We decided to go down to the lowest chamber beneath the pyramid, which some called the pit or subterranean chamber. Howard had been here as part of the continuing excavation project with Dr. Hassan, so he led the way through the descending passage. Alpha and Murphy confessed they also had been inside the pyramid at some point in the past.
"Together?" Thierry asked, almost beside me at that moment.
Alpha, moving ahead of us in the cramped passage, turned and held a single finger before his lips.
Thierry tsked his tongue. "Prim," he said then, "Could you shine that light against this wall?"
Prim was behind us, along with Murphy, and held one of the induction bulbs. He stopped with Thierry to examine the wall, as Murphy and I continued down, following Alpha and David.
The bulbs flickered, leaving the tunnel temporarily in the dimmer yellow light from the oil lamps Alpha and I held.
"The composition of this stone may cause interference with the transmission of electromagnetic energies of particular wavelengths," Nikola said. "Do we have another portable unit?"
I did not know how the devices worked, but these movable units were somehow used in conjunction with the cosmic array outside to make the bulbs light.
"We are below the constructed portion of the pyramid," Thierry said. "This tunnel was dug through solid rock, no?"
At the same time, Murphy answered, "I have one here, but I do not know if the stand will keep it upright on the slope."
"Murphy, bring it here, if you will," Nikola asked.
"This section is below ground level," Howard replied, "In fact, we believe some part of the pyramid was built on an existing outcrop. We know the elevations of some parts of the mound from north to south in comparing the shift from masonry to bedrock in the well shaft and this passage with the pavement outside. How far it extends on an east-west axis is less certain."
It was not easy for any of us to move past another, at least not without some accidental touching, but Murphy made it past Alpha and then David, and in that same time Thierry moved close to me again. We continued down the long sloping passage. For most of the time, the electric lamps remained lit, though occasionally they went dark.
Further down, on our right, there was an opening in the wall. Howard described it as the entrance to the so-called well shaft but mentioned that there was no sign it was a well for water in its current form. "The upper portion is constructed differently and leads to what may have been a pre-existing feature of the terrain, so it could have been a well at one time. Professor Petrie held the theory that it was an escape passage for workers who sealed the passages, perhaps re-opened by Al-Mam'un's men."
"He's in Palestine now, isn't he?" David asked.
"Flinders Petrie? I haven't kept up with him. Excellent archaeologist in his technique and process, I worked under him in Amarna, but I didn't agree with all of his views." Howard paused. "Do you know him?"
"No. I read everything available on Egypt before traveling here."
Howard nodded. "He hasn't worked in Egypt since the war. Was of the opinion artifacts should be shipped to Europe for conservation purposes; didn't trust the war-time or interim government after Halmi was assassinated."
"The pit is just a short distance ahead," Alpha said, loudly enough that his voice echoed. It seemed a purposeful change of subject.
The passage leveled off and then widened before narrowing to a square opening leading to a further chamber. Being near the rear with Prim and Thierry, I did not view the pit until others had moved inside and stepped away from the small square opening to allow us room.
"Mind your step," Nikola said.
Then, quickly Howard added, "There's a deep pit in the floor."
By the time I saw the space, our four lamps lit the space in pools of blue and gold light. I had little sense of where natural feature or man-made carving ended. There were similar rectangular doorways on opposing north and south walls, a great dark pit in the floor between them, and then to the west stone forms and shapes of varying heights below a flat ceiling.
"Is it even finished?" I asked.
"We don't even know," Howard admitted. "And that far tunnel comes to a dead end."
"Was there water here?" Thierry asked. "Perhaps it is the light, or the coloring of the rock, but it looks as if there is discoloration as in a water line."
"Not that we know," Howard said.
"But there are tunnels in the area that do flood," I said, "Hakim mentioned them."
"Yes," David agreed, "there's a station within the Necropolis that pumps water up from a spring."
"The entire site is built over limestone, which I understand is known for holding water and cave formation, but we must go by evidence. We only know debris lay here at one time. Captain Caviglia begun to dig it out in the early Nineteenth Century. Was possibly rocky debris from interior digging, or sands blown in through the descending passage."
"From digging the well shaft?" David asked.
Howard hesitated.
"The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned canals from the Nile and the mound on which they built being surrounded by water. And the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder, who references Herodotus among others, says it is believed there is a well within the largest pyramid that connects with the river. And—" Alpha looked towards Howard, "Did Caviglia say he found Roman lettering here?"
"Selim may remember. It could still be here."
"So...?" Prim asked.
"So, the more ancient writers did associate the pyramid with water in some ways," Thierry said.
"And they knew of the existence of the deeper passages in antiquity," David added.
"So, it is plausible this chamber was possibly buried later," Alpha said.
"However Caviglia found the well shaft itself blocked with debris," Howard added, "So the debris here was not necessarily from its original construction."
-----
Chapter 75!
Audio media is "Bud's Big Dive" from the Soundtrack to the movie Abyss.
The above photos are both in the public domain and part of the collection by John and Morton Edgar from 1910. These are both titled in French "Chambre souterraine de la pyramide de Khéops".
I have been reading and viewing a fantastic amount of theories and historical reports on the pyramids as research. It's frustrating and exhausting. It would be helpful if people didn't rob or quarry from ancient monuments. But it seems a common afliction that we humans do it. I can't even get kids to keep from disassembling my Lego city.
The Next Chapter will be The Heart of the Pyramid which I will post on Friday.