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Inside out

COMPILED BY ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN

Ancient Egyptians built the 480-foot-high (146-meter-high) Great Pyramid of Giza from the inside out, according to a French architect. Based on eight years of study, Jean-Pierre Houdin has created a novel three-dimensional computer simulation to present his hypothesis. He says his findings solve the mystery of how the massive monument just outside Cairo was constructed. The 4,500-year-old tomb of Pharaoh Khufu, he concluded, was built using a ramp that spirals around the pyramid's interior 30 to 45 feet behind the exterior surface. He was in the French capital to show the simulation to 400 spectators wearing 3-D goggles. Previous theories have suggested that builders on Egypt's Giza Plateau hoisted the pyramid's millions of multi-ton stone blocks using an external ramp.

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