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It's one of the world's greatest mysteries - how did the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids?
It's as vexing as the riddle of the Sphinx. And the truth is, no one really knows how they built the pyramids.
But amateur Egyptologist Maureen Clemmons has a theory. She thinks that kites may have been used to build the pyramids.
"If you look at the top center of every monument, you see wings," Clemmons said. "I think the Egyptians have been trying to tell us in pictures for 3000 years that this is how they built the pyramids."
Her idea - to build a pyramid you harness the desert wind using kites to lift the stones. She got a team of aeronautic engineers from Caltech to help her test the theory.
"At the beginning, we were ourselves very critical of her ideas but then we started to think more about it and we said, 'why not? let's try it,'" said Mary Gharid of Caltech.
The engineers worked out the math and designed a system of nylon ropes and pulleys. Each pulley quadruples the amount of weight a single kite can pull.
"So, we're using one kite in 15 mile per hour winds to lift up a three and half ton block," said Caltech student Emilio Castano.
Yesterday, in the Mojave Desert, they put their theory to the test using a nylon kite, three pulleys and an obelisk that weighs nearly four tons.
The wind speed had to be just right. And miraculously, it worked. There was more than enough force to hoist the obelisk. The total airtime? Only twenty-five seconds.
But the fact that it can be done, doesn't necessarily mean that's how the ancient Egyptians did it.
"There's absolutely no evidence for kites in ancient Egypt," said Professor Carol Redmount of UC Berkeley. "There's no evidence of pulleys as we know them today."
Redmount says the historical evidence points to the "Charlton Hesont method." Which basically relies on the theory of the muscle of slaves pushing pulleys and creating the pyramids.
But the Caltech group will have none of that.
"All I can remember from history is that Egyptians drank beer for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and as someone who has done field research on drinking beer, I know after I've had two beers and its really hot, I'm not pushing or pulling anything," Clemmons said. "So, I figured I'd try to think another way."
(Agencies)
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古代埃及人是如何建造金字塔的？--這一直是縈繞在人們心頭的謎團(tuán)之一。
這個(gè)問(wèn)題和古埃及司芬克思的謎語(yǔ)一樣令人費(fèi)解。說(shuō)真的，沒(méi)人知道古埃及人到底是如何建造了金字塔。
 不過(guò)作為一名業(yè)余埃及學(xué)家，毛瑞恩-克萊蒙斯提出了一個(gè)新的看法，在她看來(lái)，古埃及人借助了風(fēng)箏的力量造出了金字塔。
克萊蒙斯說(shuō)："如果抬頭仰視每座金字塔的頂部的話，你會(huì)看到翅膀的影子。我覺(jué)得在過(guò)去的3000多年當(dāng)中，古埃及人試圖讓我們由這些塔頂構(gòu)成的畫面想象出他們是如何修建金字塔的。"
克萊蒙斯認(rèn)為，憑借沙漠里的風(fēng)力，古埃及人利用風(fēng)箏來(lái)抬升石塊。她還從加州科技大學(xué)找來(lái)一批飛行學(xué)工程師幫她驗(yàn)證這個(gè)想法。
加州科技大的瑪麗-嘉利德說(shuō)："起初我們對(duì)她的看法也持批判態(tài)度，進(jìn)一步思考之后，我們認(rèn)為干嗎不試試看呢？"
工程師們從數(shù)學(xué)上進(jìn)行了論證，并設(shè)計(jì)出一個(gè)由尼龍繩子和滑輪構(gòu)成的工作系統(tǒng)。每個(gè)滑輪的重量是每只風(fēng)箏載重量的4倍。
科技大學(xué)生艾米利奧-加斯塔諾說(shuō)："我們要用一只風(fēng)箏在風(fēng)速為每小時(shí)15英里的情況下抬起3噸半重的石塊。"
昨天，在莫家烏沙漠，他們用一只尼龍風(fēng)箏、三個(gè)滑輪組和一個(gè)近4噸重的方尖石來(lái)檢驗(yàn)他們的理論。
風(fēng)速必須得恰倒好處才行。別說(shuō)，這個(gè)方法真的奇跡般的成功了。風(fēng)箏很輕松地就抬起了方尖石，而且只用了25秒鐘。
不過(guò)實(shí)驗(yàn)的成功并不等于說(shuō)古埃及人確實(shí)使用了這種方法建造了金字塔。
伯克利大學(xué)的卡羅爾-萊蒙特教授說(shuō)："沒(méi)有證據(jù)可以證明古埃及人使用過(guò)風(fēng)箏，也沒(méi)有證據(jù)證明埃及人擁有和我們今天使用的一樣的滑輪。"
萊蒙特教授說(shuō)歷史證據(jù)支持"查爾頓-海森特修建方案"，這種理論認(rèn)為古埃及人利用大批奴隸和當(dāng)時(shí)的一種滑輪修建了金字塔。
可是加州科技大的這批人可不這么看。
克萊蒙說(shuō)："我從歷史中得知埃及人一日三餐都少不了啤酒。當(dāng)你在野外工作時(shí)來(lái)上兩瓶啤酒，你就會(huì)全身冒火，更談不上去干推拉重物的活了。所以，我要尋找一種不同于'查爾頓-海森特修建方案'的古埃及人修建金字塔的方式。"
(中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯)
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Updated: 2001-07-02 01:00
