archaeology

By Kevin Jackson

New Agers

‘…attention shifted from the physical presence of the Giza structure to its proportions.’

The 1960s and 70s also saw the rise of that loose coalition of unorthodox and far-fetched beliefs known as New Age philosophy. The Pyramid plays as lively a role in this philosophical fashion as it did a hundred years ago in the heyday of Theosophy, and the mania for all things ‘pyramidical’ burns as ardently as ever.

‘…the media rang with reports of people using mini-pyramids to keep milk fresh, and to sharpen not only blades but also brainpower.’

One of the more novel aspects of the craze took off in the mid-1960s, when attention shifted from the physical presence of the Giza structure to its proportions. A Czech radio engineer, Karel Dribal, heard rumours of the remarkable preservative powers of tiny model pyramids, made some tests of his own, and then announced to the world that a used razor blade, placed inside a cardboard replica of the pyramid just 15 inches high, would miraculously regain its original sharpness. Before long, the media rang with reports of people using mini-pyramids to keep milk fresh, and to sharpen not only blades but also brainpower.

That particular fad appears to have died away; but others have taken its place. For every reader who is interested in the true story of Khufu’s Pyramid, there appear to be hundreds who wish to read only of its mystical secrets, its occult alignment with the heavens, its connection with the so-called ‘Face on Mars’ (a fuzzy photograph of a rock form taken by the space craft Viking II, in which some people believe they can make out an approximately human profile, somewhat akin to that of the Sphinx), and a supposed ‘hidden chamber’, the ‘door’ to which was recently found by a remote-controlled camera.

‘…professional Egyptologists are exasperated by people’s willingness to buy into fantasies about the Pyramid…’

These unorthodox theories are the stuff of many present-day bestsellers - some relatively sober and moderately well researched, others opportunistic or simply zany. Belief in them is harmless enough, no doubt, and may lead on to a further interest in matters Egyptological. But just as astronomers bemoan the persistence of belief in astrology, professional Egyptologists are exasperated by people’s willingness to buy into fantasies about the Pyramid when the unadorned truth of the matter is so endlessly fascinating, and so easy to uncover.