Outer stone of an Egyptian pyramid was man-made

View from Snofru's Bent Pyramid in Dahshur. Image: Ivrienen at en.wikipedia

New NZ-led research shows that the outer stone of an Egyptian pyramid was man-made.

An international team of scientists, led by Professor Ken MacKenzie of the Macdiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology in Wellington has just announced the results of a new study on the casing stone of the Bent Pyramid in Dahshour.

Their state-of-the-art analytical techniques have enabled them to probe the nuclear structure of the pyramid rock, suggesting that the pyramid was encased in an artificial stone cast from minerals found in the surrounding area.

By shedding light on ancient technology, these findings could also have present-day implications for the development of durable ecologically-friendly building materials.

The research team included scientists from Geological and Nuclear Sciences in Wellington and Universities in the UK and USA. Their findings were released last week at a conference in Japan and published in the International Journal Materials Letters.

ENDS

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