By Steve Rensberry
The name of French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin has become a familiar one to researchers of the great Egyptian pyramids, the primary reason being a detailed theory which Houdin has advanced suggesting that many of the blocks used to built the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza were raised to their lofty position not by ramps constructed on the outside but by an inner corkscrew series of ramps built on the inside.
An article posted by IBMLive on January 31, 2011, Great Pyramid may hold secret rooms, makes reference to L-shaped rooms cited by Houdin in 2008 as evidence for his theory. The rooms may have been used to maneuver the blocks, and may also contain artifacts.
"Jean-Pierre Houdin, who has been asking for a probe into how the great structure was built, said 3-D simulation and data from American Egyptologist Bob Brier pointed to two secret chambers in the heart of the structure," the article states.
Euronews published an update and an animated video on Feb. 2 entitled "Architect unveils pyramid's secret rooms." Houdin is quoted as saying that he has spent an estimated 35,000 hours of work on the pyramid over a span of 12 years. But while he is convinced the rooms are there, he has so-far been denied access by the Egyptian government, which turned down his request in 2008 to use various non-invasive technologies to search for the rooms.
One of the strongest pieces of evidence for Houdin’s theory comes from a 1986 survey of the pyramid using a density-measuring process called microgravimetry. Although the team's conclusion was that there were no hidden chambers in the structure, their tests did produce one image that they found unable to make sense of, which at the time they ignored. That image, it turns out, bears a strong resemblance to Houdin’s diagrams of an inside, spiraling ramp. See this 2007 article How to Build a Pyramid, by Bob Brier.
Houdin is now laying out hope that scientists from Canada--primarily Xavier Maldague of Laval University along with four students-- will be given the permission he was previously denied, this time using infrared thermography.
Marianne White, with the Montreal Gazette, writes in Quebec scientists to probe Great Pyramid for secret ramp that the infrared cameras Maldague and his crew would use would be placed nowhere near the pyramid, but would instead be set up hundreds of meters away in a nearby hotel. Maldague, she says, was hoping to get approval this year in time to begin testing in 2012.
With Egypt having gravitated into almost total upheaval, only time will tell whether their hopes will be realized any time soon.
Reference:
Jean-Pierre Houdin
Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association
Egypt: Secrets of an Ancient World
Great Pyramid of Giza
Talking Pyramids
World-Mysteries