{"it":{"id":"W21LA08","kind":"artifact","sub":"Authenticated","name":"Giza contoured couch granite block","place":"Giza Plateau near Valley Temple (unlocated)","mat":"granite","dims":"104 x 17 x 33 in; 0.4375 in blend radius","loc":"Giza Plateau near Valley Temple (unlocated)","acc":"none","find":"surface find","flag":"genuine ancient","src":[198],"tags":[],"sum":"Christopher Dunn found it in February 1995: a block of granite lying south of the Great Pyramid, about 100 yards east of the second pyramid, with a surface that curves in 3 directions at once. It is broken into two pieces.\n\nDunn, an engineer, measured a radius of 7/16 inch where the contoured face blends into the next. To him that is the mark of a shape cut along 3 axes at the same time, the kind of surface a modern machine makes with a computer program.\n\nWhat is hard to explain is why anyone would carve such a complex curve in granite at all. The block's original place in a building is not known.\n\nDunn reads it as proof that the Giza builders had machine tools. The evidence from Egyptian workshops answers the method, if not the purpose. Petrie found that their cutters used fixed points of very hard stone, probably corundum, and in a 1999 trial at Aswan, Denys Stocks cut granite with copper, sand and a bow. A compound curve can be ground by hand, with templates, given time. The block itself has never been independently surveyed (single source).\n\nThe open edge is the purpose. A curve that complex was made for a reason, and finding where the block once fitted would explain more than any debate about tools.","why":"A block measured and described by one engineer at Giza, with the workshop evidence that answers him.","nfacts":1,"nsrc":1,"yt":"Locate it.","rel":["KHA-VT"],"hook":"A granite block at Giza curves in 3 directions at once. Christopher Dunn measured it, and sees machining.","ss":1},"S":{"198":["Christopher Dunn, Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the Temples of the Pharaohs (Bear & Co 2010, ISBN 978-1-59143-102-2); printed-page refs","file:books/upload5.pdf"]},"rec":{"id":"W21LA08","alias":[],"ms":[{"a":"Giza contoured cornice element mass (estimate)","v":"~17","u":"tons","unc":"estimate","by":"Christopher Dunn","yr":"2006","m":"not stated [Dunn 2010 p.157; quote W21LQ023]","b":"S","t":"MEASUREMENT","id":"W21LM023","s":["W21LS01"],"c":"Christopher Dunn, Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the Temples of the Pharaohs (Bear & Co 2010, ISBN 978-1-59143-102-2); printed-page refs","url":"file:books/upload5.pdf"}],"lab":[],"eng":[],"ori":[],"gaps":[],"dat":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"me":[],"ci":[],"cq":[],"sd":[],"art":{"claimed_anomaly":"3-axis machining","mainstream_reading":"not opened (DB AA280)","provenance_flag":"genuine ancient","current_location":"Giza Plateau near Valley Temple (unlocated)","find_circumstances":"surface find","claimant":"Christopher Dunn","status":"no data","dimensions":"104 x 17 x 33 in; 0.4375 in blend radius","material":"granite","date":"","culture":"","museum_accession":"none","b":"S","s":["W21LS01"]},"sub":[],"src":[{"id":"W21LS01","t":"Christopher Dunn, Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the Temples of the Pharaohs (Bear & Co 2010, ISBN 978-1-59143-102-2); printed-page refs","u":"file:books/upload5.pdf"},{"id":"VW21LA08-2","t":"Christopher Dunn, GizaPower: Advanced machining in ancient Egypt","u":"http://www.gizapower.com/Advanced/Advanced%20Machining.html"},{"id":"VW21LA08-3","t":"Petrie 1883, Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, ch. 19: mechanical methods of the pyramid builders","u":"https://www.ronaldbirdsall.com/gizeh/petrie/c19.html"},{"id":"VW21LA08-4","t":"Anarkia333: Aswan 1999 expedition, 8 cm tube (believer page)","u":"https://www.anarkia333data.center/megalithe/exp-dassouan-de-1999-tube-de-8cm"}],"qs":["A compound curve in granite, with a 7/16 inch radius. Templates and patience, or something more?","This block lies near one of the most visited sites on Earth. Why has no one surveyed it independently?","Where could a block shaped like this have fitted in an Egyptian building?"]},"img":null,"md":{"h":"img/m/W21LA08-16x9.webp","w":1600,"hh":900,"alt":"Illustration: setting associated with Giza contoured couch granite block, Giza Plateau near Valley Temple (unlocated)","by":"Illustration made for The Nommo","lic":"","lu":"","p":"","g":true,"ct":false,"cap":"","sec":[]},"hh":[{"v":"104 x 17 x 33 in","h":"Recorded dimensions: 104 x 17 x 33 in; 0.4375 in blend radius","s":[269]},{"v":"Granite","h":"Made of","s":[269]},{"v":"surface find","h":"Where it was found","s":[269]}],"hs":{"269":["Christopher Dunn, Lost Technologies of Ancient Egypt: Advanced Engineering in the Temples of the Pharaohs (Bear & Co 2010, ISBN 978-1-59143-102-2); printed-page refs","file:books/upload5.pdf"]}}