The Facts about the Great Pyramid of Giza
             Humanities 101.01 Ancient & Medieval Worlds
             Upon our class visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on March 11, 2001 we started with the Egyptian exhibit. We were initially taken in one of the monument, which was completely enclosed and had carvings and paintings on its interior walls of figures in motion. The walls of the monument were approximately 15 feet high and were constructed of sandstone. The visitor's area to view this monument was very limited. We proceeded to thoroughly view the Egyptian exhibit. The exhibit primarily consisted of beautifully created sarcophaguses. The sarcophaguses included physical features of the persons who were buried in them. They had features of the persons face, torsos, and feet. They were decorated from head to toe with painted figures, colors, headdresses, precious gems and writings. At the end of the exhibit we journeyed into a very large room that housed only one item for exhibit. It was the Temple of Dendur. I was very interested and impressed with its construction. I!
             began to wonder, how does one construct this type of structure. Construction in general interests me because I work with many conventional construction companies who are constructors of bridges, highways, roads, and tunnels. On the side of the Temple was a text describing the temple and it included some more details relative to Egyptian construction. In one sentence I became fascinated with the Egyptians construction techniques. "The mortar used to construct the Egyptian pyramids is of unknown origin. It has been analyzed and its chemical composition is known but can't be reproduced. It is stronger than the stone and still holding up today". My first reaction was how is that possible? How can a chemical composition be known but not replicated? It then occurred to me that even in the twenty- first century the ancient Egyptians methods of cons...