A RESPONSE TO IAN LAWTON

Before I tackle this matter, I would like to say that I am in the process of working on several new manuscripts, one being a new book with Graham Hancock, and the other being a complete re-write of the Orion-Pyramids correlation theory with Simon Cox. My time is extremely limited, not only because of these writing tasks, but also with many other matters such as research assignments and trips. But because Ian Lawton, God bless him, is a good enough fellow and means well, and because he has pestered me for so long to reply to his 'challenges', I shall briefly devote a little time today for such a purpose.

But first this: Ian may find this surprising, but he very much reminds me of myself when, in the 1980s, I was dragging my heels desperately trying to make known my findings on the Giza Pyramids. So perhaps he can benefit from some advice. In those early days, having developed the rudiments of the star correlation theory, I set out on a mission by trying to persuade everyone I met about my findings, and constantly challenging them in intellectual matches and pestering them no end to 'respond'. My obsession was turning me into a tiresome bore. Finally in 1985 I got to meet with the famous Egyptologist Dr. I.E.S. Edwards, who made me realise that I had been barking up the wrong tree all these years. He gave me the best advice based on his long-standing experience in such matters. He convinced me that the only way to get such ideas moving is stop doing what I was doing and concentrate on getting my work published in a Egyptology journal. I, of course, wanted to rush and publish my ideas in a book, but he fortunately made me see the value of his advice. At the time, Dr. Alessandra Nibbi, an Egyptologist from Oxford, was launching a new journal called Discussions In Egyptology. Through Dr. Edwards recommendation Dr. Nibbi reviewed two articles I wrote, and she kindly coached me on how to present them in the proper academic way, and eventually had them published in volumes 13 and 14 of her journal. I expected to cause a huge reaction in the Egyptology community, but nothing much happened. But being a construction engineer by profession, I have learned the hard way that nothing much happens when you lay the foundations for a new building. But yet without such a foundation, you cannot build the full edifices - worse, if you do attempt to build it, it will crumble.

It was not until 1994 that I finally decided it was time to present my theory to the general public. I am not saying that all non-fiction books should go through this process. But when it comes to a new theory or findings in a science such as Egyptology or something else, this foundation is a must. The trouble with many outsiders with good ideas -- and Ian Lawton may be one of them -- is twofold: first they are in a hurry to see their 'work' in print; secondly they focus on trying to 'prove' others wrong rather than bring out something original. With the publication of Giza the Truth by Virgin in 1999, Ian Lawton and his co-author Chris Ogilvie-Herald were the victims of precisely such an approach. They have become the "Doug and Dave" of the Orion theory and the age of the Sphinx debate. I know that Ian and Chris will be 'outraged' by such a 'patronising' attitude on my part, but since Ian, in another of his numerous 'open letters' on the Web, spoke from the heart, I return cordially to him this gesture (actually Giza The Truth was a sort of gigantic 'open letter' directed not just to me, but to all other researchers in this field). Ian Lawton, with an incredible obstinacy that I honestly cannot fathom, wants everyone to think that I prefer to dodge criticism and will not argue 'constructively against' my critics. This is rich considering that Graham Hancock and myself have actually challenged the BBC and our most voracious academic critics to a 'live' debate on television (see www.grahamhancock.com). Actually Ian Lawton feels this way, I much fear, because he is particular miffed that I have ignored 'his' own criticism. Truly, there is none more irksome than a critic who is shunned or ignored. Well here goes again; let me put it this way, using a little metaphoric language: The Orion-Pyramids theory for a number of years now has been playing centre court against its natural and legitimate opponents, the academic Egyptologists and astronomers. It is they, and mostly they, that I must face and with whom I must score points if any serious progress is to be made. I am not saying the public's opinion does not matter. In fact, quite the opposite. But the general public around the world has been largely won over, contrary to what Ian Lawton and his friends may think. It is thus this slow and hard process of dealing with academics that now must be tackled, and although hard and frustrating at times, it is nonetheless the right process. So I am sorry Ian, Chris et al, but it does not really count for me to play tug-o-war with you. It is small affrays that lead nowhere, compared to the much bigger battles that I am confronting with academics that, I believe, slowly but surely will make a lasting mark. I know that this will sound very patronising to you but (excuse the pun) it's (Giza) the truth. And for those who have any doubt on this, I urge you to watch (again) this process in action on BBC2 Horizon on the 14 December 2000 at 9PM. Through the years since the publication of the The Orion Mystery, I have worked steadily in this direction, and now there are dozens of academics who have been compelled to debate the merits and faults of my theory: Dr. Zahi Hawass; Dr. Mark Lehner; Dr. I.E.S. Edwards; Dr. Viviane Davies; Dr. Edwin Krupp; Dr. Jaromir Malek; Dr. Tony Fairall; Dr. Percy Seymour: Dr. Archibald Roy; Dr. Mary Bruck, to name but a few. The Orion Mystery has been discussed in peer-reviewed works such as the Journal of the British Astronomical Association as well as the Journal of the British Astronomy Society. Even Dr. Mark Lehner, a staunch critic of my work, felt unable to ignore the theory in his excellent book, The Complete Pyramids. Most recently the Belgian popular archaeological review KADATH has devoted two issues fully to a critical appraisal of the Orion-Pyramids theory.

As I have said, I am presently working on a complete rewrite of the Orion-Pyramids theory with researcher and student Egyptologist Simon Cox. In this book (any good ideas for a title?) we will present the theory, refined and from a totally new perspective, as well as tackle the critical issues brought into the debate by academics and even the likes of Ian Lawton and Rudolf Gantenbrink. But most of all we will present new evidence which will buttress the Orion-Pyramids theory even further. The research is nearly complete, and we are now in the process of talking to publishers.

Meanwhile let me deal very briefly with the few points raised by Ian Lawton which he feels are a serious threat, if not a death blow, to the Orion-Pyramids theory. There is, of course, much more on such issues that I would like to discuss, but this will have to suffice for now.

IAN LAWTON'S ALLEGED "REPLANNING" OF THE GIZA PYRAMIDS

In relation to the argument put forward by Ian Lawton, that the Giza plateau was re-planned extensively and that, in Ian's words, this strongly suggests 'that they (the Giza monuments) could not have been constructed to a preconceived plan'. (www.ianlawton.com/oc8.htm) We find this argument selective in its approach at best and spurious at worst.

Although a strong case has been put forward for a re-planning of the pyramid of Menkaure, this remains a speculative argument. Indeed, Mark Lehner states:

...the upper passage was probably abandoned when the floor of the antechamber was lowered' [The Complete Pyramids page 136]

and:

The east-west rectangular chamber, which some see as an earlier burial chamber, was probably constructed to help manoeuvre the granite lining of the actual burial chamber...and to insert the huge granite beams of its ceiling... [The Complete Pyramids page 135 picture caption].

The upper abandoned passage mentioned by Lehner (which Lawton refers to as the 'original' descending passage) may well have been an original entrance passage, then again, it may not have been, certainly the argument can be carried either way and this in itself cannot therefore, be used to disprove a preconceived plan. Moving on to the pyramid of Khafre, we find that Lawton again uses the internal passageways argument to suggest a movement of the pyramid 'a long way to the south' or 'that the size of the edifice was massively increased but with its northern perimeter remaining more or less in place'. Using Lehner once again as a reference we find that he states:

...it has been suggested that the pyramid was originally intended to be larger, or that its north base line was first planned to be 30 m (90 ft) further north, so that the lower passage, like the upper one, would have been entirely within the body of the masonry. But it is hard to imagine that there was an earlier plan for a larger pyramid, such is the sculpted unity of the pyramid terrace, enclosure wall and pyramid base. What we are seeing is more likely evidence of a vacillation between two different passage systems in the course of the building [The Complete Pyramids page 123].

For a more in-depth study of this see Mark Lehner - 'Some Observations on the Layout of the Khufu and Khafre Pyramids' in JARCE 20: 1983. In his conclusion to the re-planning argument, Lawton states '...the replanning argument contains a broader implication for anyone who suggests that the whole Plateau was laid out to express sacred geometric knowledge...'. Clearly here, Lawton is using a circular argument. Many of the independent researchers that have put forward theories based upon a unified plan for Giza, have done so using unimpeachable mathematics as their basis. A quick look at the work of people such as Alfonso Rubino, John Legon (see Discussions in Egyptology Journal No 10: 1988 & No 14: 1989), Stephen Goodfellow (who along with Legon postulates that a 'vanishing point' exists at Giza), Robin Cook, David Ritchie, to name but a few, will show that complex and provable mathematical formula were used by the original site surveyors in the layout of the plateau. These researchers have shown that the relationships, mathematically and geometrically, between the various monuments play a huge part in the layout and that a unified plan must have been the exercise at the outset. There is one caveat that we should add here. Even if Lawton is correct in his assumptions that the two pyramids he mentions were re-planned, (as we have shown above, this is by no means proven, nor is it accepted by the Egyptological community as a whole) this does not disprove the unified plan at all, indeed - monuments are changed during construction, a quick glance at some of the planned buildings for the city of London in the last century and how they eventually turned out will illustrate this point - it may just mean that the original architects and surveyors changed their minds during the building process as new data became available to them and new techniques were developed taking him on in the fields of mathematics and geometry. Perhaps this question is best judged by those with the right experience and training. Dr. Jean Kerisel is such a man. One of France's most respected civil engineer, and also the President of the Franco-Egyptian Society, Kerisel has devoted many years in studying the engineering aspects of the Giza pyramids. His views on this matter were expressed on the BBC:

I think, personally, that the layout of the three pyramids has been designed from the beginning by Khufu. [BBC2 The Great Pyramid, February 1994].

THE MAGNITUDE (APPARENT BRIGHTNESS) OF THE STARS VERSUS THE SIZE OF THE GIZA PYRAMIDS

Ian Lawton and his colleague have published a photograph of the sky showing Orion's belt and superimposed on it the three Giza Pyramids, here below reproduced. [I have not reproduced this here, refer back to the copy in my original paper - IL]

Actually such critique originate with John A.R. Legon in 1995 and Paul Jordan in 1998. According to them, this shows that the correlation is not 'perfect' and that the apparent brightness of the stars do not match the relative size of the pyramids. I really do not wish to comment on such a circular argument which I truly feel is unworthy of serious discussion. It is a form of pedantry disguised as 'scientific investigation'. So it is best to let others judge for themselves. Here, however, is a counter-view given recently by Ivan Verheyden, editor of KADATH:

It seems that the three stars of Orion's belt are too far apart from each other for the Giza Pyramids to be their replica, unless we imagine that these are represented by their apex or summit, with the mass of the monuments hidden below. This objection is from a certain Paul Jordan who, after having written and directed science programmes for British television, teaches archaeology at Cambridge. For my part I am willing to consider such matters from Paul Jordan's viewpoint, but I must admit that I do not really see where is his objection. In Discussions In Egyptology No.33 (1995) John A.R. Legon claims that if, on plan, we try an superimpose the stars Almitak, Alnilam with, respectively, the pyramids of Cheops and Chephren, then the calculations of Right Ascenssion and Declination show that the third star, Mintaka, coincides with a point more than 500 metres (?) to the south of the Pyramid of Mycerinos, thus outside the perimeter of its base. In other words, in the sky Mintaka is certainly offset and in the same direction as Mycerinos on the ground, but not as rigorously as the pyramid. I really have to laugh at this! In all his articles in this journal John Legon, as many Egyptologists, refuse to recognise in the ancient Egyptians a knowledge of astronomy, and according to him they were only motivated by geometrical considerations. But here, in order to convince himself, he imposes (on the ancient Egyptians) knowledge even more advanced, almost equal to ours. For what does he do? He takes ultra-modern astronomical tables --apparent distance of two stars-- and imposes them on an ancient architecture which he insist should be in the exact proportions of the astronomical data which we only possess.

As for the argument regarding the apparent brightness of stars, Verheyden says:

In copying the size (of pyramids) in term of the brilliancy (of stars), Mycerinos should have built a pyramid 4/5 the size of the others. But who are we to affirm that it was so, quantitatively, that reasoned the astronomer-priests of Egypt? His pyramid is smaller and offset from the other two, but no-one can claim to know why it is smaller! [KADATH vol. 93, pp. 36-7]

The short of this so-called 'star magnitude versus pyramid size' polemics is that it is, quite simply, a red-herring.

THE SHAFTS

Again, there is overwhelming support from both the Egyptologists and astronomers that the shafts of the Great Pyramid were astronomically aligned to stars. The majority accept the alignment with Orion's belt and Alpha Draconis for the KC shafts. Many are now coming round to the idea that the southern shaft of the QC was directed to Sirius (Mark Lehner suggests the lower portion of Orion). There is, however, reluctance to make any conclusions regarding the northern shaft of the QC, because of its unusual alignment and because no precise values were given by Gantenbrink, although 39 degrees seems to have been the case according to the latter. It is not unreasonable, however, that this particular shaft also follows the same trend as the others. Ian Lawton is incapable of appreciating the basis of symbolic architecture. For example the ancient Egyptians built 'false doors' in solid stone or carved into the rock through which the souls of the deceased could enter and exit the afterworld. It is ridiculous to argue that because these architectural features do not open and close like a real door, then these features were not meant to be regarded as doors. The shafts are not astronomical sightings devices; they are symbolic devices represent the direction of the sky and stars to which the souls of kings were meant to fly to. Various reasons may be behind the internal change of slope seen in the QC northern shaft, and also the lateral change in direction of both the northern shafts. Reasons that we yet do not know why. But this does not invalidate the fact that the two southern shafts provide fairly accurate targets to Alnitak in Orion's belt and Sirius, and that the general slopes of the northern shafts, taken from the low and high point of these shafts, also provide targets for the circumpolar stars. I do agree with Dr. Krupp that "error analysis" must be taken into account. Indeed I make a specific point about this in my objections to the so-called accuracy and precision claimed by Kate Spence in her calculations. Ian Lawton is by no means the first to draw attention to the irregular alignments of the northern shafts. This has been known for decades. Indeed such misalignments were discussed in The Orion Mystery, where I suggested that they may have, too, a symbolic function related to the Great and Small Bears constellations.

KATE SPENCE'S "DUAL STAR ORIENTATION" THEORY

I shall give in due course a full review of the merits and pitfalls of her theory. But for now and for the record, first I never claimed, as Lawton says, credit for the "dual-star orientation" theory. She is most welcome to such credit. Indeed I have never claimed any credit for methods of orientating the pyramid. What I have, indeed, claimed is that in 1994 I have used the culmination of the same stars, among others, to date the Great Pyramid to c. 2450 BC + - 25 years --a claim that Kate Spence not only ignored but now allocated (albeit with a slight variation i.e. c.2478 BC +- 5 years) to herself. It seems that others, too, are also claiming that Kate Spence 'ignored' their previous method of explaining and dating the misalignments of Old Kingdom Pyramids as a function of Precession (see Karine Gadre posting on Amun List and also my posting on www.grahamhancock.com). As for Ian Lawton's statement that Spence's orientation theory "has clear implications for the Ancient Egyptians' knowledge of Precession in general' (and consequently, as he sees it, flings another blow at the Orion-Giza Correlation theory), this is not only premature to say but, in my opinion, it is unfounded. As I have argued in an article (Part 1) on www.grahamhancock.com, the implication (assuming Spence's theory is right, which remains to be seen) can be construed as being quite the very opposite i.e. that the pyramid builders were, in fact, aware of precession. For my part, I have no doubt whatsoever that the Egyptians were aware of Precession. That they understood its fundamental mechanism is, of course, another matter, although I would not be at all surprised that they were quite capable of working out a fairly good rate for the precessional drift, especially in declination, much like the Greeks in Alexandria several millennia later.

More, much more on all that later. Meanwhile back to my work.

Robert G. Bauval