385 replies to this topic

[bulveye]

Hi,

So I saw an episode of Ancient Aliens and the wacky dude on that said that the Egyptians had some sort of light bulbs to light the inside of the tunnels. I dont know if they did or not but I figured they proably used fire instead.

Would that mean that the little tunnel/holes that face the sky are just air vents to help cycle the air so the candles or fire torches did not go out and smoke did not build up?

I except that the little tunnel/holes may have had a dual purpose.

[Abramelin]

bulveye, on 03 March 2012 - 08:51 AM, said:

Hi,

So I saw an episode of Ancient Aliens and the wacky dude on that said that the Egyptians had some sort of light bulbs to light the inside of the tunnels. I dont know if they did or not but I figured they proably used fire instead.

Would that mean that the little tunnel/holes that face the sky are just air vents to help cycle the air so the candles or fire torches did not go out and smoke did not build up?

I except that the little tunnel/holes may have had a dual purpose.

I think (I haven't seen the program) they meant this:

http://www.unexplain...9


.

Edited by Abramelin, 03 March 2012 - 01:01 PM.

[kmt_sesh]

bulveye, on 03 March 2012 - 08:51 AM, said:

Hi,

So I saw an episode of Ancient Aliens and the wacky dude on that said that the Egyptians had some sort of light bulbs to light the inside of the tunnels. I dont know if they did or not but I figured they proably used fire instead.

Would that mean that the little tunnel/holes that face the sky are just air vents to help cycle the air so the candles or fire torches did not go out and smoke did not build up?

I except that the little tunnel/holes may have had a dual purpose.

Which wacky dude? You'll have to narrow it down. I can't think of anyone on that program that ought to be taken seriously. But I suspect you mean this guy, who is indeed wackier than the average wack-job.

No, of course the ancient Egyptians didn't use light bulbs. They had no concept of electricity as we understand it. Abramelin's link to the Dendera "lightbulb" topic is what the wacky dude (Giorgio Tsoukalos) is drawing from. It is utter rubbish.

What we have ample evidence for from all periods of pharaonic history is oil lamps. Countless examples have been found in excavations from all over the Nile Valley in the past couple of hundred years. You can see actual examples of them in most any museum with a sizable Egyptian exhibit. It's unlikely the "air shafts" inside the Great Pyramid had anything to do with torches or lamps because these shafts are more or less unique to the Great Pyramid. It's more than possible they had nothing to do with air at all, and our appellation of "air shaft" is just a misnomer formed from anachronism. Just think of the royal tombs of the New Kingdom in the Valley of the Kings, many of which sink deep underground for hundreds of yards in networks of corridors and chambers. No shafts in those.

What the average fringe adherent like Giorgio Tsoukalos will typically say in response to oil lamps is something to the effect of: "Well, why aren't the insides of all those corridors and passages covered with soot, if torches or lamps were used?" It seems disingenuous when logic is applied, considering it required no great feat of science just to wipe off any soot as it accumulated. Wacky dudes like Tsoukalos will have you completely ignore ample evidence of existing technologies (oil lamps) and instead concentrate on one wall inside a temple which shows something that kinda-sorta looks like a light bulb. As long as you ignore the context of the image. And the hieroglyphic inscriptions explaining it.

[blackdogsun]

kmt_sesh, on 04 March 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:

think of the royal tombs of the New Kingdom in the Valley of the Kings, many of which sink deep underground for hundreds of yards in networks of corridors and chambers. No shafts in those.

i think that might be the key difference, the fact that the king's chamber is in an elevated situation in relation to it's entrance (unlike the tombs in the valley of the kings) that from a practical point of view it needed the air shafts to dispel 'bad air' (which generally rises) while work proceeded and then the funeral arrangements could take place, which may or may not have included the burning of oils and/or herbs (?)
their inclined angle up through the pyramid would be to draw the air upward like a chimney rather than a two way flow
and their north/south orientation perhaps serving a secondary ceremonial purpose either to the gods Nut (sky) or Shu (wind)

[Kryso]

According to Erich von Däniken its with electric light bulbs :/

[SteveBronfman]

Everyone knows of the famous Baghdad battery. Making electric cells using (citric and other) acid isn't really very hard and has been used for thousands of years eg to plate jewellery. The fact that no smoke residue is present inside the Pyramids lead us to the question of how the inside was lit if not by torches or lamps.

Mirrors have been suggested but I personally do think lightbulbs aren't really that hard to make. We know the ancients had glass and metal working skills. The ancient Egyptians knew how to blow glass;

http://www.historyof.../ancient-glass/

Making a "crude" light bulb is the next step. We have to remember that our ancestors had as much capacity for thought as we do, I think more so in some ways, because the current attitude relies on our discoveries to base theories upon. We are constantly discovering new ancient civilisations and constantly pushing the date back for both civilisation and modern man because of new discoveries. It's one thing to rely on evidence to make theories but it's another to rule out possibilities because of lack of evidence. Some evidence simply hasn't been discovered by us yet.

[socrates.junior]

They used geysers...isn't it obvious?

[kmt_sesh]

socrates.junior, on 07 March 2012 - 05:40 AM, said:

They used geysers...isn't it obvious?

Glow-in-the-dark geysers?

[Mentalcase]

Perhaps they squashed a bunch of lightening bugs and made large lamps from them?!!

[Harte]

blackdogsun, on 04 March 2012 - 07:43 AM, said:

i think that might be the key difference, the fact that the king's chamber is in an elevated situation in relation to it's entrance (unlike the tombs in the valley of the kings) that from a practical point of view it needed the air shafts to dispel 'bad air' (which generally rises) while work proceeded and then the funeral arrangements could take place, which may or may not have included the burning of oils and/or herbs (?)
their inclined angle up through the pyramid would be to draw the air upward like a chimney rather than a two way flow
and their north/south orientation perhaps serving a secondary ceremonial purpose either to the gods Nut (sky) or Shu (wind)

Since the "air passages" weren't open to the outside, I find this unlikely.

Also, "bad air" would be far more prevalent in underground tombs than in raised ones.

CO2, CO are both heavier than air.  So is smoke.

SteveBronfman, on 07 March 2012 - 05:35 AM, said:

Everyone knows of the famous Baghdad battery. Making electric cells using (citric and other) acid isn't really very hard and has been used for thousands of years eg to plate jewellery. The fact that no smoke residue is present inside the Pyramids lead us to the question of how the inside was lit if not by torches or lamps.

Mirrors have been suggested but I personally do think lightbulbs aren't really that hard to make. We know the ancients had glass and metal working skills. The ancient Egyptians knew how to blow glass;

http://www.historyof.../ancient-glass/

From your own link:

Quote

Decorative glass was very difficult to produce and was quite rare. In ancient time glass was made from sand quartz and the ancients were using some very complex chemistry to both create and color the glass. They simply whetted beads, figures or bottles of any shape since they couldn't blow spherical forms.

Perhaps I can suggest you read your own sources?

SteveBronfman, on 07 March 2012 - 05:35 AM, said:

Making a "crude" light bulb is the next step. We have to remember that our ancestors had as much capacity for thought as we do, I think more so in some ways, because the current attitude relies on our discoveries to base theories upon. We are constantly discovering new ancient civilisations and constantly pushing the date back for both civilisation and modern man because of new discoveries. It's one thing to rely on evidence to make theories but it's another to rule out possibilities because of lack of evidence. Some evidence simply hasn't been discovered by us yet.

It is certainly reasonable to not consider "possibilities" that we know aren't actually possible.

Of course, they used oil lamps to light their work.  We have hundreds of examples from all over the time period covering Ancient Egypt.

If everyone used oil lamps, where are the light bulbs (which they couldn't make)?

Harte

[Gaden]

bulveye, on 03 March 2012 - 08:51 AM, said:

Hi,

So I saw an episode of Ancient Aliens and the wacky dude on that said that the Egyptians had some sort of light bulbs to light the inside of the tunnels. I dont know if they did or not but I figured they proably used fire instead.

Would that mean that the little tunnel/holes that face the sky are just air vents to help cycle the air so the candles or fire torches did not go out and smoke did not build up?

I except that the little tunnel/holes may have had a dual purpose.

The AE knew that a pinch of salt reduces the creation of suet. As for the "air shafts" in the GP, they are plugged, so no air could have been moved by them. Additionally, I think that people are misled into thinking that air and light were neede during construction, but this is rediculous, because as you are building, you are actually outside in the open. This, of course, only applies to pyramids, tunnels are a completely different matter, but the use of oil lamps is well documented, it is even known that they used them to time their shifts.

[socrates.junior]

kmt_sesh, on 07 March 2012 - 04:04 PM, said:

Glow-in-the-dark geysers?

Of course. They obviously had some sort of knowledge of radioactivity, since the pyramids are giant nuclear reactors.

[kmt_sesh]

socrates.junior, on 07 March 2012 - 07:09 PM, said:

Of course. They obviously had some sort of knowledge of radioactivity, since the pyramids are giant nuclear reactors.

Man, I thought the pyramids were gigantic water pumps. Or landing beacons for alien spacecraft. Which "theory" are we supposed to go with?

How about: the pyramids were gigantic pumps for generating radioactive water, which fueled alien spacecraft.

Is someone going to take me seriously? Should I not be writing this stuff, encouraging fringies?

[questionmark]

kmt_sesh, on 07 March 2012 - 07:54 PM, said:

Man, I thought the pyramids were gigantic water pumps. Or landing beacons for alien spacecraft. Which "theory" are we supposed to go with?

How about: the pyramids were gigantic pumps for generating radioactive water, which fueled alien spacecraft.

Is someone going to take me seriously? Should I not be writing this stuff, encouraging fringies?

Thats simple: the pyramids are akin to a egg laying woolen milk giving pig. The answer to everything!

[blackdogsun]

my understanding is that only the 'queens chamber' shafts were plugged and also walled over
the 'king's chamber' shafts were completely open to the outside (though whether the casing stones sealed them off we may never know)

Edited by blackdogsun, 08 March 2012 - 12:01 AM.