Uncovering the ancient secrets of the Great Pyramid | 60 Minutes Australia

[Music] it doesn't matter how many times you see the Great Pyramid it's always astounding its size its symmetry and most impressively that it's been here for four and a half thousand years so take a moment and take it in the tomb of the Pharaoh Cheops or Khufu as he's known here [Music] it's completely boggling you look at it anything what is it talk to me do something it's sort of really weird British archaeologist John Romo first saw the Great Pyramid 40 years ago ever since like so many others he's been trying to figure out how

it was built you know there's an old Arab saying man fears time of time tears the pyramids oldest thing in the world just stands there [Music] they're impressive today but imagine the pyramids in ancient times completely white shimmering in the desert visitors to this land must have just looked and wondered and they probably asked the same question we asked today how did they do it in this land of pyramids the Great Pyramid is pure perfection it's not just a huge pile of rocks neatly placed on top of each other precision of this pyramid but looking

at it looks rather precise made well before mathematics was recognized 2,000 years before Pythagoras came up with his triangle theorem it's perfect angles and joins make this the most precise and most confounding building in the world you just need to know where to look that's right now this angle has to be so precise because if your wee wee fraction of a degree out where it takes off from the bottom you're gonna be yards out up in the air up there what is mind-boggling about the Great Pyramid is that it's a really complex building designed with

some very simple tools the naked eye and a piece of string so much of it they used a plumb bob a string with a weight on the end and they lined it up to the stars to create one of the most accurate buildings of all time 45 centuries later it is still more precise than many modern skyscrapers obviously the precision was no accident but how the ancient builders got it so right without modern equipment no one's worked out until now so what are we looking at here well this is for survey points they're absolutely key

by understanding how this pyramid was made people have been tripping over these survey marks for centuries but extraordinarily John Romo is the first to see their significance to crack one of the pyramids startling secrets this one here is really exciting he's discovered a one-to-one plan of the pyramid mapped out on the Giza Plateau right next to the Great Pyramid the plan of the pyramid is the pyramid itself because if you really want to keep something that accurate the way to do is to make your plan at the same size as the finished thing by measuring

out the life-size plan with string the Egyptians were able to get their ancient calculations cubits perfect now this is the clincher and whatever anybody says about what I'm telling you here they say well that's all rubbish they never did this but what nobody's ever gonna be getting away from is if you measure 40 cubits from that point out there you get exactly the angle of the pyramids not vaguely not nearly about 51 degrees for 50 minutes so what does that tell you what are we standing on here we are standing on a sort of design

lab this is where they controlled the architecture the pyramid but John's discovery doesn't stop there he believes he's found yet another plan one for the inside of the pyramid similar to the exterior but slightly offset the difference between the two grids giving the pyramid it's magical angles why haven't these two plans been discovered before now people were looking for a single design and what I found was there was no single design they were two you know two designs just slightly disjunctive one from the other rather like a double helix and that I think poor earlier

people off because what they imagined was there must be a single plan you go in as it is outside its here inside the Great Pyramid where the accuracy counts in its steep confined corridors these tunnels are so narrow because they weren't built for access but as control lines for the builders we're now entering the biggest space in the pyramid the Grand Gallery the Grand Gallery and the majesty of its polished walls and vaulted ceiling it takes your breath away when we get to this which is the masterpiece of the whole bloody pyramid at the top

of the Grand Gallery is the great step a big piece of stone smack bang in the middle of the pyramid and to the ancient Egyptians partway through their constructions proof the pyramid was on track yes it's the refoundation of the pyramid you know this is like this is the center line we're setting it up again so the head of the pyramid the point of the pyramid exactly Madeline I'm exactly where my point of my finger 300 feet up there creepy really so this this proved to the ancient Egyptians that they've got it right to this

point well it didn't premiere they sort of thought they had because they know we're checking they get to this point and they're dead oh we can't find anything wrong with them as who duck down one more short cramp journey and we're in the heart of the pyramid in King Khufu's burial chamber so here we are the burial chamber climax that's where he was buried over there and his names on the box there's nothing it's completely plain it's like the others there are no ornate hieroglyphs in this large tomb but it's granite walls are perfect yeah

when King Khufu died his burial chamber was filled with luxuries from home gold inlaid furniture and well crafted jewelry four and a half thousand years ago it was a beautiful and sophisticated time the only surviving statue of King Khufu the bloke who built one of the seven wonders of the world is here at the Cairo Museum and it's tiny why is this the only thing that remains of Khufu it's just chance all of ancient Egypt what's left is just chance to get one King you get a hundred statues to get the guy who makes the

Great Pyramid you end up with this you you like this little statue obviously always a friend of mine lovely little blue looking out into eternity back in the pyramid this is where the adventure gets even more exciting up a steep unstable ladder into a tiny claustrophobic corridor we're exploring small spaces above the Kings burial chamber no one's allowed up here and this is one of the reasons why I'm stuck what makes this crazy journey worth it is that it's here in these hot and airless chambers that you get to see the marks of the pyramid

Nathan's [Music] but there is a little prayer maybe maybe sales of the boats there's a boat sail filled with wind and that's the beginning of the kingdom and it disappears under the block meaning meaning you know like we have to build this pyramid in the hurry and we need wind on the river to move these blocks over so this actually relates to a workday oh this is this you are looking at the pyramid being built here this is a pyramid in action that's why it's worth the struggle almost yeah you almost want to pinch yourself

amongst the 19th and 20th century graffiti of early Egyptologists is the proof that pyramid was built by the king there is a name in the ring and everywhere the red obsessively straight survey lines from four and a half thousand years ago showing how each Rock fitted exactly into place these spaces were added so the roof of the burial chamber didn't collapse under the weight of the top half of the pyramid those the fingerprints the guys they just reach out and touch the TV may the Great Pyramid - amazing it's amazing every stone means something to

me now it's very moving actually our next step back in time is down to the nearby limestone quarry where the ancient workers also left their mark just master craftsmen at work on a masterpiece how did they physically get the rock from here they built this enormous wrap the great thing is that you can get half a dozen men and a lot of water stick it a stone on mud and you can start it's like ice Rock Hall is from way back rock haulers and loving it apparently from what I can gather so what about this

this idea that these were slaves who had to work these quarries that they weren't willing workers at all this is a work of passion I think this is passion you're looking at here the sheer integrity of this work that the purity the nobody gets if you're working to harness of an inch it doesn't help with somebody working you on the back [Music] at the heart of construction there were 25,000 men building the pyramid and John's also discovered they made it far more quickly than first thought on average these stones each weigh two and a half

tons there's just over 2 million of them each chiseled to fit the other a bit like a jigsaw puzzle if you like its precise intricate work but there was also a building frenzy going on here the ancient Egyptians were laying these enormous stones 2 of them every 3 minutes now they slowed down a little bit as they got towards the top but overall they kept up that frantic pace for 14 years 14 years Liza no and up to something so big it's absolute overkill they never did it again it's just this one unique building what

was magical to them when they finished it as it will be the you and I if we'd finished it is like we just made that that's incredible [Music] wouldn't you love to have seen the Great Pyramid back then before its limestone casing was ransacked in all its white gleaming glory so tell me what they would see coming up here well go remember they're going into darkness down there and they're walking out there's a really tiny little corridor up the quite steep hill for a mile and a half go back four and a half thousand years

worshipers walking up a Black Rock corridor to pay their respects to the dead King now the magic thing is and this is show biz architecture today was still impressed by the great pyramids imposing size 146 meters high 230 metres wide each side in ancient times it dwarfed all other buildings and as those visitors entered the temple added space it was as if they were entering another world to come here you become to the stone you throwing the doors open and it would have physically hit you in the eyes well no there is this pure white

pyramid this perfect white geometric shape but nothing anybody had seen in the world before like a Cadillac parked in that jungle this is extraordinary most of all they died and gone to heaven which after Derby is exactly what they were doing beautiful [Music] hello I'm Tara Brown thanks for watching to keep up with the latest from 60 minutes Australia make sure you subscribe to our Channel you can also download the 9 now app for full episodes and other exclusive 60 minutes content