
"I calculated the height of all the pyramids built and compared them with the rhomboid. Probably, the latter
it was not built with as much precision as the pyramids that succeeded it
", he slides." The Great Pyramid of Giza suffered a collapse of its outer casing, and not the gradual erosion that we can observe in the rhomboid. "The team, hardened in the tasks of rescuing the heritage of ancient Egypt, has already signed the preliminary studies and is now available
install gauges that will shed light on daily dilation
The outer casing has been drilled into the coating and test anchors have been placed and will be examined with video cameras to record variations.
"
The goal is to have an exact figure to design the permanent anchor arrangement
that will fix the exterior and interior allowing the expansion of the casing ", he details. The result of the current tests will determine the final solution to assist the rhomboid, which
opened to the public last year, after more than half a century of closure
and shortly before the crisis caused by the spread of the coronavirus froze tourism. "The project will continue for a few years, because we need access with scaffolding and, as we do not have permanent employees in Egypt,
Covid-19 has made travel difficult and the completion date more uncertain
of the tests ". At 76, James is determined to continue the task of keeping afloat the legacy of the pharaohs."
It's an honor to save iconic heritage sites
.
We have developed innovative ways of solving seemingly unsolvable problems, increasing our knowledge and the life of our anchoring systems.
And all this has ended up being transferred to bridges, dams, retaining walls and even structures to resist the detonation of explosive devices ", concludes the engineer who provides a new safe life to the pyramids.
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