The great pyramid passages and chambers

PLATE CXLIX. and many others, that the Well is not an afterthought, but part of the original design of the Great Pyramid.

533 On close examination it is seen that the north, west, and part of the south sides of the mouth of the Well, are in one stone; namely, (1) the small fractured portion of Ramp bounding the mouth on the north, (2) the depressed portion of the wall of the Grand Gallery on the west,—forming the horizontal roof of the small passage which leads from the Grand Gallery westward to the vertical shaft of the Well (Compare Plate XIII), and (3) the lower portion of the square-cut-off end of the Ramp on the south. It is evident, from its peculiar shape, that this encircling stone was specially designed to strengthen the boundaries of the Well-mouth. On the opposite side of the Grand Gallery, the corresponding portion of the East Ramp presents no such peculiar evidence of strength, where it is not required.

The lower end of the East Ramp in the 534 The upper part of the Grand Gallery. square-cut-off Ramp on the south side of the Well-mouth, is an independent stone. Its top surface, of course, runs in line with the angle of the Grand Gallery ; but its under surface is level, and rests horizontally on that portion of the large stone just described, which forms the south boundary of the Well-mouth—See Plates CXLV & CXLVII. The distinctive shape of this upper stone was also, quite evidently, specially designed to form at the south edge of the Well-mouth, a firm termination to the long inclined Ramp which runs up the whole length of the Grand Gallery to the south of it—Plate IX. Had the under surface of this stone been cut parallel with its upper inclined surface, so forming a sloping joint with the stone beneath, it would have shown a deficiency in constructional knowledge which cannot be attributed to the ancient builders of the Great Pyramid, and would have helped to support the claim that the Well was merely an afterthought.

535 Directly opposite, on the east side of the Grand Gallery, the joint between the Ramp there, and the stones on which it rests, runs parallel with the inclined upper surface ; for the Ramp on that side continues unbroken to the north wall of the Gallery, and therefore requires no special provision to stand against end-thrust. Our photograph of this lower part of the East Ramp where it butts against the north wall of the Grand Gallery (Plate CXLIX), shows also the abrupt cut-off of the smooth sloping floor, a short distance up (south) from the line of the north wall of the Gallery.

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