This is Amazing

[wombat2u2004]

The Egyptian Pyramids from above.
Click on pic to enlarge.

http://www.satimagingcorp.com/galleryimages/quickbird-pyramids-egypt.jpg

[kokopup]

The thing that strikes me is how symmetrical the pyramids are. It would be easy to build if you could step back (up) a few thousand feet to visualize what you've done. These pyramids were built thousands of year ago with limited measuring techniques available, or were they. i know how difficult it is to layout a symmetrical site, since i built my own home and laid out the foundation.The
foundation was microscopic compared to the pyramids. How did they do it?

[wombat2u2004]

The thing that strikes me is how symmetrical the pyramids are. It would be easy to build if you could step back (up) a few thousand feet to visualize what you've done. These pyramids were built thousands of year ago with limited measuring techniques available, or were they. i know how difficult it is to layout a symmetrical site, since i built my own home and laid out the foundation.The
foundation was microscopic compared to the pyramids. How did they do it?

They used a device called a "Trammel". They would drive a stake into the ground where the centre of the pyramid would be, and tie a rope to it.
They would then mark a point on the rope at a distance from the stake, and drag the rope around in a big circle marking the ground as they went.
So what they ended up with was a big circle drawn on the ground with the stake in the centre of the circle. They would then stretch a long rope over the stake, marking points on the circle edge (usually aligned with something like the direction the sun was at dawn).....so what they had then was a circle drawn on the ground with a line drawn across the middle bisecting the circle. It was easy enough then to measure the other two points to form the other two corners of the pyramid, by using a rope of the same length. The lines were then drawn to those new points, forming the perfect square.
Simple geometry really.......but certainly a good idea thought up at the time.
Wom

[Karen]

Cool picture! Thanks for sharing!