The great pyramid passages and chambers

hollowed out of one large block of granite, which, as Professor Flinders Petrie points out, shows evidence of having been sawn into its square shape. The method by which this granite block was hollowed out was, according to Professor Petrie, by means of large jewelled tubular drills.

501 Evidences of the extensive use of saws and drills on all kinds of stone, some of which are harder even than granite, are everywhere apparent in Egypt. How the ancient Egyptians were able to use them has puzzled the minds of Egyptologists for many years. Their knowledge of mechanics teaches them that immense power must have been employed; yet they fail to find any trace of an adequate appliance by which this power could have been generated.’ Professor Petrie says: ‘‘ The great pressure needed to force the drills and saws so rapidly through the hard stones is very surprising ; probably a load of at least a ton or two was placed on the four-inch drills cutting in granite [he elsewhere speaks of drills of no less than eighteen inches in diameter!] ... These rapid spiral grooves [to be clearly seen on the inside of drilled holes] cannot be ascribed to anything but the descent of the drill into the granite under enormous pressure.’ After describing the method by which the builders of the Second Pyramid introduced and placed in position the large granite portcullis which closes that pyramid’s lower Entrance Passage (See Plate XXVIII), Professor Petrie adds the following comment: ‘ The skill required to turn over and lift such a block, in such a confined space, is far more striking than the moving of much larger masses in the open air, where any number of men could work on them. By measuring the bulk, it appears

'It is significant to note, in this connection, that a piece of wrought tron was found in the Great Pyramid by one of Col. Howard Vyse’s assistants, Mr. J. R. Hill, during the operations carried on at Gizeh in 1837. Mr. Hill found it embedded in the cement of an inner joint, while removing some of the masonry preparatory to clearing the southern air-channel of the King’s Chamber. This piece of iron is probably the oldest specimen in existence; and Col. Howard Vyse was fully cognizant of the importance of the find. He forwarded it to the British Museum with the following certificates :

“This is to certify, that the piece of iron found by me near the [outside] mouth of the airpassage, in the southern side of the Great Pyramid at Gizeh, on Friday, May 26th, was taken out by me from an inner joint, after having removed by blasting the two outer tiers of the stones of the present surface of the Pyramid; and that no joint or opening of any sort was connected with the above-mentioned joint, by which the iron could have been placed in it after the original building of the Pyramid. I also showed the exact spot to Mr. Perring, on Saturday, June 24th. —J. R. Hill.

“To the above certificate of Mr. Hill, I can add, that since I saw the spot at the commencement of the blasting, there have been two tiers of stones removed, and that, if the piece of iron was found in the joint, pointed out to me by Mr. Hill, and which was covered by a larger stone partly remaining, it is impossible it could have been placed there since the building of the Pyramid.J. S. Perring, C.E.

‘We hereby certify, that we examined the place whence the iron in question was taken by Mr. Hill, and we are of opinion, that the iron must have been left in the joint during the building of the Pyramid, and that it could not have been inserted afterwards.—Ed. S. Andrews,—James Mash, C.E.”

Because of its very rarity, some have been inclined to doubt the authenticity of this piece of iron ; but Professor Flinders Petrie rightly defends it— The vouchers for it are very precise ; and it hasa cast of a nummulite on the rust of it, proving it to have been buried for ages beside a block of nummulitic limestone [which forms a large part of the core masonry of the Pyramid], and therefore to be certainly ancient. No reasonable doubt can therefore exist about its being really a genuine piece used

by the Pyramid masons." The Scriptures make mention of artificers in iron, before the DelugeGen. 4 : 22.

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