3 ms·
As a cynic it wouldn’t surprise me but are you saying that Egyptologists as group have no interest in determining the truth scientifically? I could see the inc
by stallmanite 6y ago
As a cynic it wouldn’t surprise me but are you saying that Egyptologists as group have no interest in determining the truth scientifically? I could see the incentives you describe holding for the current “big dogs” but couldn’t a defector quietly perform the experiment and then gain notoriety and status by presenting the proof to the (presumably) more honest wider archaeological research community?
- ncmncm 6y agoThe dating technique is "surface luminescence" (I misrecalled the name). The only text I have found dating Giza stonework may be seen at <https://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.culher.2014.05.007> https://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.culher.2014.05.007>, published in the peer-reviewed "Journal of Cultural Heritage 16 (2015) 134–150". It includes a date from the Mykerinus (Menkaure) pyramid, the smallest on the Giza plateau, and presumed youngest, of 3450±950 BC, or 4400-2500 BC, compared to current estimates of 2613-2494 BC. A sample from the Valley Temple, presumed contemporaneous with the Great Pyramid, says 3060±470 BC, or 3530-2590 BC, with the same estimated age. One could interpret the measurements as corroborating the estimates, but only by squinting. It just seems notable that more work hasn't been done on, e.g., the Great Pyramid itself.