Great Pyramid at Giza Vandalized to 'Prove' Conspiracy Theory

[Skywizard]

Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann who visited the Egyptian pyramids in April 2013
now face criminal charges for their attempt to prove their "alternative history" conspiracy
theories through vandalism.


Two German men who visited the Egyptian pyramids in April 2013 now face criminal charges for their attempt to prove their "alternative history" conspiracy theories through vandalism. The men, Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann, were joined by a third German, a filmmaker who accompanied them to document their "discoveries."

The men were allowed to enter the inner chambers of the Great Pyramid at Giza normally off-limits to the public and restricted to authorized archaeologists and Egyptologists. The group reportedly took several items from the pyramids, including taking samples of a car touche (identifying inscription) of the pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops. Goerlitz and Erdmann, who are not archaeologists but have instead been described as "hobbyists," allegedly smuggled the artifacts out of the country in violation of strict antiquities laws, according to news reports.

In addition to the three Germans, six Egyptians are being held in connection with the case, including several guards and inspectors from the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry who allowed the men into the pyramid. Tourism, one of Egypt's most important industries, has dropped dramatically in recent years due to social and political unrest. Tour-agency owners — including one of the men recently arrested in connection with this case — are often willing to bend or break the rules if it means satisfying wealthy foreigners, news reports suggest. The German government expressed outrage over the acts, and categorically stated the men were private citizens and not in any way affiliated with its German Archaeological Institute.

Trying to prove a conspiracy

Goerlitz and Erdmann acknowledged their acts, and even went so far as to post photographs and videos of themselves vandalizing the archaeological sites. However, they claimed their goal was a noble one: to prove their "alternative history" conspiracy theory that the pyramids were not built by ancient Egyptians.

The men are apparently convinced the car touche identifying Khufu as the creator of the Great Pyramid at Giza is a fake, and they hoped to do an analysis on the pigments to prove they were not as old as the pyramids themselves. In essence, they claimed, pharaoh Khufu simply put his name on (and took credit for) pyramids that had been built thousands of years earlier by people from the legendary city of Atlantis. They accuse mainstream archaeologists of covering up — or willfully ignoring — evidence pointing to non-Egyptian origins of the pyramids.

The conspiracy theories that Goerlitz and Erdmann endorse did not appear in a vacuum; instead, they have been widely promoted by best-selling authors such as Erich von Däniken, who wrote "Chariots of the Gods?" first published in 1968. Such authors claim the true builders of the pyramids were not ancient Egyptians but instead others, like extraterrestrials or residents of the legendary Atlantis. While "alternative history" and "ancient astronaut" theorists such as von Däniken do not explicitly endorse vandalism of any Egyptian sites, Goerlitz and Erdmann's actions were clearly driven by belief in such theories. (Ancient-astronaut theorists propose, unscientifically, that extraterrestrials intelligently designed humans.)

The true pyramid builders

As physicist Wolfgang Pauli famously said about a ludicrous idea, "It's not even wrong." There are countless glaring fallacies in Goerlitz and Erdmann's wild theory, beginning with the fact that Atlantis never existed; it was first described in two dialogues by Plato — the "Timaeus" and the "Critias" — written around 330 B.C. The Atlantis discussed by Plato did not refer to any actual ancient empire, because the dialogues were fictional stories and fables. Suggesting that people from Plato's Atlantis built the pyramids is like saying people from Tolkien's Middle Earth built the pyramids, or inhabitants of Superman's home planet of Krypton built the pyramids — it makes no sense, because they're fictional characters.

Aside from that, there's clear evidence that ancient Egyptians did, indeed, build the pyramids. Ken Feder, an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at Central Connecticut State University and author of "Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology" (McGraw-Hill, 2013) takes a dim view of such baseless ideas.

"Here's an archaeological shocker: Ancient Egyptians built the pyramids," Feder told Live Science. "Contrary to what some purveyors of fantasy maintain, the technological skills necessary to construct the pyramids were not unknown in ancient Egypt. In actual fact, the Great Pyramid at Giza was the culmination of a lengthy, multigenerational, evolutionary process."

Archaeologists have found several early, failed attempts to build the pyramids, Feder noted. "Early attempts at true, geometric pyramid burial monuments resulted in spectacular screw-ups, including a 'collapsed' pyramid (the slope of the face of the monument was too steep)," Feder said. "In another attempt, cracks appeared in the lower part of the pyramid, again because the slope was too steep and one corner of the pyramid was positioned on a soft, sandy base."

"Finally, the Egyptian builders were not above taking credit for their labors; workers sometimes actually incised dates onto pyramid blocks, and one piece of graffiti in a chamber in the Great Pyramid bears the phrase, 'We did this with pride in the name of our great King Khnum-Khuf,' another name for the Pharaoh Khufu," he added.

In the end, "There is no controversy concerning who built the pyramids," Feder said. "Anyone caught trying to rewrite this history through theft or subterfuge isn't doing archeology. They're breaking the law and insulting the memory of the thousands of ancient workers whose labors produced one of the wonders of the ancient world."



Source: http://www.livescience.com/43469-gre...theorists.html


I wonder if they ever found out if the analysis of the pigments proved they were not as old as the pyramids themselves. We will probably never know.


peace...
skywizard

[Nasu]

Interesting hit piece on these poor Germans. I liked the comment about ancient astronaut theory being unscientific, the very idea that we may have been seeded here seems utterly preposterous to the writer of this article. This despite the fact that not one scientist has found any evedence of a missing link, in the final analysis the scientific theory is just that, a theory, as yet an inconclusive theory at that... N

[DeDukshyn]

Interestingly, the "collapsed" pyramid, referenced to somehow try to add credence to the story that Egyptian's built the great pyramids, was actually a copycat attempt. In fact there are many shoddy attempts of pyramid building that occurred long long after the originals were built. They just didn't have the skill or the know-how. Yet these shoddy attempts are seen as "practice" for the great pyramids, yet there is no evolution in quality of construction form these completely obvious and lousy knockoffs, that indicated there was any progression to the incredibly detailed and super-humanly (almost) engineered beauties that keep a myriad of amazing mysteries and improbabilities.

Interesting article though, no doubt with an agenda to serve =)

[Fairy Friend]

There is a lot of evidence that they did overlay statues, artifacts etc.

I was told to take a flight over the sands. A lot of egypt is still buried and the shifting sands reveal structures all the time. I have not had the opportunity but on my bucket list.

[Shezbeth]

Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of "Skeptical Inquirer" science magazine and author of six books, including "The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media Panics and Hoaxes."

Several agendas it would seem. ^_~

[johnf]

Official science has experienced some setbacks.
This story focuses on an act of desperation by the alternative types.
On this site the "chatter" about alternative archeology has increased a bit be cause of events and rumors
around the area off the coast of Portugal.
I just watched the Camelot Courtney Brown interview ysterday, and I admire his treatment of the Plato, Atlantis
story.
This story could be the truth about a satellite civilization inside the Mediteranean, or it could have been a spin around
real events, the real truth includes multiple sites and multiple civilizations.
This article seems to be a counterattack of something that is yet to show itself.
I sense more of this sort of thing from both sides.

JohnF

[ghostrider]

They don't want the world to know , ancient peoples NOT FROM EARTH yet human beings designed and helped build the great pyramids over 70.000 years ago ... they were built in two stages , one about 43,000 years ago and the other around 30,000 years ago ... The people from ORION back then were more advanced than earth humans today ... only people that travel the stars would build things that align and sit in harmony with star movements ...

[sirdipswitch]

I have a silly question! Well, a couple or three, and sometimes more, actually.

People progress from dumb to smart, right? Well, usually should, right?

Why can't we duplicate any of those things today? We musta took a left turn somewhere.

Here comes my all time favorite silly question. It may be a bit off course, cuz it's about Baalbeck. The Romans were able to build their massive Temple of Jupiter, because of the "massive" foundation, that someone else had build there, that nobody knows when, or why, or how, but is another feat we can't duplicate today. Next to Jupiter is the Temple of Bachus, that was a "copy" of Jupiter. That means there was a wall inside all of those massive collums. And a roof. Right?

Where's the "rubble"???

Way back when I first got my Google Earth, I was happy to see it progress to the point that much of these places I enjoy exploring, became high enough resolution to check them out. In watching Baalbeck resolution increase, it suddenly dawned on me. Where's the rubble??? Yah right, there's a bunch layin around, but not nearly enough to account far all those massive collums and the interior wall. There should be enough rubble from all of that stuff to completely cover the floor with rubble, 20feet thick. It ain't there. There should be a huge tangle of collums laying everywhere. Where are they? Go to Google Earth and look around. There isn't enough rubble to account for a fourth of that temple.

Wurdiditgo???

[sirdipswitch]

Oh yah, that includes the big pyramid also. They sat that people "stole' the facing stones off of it to use for building materials around town. ??? HUH?? Did ya know that they have never found even a piece of those facing stones, "around town"?

Wurdiditgo???

Just a few of my "silly" questions. chuckle chuckle.

[CrimSynn]

well lets start with the story of atlantis.... who wrote the story about Troy? Musta been a story or fairytale....O wait we found it... so its true then? So many Stories or Myths are based on a truth perjaps tainted by time but still a truth. I am one who would say Atlantis like Troy and so many other places at one time in some place existed and like Troy we will find it or ruins of it. I strongly doubt aliens had much to do with anything on earth. It seems that in the 3 million years we have walked upright we have done a ton more then we believe. Look at last 2,oooyears? we have done a ton so what did we do for 2,998,000 years? Hunt and gather? really? i doubt it!

[DeDukshyn]

Posted by CrimSynn (here)
well lets start with the story of atlantis.... who wrote the story about Troy? Musta been a story or fairytale....O wait we found it... so its true then? So many Stories or Myths are based on a truth perjaps tainted by time but still a truth. I am one who would say Atlantis like Troy and so many other places at one time in some place existed and like Troy we will find it or ruins of it. I strongly doubt aliens had much to do with anything on earth. It seems that in the 3 million years we have walked upright we have done a ton more then we believe. Look at last 2,oooyears? we have done a ton so what did we do for 2,998,000 years? Hunt and gather? really? i doubt it!

Well if you believe the Atlantis myth, then you can believe the "angel" myth no? Who's to say that what we think aliens are, are not just another part of our mythology likely based in some truth? Maybe half a dozen of one is equal to 6 of the other? Maybe we get too caught up in labels ... ?


My 2 cents

Another note ... in the last two threads you I notice you post at, you make claim about "ETs" not being ... <insert whatever here>, yet in this article there is no mention of ETs building pyramids anywhere (it can be only found in one short post by another member in this whole thread), the initial premise in the OP was that the Egyptians didn't build the pyramids, but that they were built by earlier civilizations -- not ETs. In the other thread, the same thing happened, no one talked much of ETs at all, but your post just indicated how you can't believe that it was ETs that .. <insert whatever here>

Just an observation

[CrimSynn]

[QUOTE=DeDukshyn;823063]

Another note ... in the last two threads you I notice you post at, you make claim about "ETs" not being ... <insert whatever here>, yet in this article there is no mention of ETs building pyramids anywhere (it can be only found in one short post by another member in this whole thread), the initial premise in the OP was that the Egyptians didn't build the pyramids, but that they were built by earlier civilizations -- not ETs. In the other thread, the same thing happened, no one talked much of ETs at all, but your post just indicated how you can't believe that it was ETs that .. <insert whatever here>

I do get a little worked up with the feeling that you see so many threads with the idea that we(humans) cant do anything alone. It is an insult to believe we need "others" to build something "Great" I can only guess the Atomic bomb was a gift from "others"? Since its seems to be a common feeling that we (humans) cant build anything on our own. So in short yes i get a little anoyed with the belief that we can not do anything on our own. But all smiles none the less

[CrimSynn]

Perhaps a large amount of my anoyance comes from my belief that as opposed to "others" , "ETs","GODS" or any other form of beings doing or building things in our history, why cant we simply note that we have been around for 3 million years! That is a VERY long time, We could have done so very much and been through so many world changing events. It is very possible we are alone. I believe with so many solar systems there is intelligent life out there but why does it have to come here? Why is it so difficult to see that with 3 million years to work with that we built a great many things. If we Nuked our world today in 10,000years what would the next age of scientist find? What would survived? Would they find some of NY city?!?!?! Maybe "Aliens or ETs" built it? Everything comes down to perspective and i tend to see that odds are our history is very much the rise and fall and rise again of Humans.