Archaeology & History

Great Pyramid is actually slightly lopsided

By T.K. Randall
June 20, 2016

Image: Pyramids of Giza
Credit: KennyOMG / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Standing a staggering 481ft in height, this ancient Wonder of the World remained the tallest man-made structure on the planet for more than 3,800 years.

Originally coated in a layer of casing stones which formed a smooth, white exterior, the Great Pyramid would have been a sight to behold for anyone who set eyes upon it in its heyday.

Its design however, though highly impressive for something so old, is not perfect.

In a recent study, engineer Glen Dash and Egyptologist Mark Lehner discovered that the square base of the Great Pyramid is actually very slightly lopsided, though only by a tiny amount.The measurements were based on a new analysis of what the dimensions of the pyramid would have been when it still had its external casing stones, figures that the researchers achieved using linear regression analysis - a statistical method in which they calculated the pyramid's size by mapping where fragments of surviving casing stones still touched the structure's base platform.

The results indicated a discrepency of just 5.55 inches between the east and west sides.

"The data show that the Egyptians possessed quite remarkable skills for their time," wrote Dash.

"We can only speculate as to how the Egyptians could have laid out these lines with such precision using only the tools they had."

Source: Live Science

Tags: Pyramid, Egypt