View allAll Photos Tagged Pyramids
I remember my Dad taking me to see a "Pyramid House" when I was a very small boy. I've wondered recently whatever happened to that place. I was too little to remember where it was or exactly what the deal was so I asked him about it this weekend. Today, we drove way out in the boondocks south east of Mena to this place. It's pretty amazing to see a bunch of pyramids in the middle of Nowhere, Arkansas! The big one is 4 stories tall.
To get here, take Hwy 8 East of Mena. Turn left at Big Fork on County Road 675 and drive... a long way. Pyramids will be on the right, you can't miss them!
It is believed the Great Pyramid of Giza (left) was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and was constructed over a 20 year period. Khufu's vizier, Hemon, or Hemiunu, is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid. It is thought that, at construction, the Great Pyramid was originally 280 Egyptian cubits tall, 146.5 metres (480.6 ft) but with erosion and absence of its pyramidion, its present height is 138.8 metres (455.4 ft). Each base side was 440 cubits, 230.4 metres (755.9 ft) long. A royal cubit measures 0.524 metres. The mass of the pyramid is estimated at 5.9 million tonnes. The volume, including an internal hillock, is roughly 2,500,000 cubic metres. Based on these estimates, building this in 20 years would involve installing approximately 800 tonnes of stone every day. Similarly, since it consists of an estimated 2.3 million blocks, completing the building in 20 years would involve moving an average of more than 12 of the blocks into place each hour, day and night. The first precision measurements of the pyramid were made by Egyptologist Sir Flinders Petrie in 1880–82 and published as The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh. Almost all reports are based on his measurements. Many of the casing stones and inner chamber blocks of the Great Pyramid were fit together with extremely high precision. Based on measurements taken on the north eastern casing stones, the mean opening of the joints is only 0.5 millimetres wide (1/50th of an inch).
The pyramid remained the tallest man-made structure in the world for over 3,800 years, unsurpassed until the 160-metre-tall spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed c. 1300. The accuracy of the pyramid's workmanship is such that the four sides of the base have an average error of only 58 millimetres in length. The base is horizontal and flat to within ±15 mm. The sides of the square base are closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within 4 minutes of arc) based on true north, not magnetic north, and the finished base was squared to a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc. The completed design dimensions, as suggested by Petrie's survey and subsequent studies, are estimated to have originally been 280 cubits high by 440 cubits long at each of the four sides of its base. The ratio of the perimeter to height of 1760/280 cubits equates to 2π to an accuracy of better than 0.05% (corresponding to the well-known approximation of π as 22/7). Some Egyptologists consider this to have been the result of deliberate design proportion. Verner wrote, "We can conclude that although the ancient Egyptians could not precisely define the value of π, in practice they used it". Petrie, author of Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh concluded: "but these relations of areas and of circular ratio are so systematic that we should grant that they were in the builder's design". Others have argued that the Ancient Egyptians had no concept of pi and would not have thought to encode it in their monuments. They believe that the observed pyramid slope may be based on a simple seked slope choice alone, with no regard to the overall size and proportions of the finished building.
The Pyramid of Djoser (or Zoser), or step pyramid (kbhw-ntrw in Egyptian) is an archeological remain in the Saqqara necropolis, Egypt, northwest of the city of Memphis. It was built during the 27th century BC for the burial of Pharaoh Djoser by Imhotep, his vizier. It is the central feature of a vast mortuary complex in an enormous courtyard surrounded by ceremonial structures and decoration.
The pyramid at Meidum is believed to be Egypt's second oldest (after the step-pyramid of Djoser, whose design Meidum followed to some degree) but is also the earliest attempt at a true pyramid with four smooth side elevations.
Its original builder is usually considered to be Huni, last pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty, but most likely the larger part was constructed under the reign of his successor Sneferu (who also built two major pyramids at Dashur much further north).
The building we see today looks as much like a massive tower as a pyramid; which is due to the ancient collapse of much of the outer structure after the design was modified from a step-pyramid form (like its predecessor at Saqqara) to a smooth-sided one. The extra weight of the additional outer casing was too much and the pyramid was reduced to the present tower of masonry rising from a mass of debris.
There are several internal passages on different levels that lead to the relatively small burial chamber, beginning with a steep descent from the northern face. The ceiling of the chamber is remarkable for its tapering form, corbelled inwards as it rises in the manner of the better known but later grand gallery of the great pyramid of Khufu.
Near the pyramid are several large mudbrick mastaba tombs of a similar age, one of which is accessible by a series of narrow tunnels and passages that only the more intrepid traveller should attempt.
For more on this remarkable site see below:-
Explore Cairo Browsing our Cairo tours for a range of exciting sightseeing trips and excursions. We offer everything from a simple guided private & group tours to Egyptian Museum, Giza Pyramids & Sphinx, Sakkara, and Memphis, Old Cairo, Islamic & Coptic sites, Sultan Hassan mosque, Azhar mosque, Alabaster mosque, Khan ElKhalili, Babilyon fortress, hanging church, Ben Ezra synagogue and more.
By day 4 I had already tagged the 4 major objectives of the trip so I took a side trip to Pyramid Mountain. It's 200 ft shorter than the rest so doesn't make it into the top 100, and there's a trail all the way to the top so it's not as challenging (which was nice with the rain).
The pyramid at Meidum is believed to be Egypt's second oldest (after the step-pyramid of Djoser, whose design Meidum followed to some degree) but is also the earliest attempt at a true pyramid with four smooth side elevations.
Its original builder is usually considered to be Huni, last pharaoh of the 3rd Dynasty, but most likely the larger part was constructed under the reign of his successor Sneferu (who also built two major pyramids at Dashur much further north).
The building we see today looks as much like a massive tower as a pyramid; which is due to the ancient collapse of much of the outer structure after the design was modified from a step-pyramid form (like its predecessor at Saqqara) toa smooth-sided one. The extra weight of the additional outer casing was too much and the pyramid was reduced to the present tower of masonry rising from a mass of debris.
There are several internal passages on different levels that lead to the relatively small burial chamber, beginning with a steep descent from the northern face. The ceiling of the chamber is remarkable for its tapering form, corbelled inwards as it rises in the manner of the better known but later grand gallery of the great pyramid of Khufu.
Near the pyramid are several large mudbrick mastaba tombs of a similar age, one of which is accessible by a series of narrow tunnels and passages that only the more intrepid traveller should attempt.
For more on this remarkable site see below:-
The earliest pyramid was the Step Pyramid of king Djoser of the Old Kingdom's 3rd Dynasty over 4,600 years ago. The pyramid was the largest structure ever erected at Saqqara, the necropolis that overlooked the ancient capital of Memphis. Its construction was initially in the form of a low mastaba tomb upon which extra levels were gradually added to give it a step-like appearance.
Underneath Djoser's pyramid was a complex system of corridors with a burial chamber lined with Aswan pink granite about 28 metres underground. The entrance was sealed with a three-tonne granite plug. The pyramid's outside would have been cased with fine limestone, but this was removed long ago. Nearby were the Mortuary Temple, a Great Court and various other structures.
If you like this, You can check my Most Interesting Photos according to Flickr.
The pyramid of Senusret II, or Senwosret II as he is sometimes called, is situated near the Hawara channel which branches off from the Nile to supply the Faiyum basin.
Pyramid Lake is the geographic sink of the Truckee River Basin, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Reno. Pyramid Lake is fed by the Truckee River, which is mostly the outflow from Lake Tahoe. The Truckee River enters Pyramid Lake at its southern end. Pyramid Lake has no outlet, with water leaving only by evaporation, or sub-surface seepage (an endorheic lake). The lake has about 10% of the area of the Great Salt Lake, but it has about 25% more volume. The salinity is approximately 1/6 that of sea water. Although clear Lake Tahoe forms the headwaters that drain to Pyramid Lake, the Truckee River delivers more turbid waters to Pyramid Lake after traversing the steep Sierra terrain and collecting moderately high silt-loaded surface runoff.
A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Lahontan (~890 feet deep), the lake area was inhabited by the 19th-century Paiute, who used the Tui chub and Lahontan cutthroat trout from the lake(the former is now endangered and the latter is threatened). The lake was first mapped in 1844 by John C. Frémont, the American discoverer of the lake who also gave it its English title.
In the 19th century two battles were fought near the lake, major actions in the Paiute War. In the 1960s a marker was placed commemorating these battles.
Because of water diversion beginning in 1905 by Derby Dam, the lake's existence was threatened, and the Paiute sued the Department of the Interior. By the mid-1970s, the lake had lost 80 feet of depth, and according to Paiute fisheries officials, the life of the lake was seriously under threat.
Pyramid Lake is located in southeastern Washoe County in western Nevada. It is in an elongated intermontane basin between the Lake Range on the east, the Virginia Mountains on the west and the Pah Rah Range on the southwest. The Fox Range and the Smoke Creek Desert lie to the north.
In a parallel basin to the east of the Lake Range is Winnemucca Lake now a dry lake bed. Prior to the construction of the Derby Dam in 1905 both lake levels stood at near 3,880 ft (1,180 m).[8] Following the dam completion the water levels dropped to 3,867 ft (1,179 m) and 3,853 ft (1,174 m) for Pyramid and Winnemucca respectively. In 1957 Pyramid Lake level was at 3,802 ft (1,159 m) and the dry Winnemucca Lake bed at 3,780 ft (1,150 m) had been dry since the 1930s.
The lake is the largest remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan that covered much of northwestern Nevada at the end of the last ice age. Pyramid Lake was the deepest point in Lake Lahontan, reaching an estimated 890 feet (270 m) due to its low level relative to the surrounding basins.
The name of the lake comes from the impressive cone or pyramid shaped tufa formations found in the lake and along the shores. The largest such formation, Anaho Island, is home to a large colony of American White Pelicans and is restricted for ecological reasons. Access to the Needles, another spectacular tufa formation at the northern end of the lake has also been restricted due to recent vandalism.
Major fish species include the cui-ui lakesucker, which is endemic to Pyramid Lake, the Tui chub and Lahontan cutthroat trout (the world record cutthroat trout was caught in Pyramid Lake). The former is endangered, and the latter is threatened. Both species were of critical importance to the Paiute people in pre-contact times.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_Lake_(Nevada)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
The Art Deco Gulf Tower in Pittsburgh.
We begin our slideshow of Pittsburgh with architecture. This is the top of the Gulf Tower which was built by Gulf Oil (long before it became part of Chevron).
Wikipedia has this to say: [The Gulf Tower was] designed by the firm of Trowbridge & Livingston and completed in 1932 at a cost of $10.05 million ($140.4 million today). Now called Gulf Tower, it has 44 floors and rises 177.4 m (582 ft) above Downtown Pittsburgh. The crown of the skyscraper is modeled after the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus in the style of a step pyramid. The building was listed as a Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark in 1973.
Geysers are hot springs that episodically erupt columns of water. They occur in few places on Earth. The highest concentration of geysers anywhere is at the Yellowstone Hotspot Volcano (northwestern Wyoming, USA).
Filmed from the Daisy boardwalk.
Clips 1-2 - Pyramid Geyser’s 4:48-4:49 PM eruption on 19 May 2015 (clip 1 - eruption & clip 2 - post-eruption steaming).
Clips 3-4 - Pyramid Geyser’s 4:56-4:58 PM minor eruption on 19 May 2015 (clip 3 - eruption & clip 4 - post-eruption steaming)
Clip 5 - Pyramid Geyser’s 12:51 PM eruption on 20 May 2015.
Clip 6 - Pyramid Geyser’s 3:58 PM eruption on 20 May 2015.
Clip 7 - Pyramid Geyser’s 6:56-6:57 PM eruption on 20 May 2015.
Clip 8 - Pyramid Geyser’s 2:16 PM eruption on 7 August 2015.
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This image was scanned from a photograph in an album dating from World War 2. It was taken during the North African campaign.
The album was purchased from an op shop by one of our members and is held in the Sir Edgeworth David Memorial Museum. Unfortunately, we do not know who took the photos, or who owned the album, so if you have any information about this, please contact us.
The original photo was taken prior to 1955 and so is out of copyright. You are free to use it, but we would appreciate your acknowledging our efforts in the attribution.
If you have any information about this photograph, please contact us.