Joseph Davidovits

Joseph Davidovits (born 1935) is a French materials scientist who has posited that the blocks of the Great Pyramid are not carved stone, but mostly a form of limestone concrete. He holds the Ordre National du Mérite, is the author and co-author of more than 130 scientific papers and conferences reports, and holds more than fifty patents.

Career

Davidovits graduated from the , Rennes, France, in 1958 with a diploma in chemical engineering. His doctorate was from the University of Mainz. Initially researching organic polymers for the textile industry in France, his interest in geopolymers developed from the need to improve the fire-resistance of these materials. From 1982 his career encompassed academic research in universities in both Europe and America; the promotion of geopolymers in industry, through his Geopolymer Institute in the textile center of Saint-Quentin, France, and his archaeological studies.

Archaeological theories

Davidovits was not convinced that the ancient Egyptians possessed the tools or technology to carve and haul the huge (2.5 to 15 ton) limestone blocks that made up the Great Pyramid. Davidovits suggested that the blocks were molded in place by using a form of limestone concrete. According to his theory, a soft limestone with a high kaolinite content was quarried in the wadi on the south of the Giza plateau. It was then dissolved in large, Nile-fed pools until it became a watery slurry. Lime (found in the ash of ancient cooking fires) and natron (also used by the Egyptians in mummification) was mixed in. The pools were then left to evaporate, leaving behind a moist, clay-like mixture. This wet "concrete" would be carried to the construction site where it would be packed into reusable wooden molds. In the next few days the mixture would undergo a chemical hydration reaction similar to the setting of cement.

Using Davidovits' theory, no large gangs would be needed to haul blocks and no huge and unwieldy ramps would be needed to transport the blocks up the side of the pyramid. No chiseling or carving with soft bronze tools would be required to dress their surfaces and new blocks could be cast in place, on top of and pressed against the old blocks. This would account for the unerring precision of the joints of the casing stones (the blocks of the core show tools marks and were cut with much lower tolerances). Proof-of-concept experiments using similar compounds were carried out at Davidovit's geopolymer institute in northern France. It was found that a crew of ten, working with simple hand tools, could build a structure of fourteen, 1.3 to 4.5 ton blocks in a couple of days. According to Davidovits the architects possessed at least two concrete formulas: one for the large structural blocks and another for the white casing stones. He argues earlier pyramids, brick structures, and stone vases were built using similar techniques.

Although his ideas are not accepted by mainstream Egyptologists, in December 2006 Michel Barsoum, Adrish Ganguly, and Gilles Hug published a peer-reviewed paper in the "Journal of the American Ceramic Society" stating that parts of the pyramid were cast with a type of limestone concrete [http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_46807.shtml] . Dipayan Jana, a petrographer, made a presentation to the ICMA (International Cement Microscopy Association) in 2007 [http://www.cmc-concrete.com/CMC%20Seminars/2007%20ICMA%20Pyramid.pdf The Egyptian Pyramid Enigma - large pdf file] and gave a paper [http://www.cmc-concrete.com/CMC%20Publications/2007,%20The%20Great%20Pyramid%20Debate,%2029th%20ICMA.pdf The Great Pyramid Debate: Evidence from Detailed Petrographic Examinations of Casing Stones from the Great Pyramid of Khufu, a Natural Limestone from Tura, and a Man-Made (Geopolymeric) Limestone, Proceedings of the 29th Conference on Cement Microscopy, International Cement Microscopy Association, Quebec City, Canada, May 2007 - another large pdf file] in which he concludes "we are far from accepting even as a remote possibility of a 'manmade'origin of pyramid stones."

ummary of evidence

Davidovits cites primarily evidence related to his profession as a materials scientist, re-interpreting the observations of conventional Egyptology within this light. Briefly, his points include:
* The thin layer of 'mortar' found at the top of casing blocks is actually the the result of settling and water percolating to the top of the block while drying; the layer found would be too weak to bind the massive blocks together
* The humidity inside the pyramids is much higher than would be expected in a desert environment; this is caused by the moisture released into the halls and galleries while the blocks cure
* The arrangement of fossils within the blocks is jumbled, rather than stratified, pointing to the blocks being crushed, then poured while casting rather than deposited in layers as would conventional sedimentary rock
* Certain blocks have elongated air pockets, caused by the cement hardening while air bubbles were in the process of rising to the top
* Ancient descriptions of the pyramids being built featured the use of short blocks of wood, conventionally seen as levers or cranes; Davidovits suggests their use as frames to mold the blocks
* Lines were also found on the blocks; the lines are wavy (characteristic of most types of concrete) and not horizontal (characteristic of natural limestone)

ee also

* Great Pyramids of Giza
* Pyramids
* Egyptian pyramid construction techniques

ources

Books

* cite book
first = Joseph
last = Davidovits
coauthors = Margie Morris
year = 1988
title = The Pyramids: An Enigma Solved
publisher = Dorset Press
location = New York
* cite book
first = Joseph
last = Davidovits
year = 1983
title = Alchemy and the Pyramids
publisher = Geopolymer Institute
location = Saint Quentin, France
* cite book
first = Joseph
last = Davidovits
year = 2002
title = Ils ont Bâti les Pyramides: Les Prouesses Technologiques des Anciens Egyptiens
publisher = J.-C. Godefroy
location = Paris
* cite book
first = Joseph
last = Davidovits
year = 2005
title = La Bible avait raison, Tome 1: L’archéologie révèle l’existence des Hébreux en Égypte
publisher = J.-C. Godefroy
location = Paris
* cite book
first = Joseph
last = Davidovits
year = 2006
title = La Bible avait raison, Tome 2: sur les traces de Moïse et de l’Exode
publisher = J.-C. Godefroy
location = Paris
* cite book
first = Joseph
last = Davidovits
year = 2006
title = La nouvelle histoire des pyramides
publisher = J.-C. Godefroy
location = Paris

References

External links

* [http://www.davidovits.info/ Davidovits Biography]
* [http://www.geopolymer.org/ The Geopolymer Institute]

Pro-Davidovits

* [http://www.geopolymer.org/category/archaeology/pyramids/ Are Pyramids Made Out of Concrete?]
* [http://www.yubanet.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/21/46807 Concrete Blocks Used in Great Pyramids Construction]
* [http://www.livescience.com/history/070518_bts_barsoum_pyramids.html The Surprising Truth Behind the Construction of the Great Pyramids]

Anti-Davidovits

* [http://doernenburg.alien.de/alternativ/pyramide/pyr17_e.php Concrete Pyramids?]
* [http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20061204-055520-1516r Egypt dismisses theory that concrete was used in pyramids]