Modern science can't unravel the pyramids

Even modern technology it seems has been unable to solve one of ancient history's oldest mysteries, whether the pyramids in Egypt had anything to do with planetary positions.

Robert Webb, a lecturer in surveying in the school of urban development in Queensland's University of Technology, Australia reviewed major surveying projects of the pyramids at Cheops, Chephren and Mycerinus, built around 2600 BC south of present day Cairo for his study.

He said early archaeologists who measured the pyramids at Giza and elsewhere, more than 100 years ago, were very accurate in their calculations of planetary positions having some sort of influence over pyramid constructions.

"They weren't that far out; their surveys were quite diligent and systematic and we're getting fairly good agreement using modern technology. Earlier surveys have found a very close relationship to the planet alignments and what we can measure on the ground.

But it's more of a theory and some people have also found while the similarities appear on the surface to be quite close, it's just really one of those mathematical flukes," ABC Online quoted Webb as saying in his paper posted online by the University.

But modern technology with its entire laser scanning and computer modelling hasn't helped them get any closer to solving the mystery, he

The two major historical surveys of the pyramids in 1880 and 1925 were done using wire, steel tape and mahogany rods. Recent attempts to map the pyramids were done using laser scanning, GPS, satellite imaging, digital technology and computer visualisation.

While the 1880-1882 survey by Sir William Flinders Petrie concluded that there was no spatial connection between the distances and directions of the pyramids and anything else, other theories suggested that spatial relationship of the pyramids reflected the alignment of Orion's Belt and the orbital path of Mercury, Mars and Venus.

Some theories have also suggested that the perimeter of the Great Pyramid, or Cheops, of 36,525 pyramid inches was equal to the number of days in 100 years and the number of books of ancient wisdom credited to the Egyptian god Thoth.

Webb is of the opinion that initiatives like the University of Chicago's Giza Plateau mapping project, which have revealed peculiar alignments inside the pyramids, could possibly shed more light on alignment theories.

"Computer visualisation of the insides of the pyramids and their chambers has the potential to really reveal some relationships we may not know about as yet. But mystery still surrounds the pyramids. In reality we will never know what inspired the ancient Egyptians to position the pyramids as they did," Webb said.