In 2013 we wrote about a controversy regarding two amateur archaeologists who had allegedly chipped off parts of the famous cartouche of Pharaoh Khufu in the Great Pyramid. That story subsequently blew up, with Egypt laying charges against the pair – Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann – and the Egyptian guards who were in attendance during the act.
The case has since concluded, and it is the Egyptian guards who have paid the heaviest price, with all six currently serving time in prison. Goerlitz and Erdmann escaped serving any time – by being out of the country – and continue with their research. Yesterday they put out a press release about their findings:
Notwithstanding the politics, distractions and shenanigans caused by the rash accusations made by Dr. Hawass, the samples that were collected and scientifically tested in Germany for Goerlitz and Erdmann may have solved the age-long mystery concerning the use of iron and possible advanced technologies used by the Pyramid Builders of Giza.
Goerlitz and Erdmann are not the first discoverers of iron in the Great Pyramid – but their research results finally could close the necessary chain of evidence. The particular importance lies in the proof that they can demonstrate ancient Egyptian wrought iron in the original finding context. Both, the occurrence of 18 black magnetite traces on the ceiling and the iron plate found by J.R. Hill in 1883 (metallurgically investigated by El Gayar & Jones, 1989) provide the physical proof for the use of iron in the Fourth Dynasty. The presence of magnetite and “[…] other inclusions of un-reduced iron show that the “melting” operations had been inexpertly carried out at low temperature probably between 1.000 and 1.100°C […]” (Gayar & Jones). All these archaeo-metrical evidence contradict strongly the official statements of the scholars that in the Old Kingdom people neither knew how to produce iron nor how to use it.
The evidence culled from the scientific tests also would explain the mystery of how huge multi-ton blocks were transported and, more intriguingly, how they were lifted and positioned by the Pyramid Builders of Giza, suggestive of a highly advanced technology and the use of iron equipment in the 3rd millennium BCE in Egypt. Goerlitz is preparing an experiment in which he is trying to demonstrate how the ancient Egyptians may have used their iron equipment (Congress in Lennestadt -> August 22nd-23rd, 2015).
Head over to Andreas Muller’s website to see the full press release.
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