Secrets of the construction of the Egyptian pyramids. How the Egyptian pyramids were built The Egyptians built a pyramid of stone blocks

Only one of the seven wonders of the world has survived in the world - the pyramids in Egypt. How they were erected, what purpose they have and what they symbolize - this article answers these questions.

Construction and evolution of the form of tombs

Official science classifies the Egyptian pyramids as multi-level tombs for the burial of pharaohs. In total, there are about 120 pyramids in different parts of the Nile, but all of them are built in the same way - a regular pyramid with a square at the base. Part of the pyramid is on the surface of the earth, part is hidden under the sands. Inside there is a burial chamber, to which passages lead from two sides. The walls of the passages were painted with hieroglyphs containing religious texts.

How were the pyramids built in ancient Egypt? The first pyramids were built from bricks obtained by mixing clay with river silt - adobe. With the development of building knowledge, large limestone megaliths began to be used. Until now, the facts of how the pyramidal complexes were built without the presence of sophisticated construction equipment remain mysteries.

Pyramids are divided into two types. Step pyramids are of more ancient origin and did not have impressive overall dimensions. Over time, they were replaced by pyramids with a smooth surface, which were built from large monolithic stones mined in the upper reaches of the Nile. The pyramids of ancient Egypt are not only one building. Two temples should have been located near them: one directly next to them, and the second should have been washed by the waters of the Nile and connected to the first temple by an alley.

Rice. 1. Step Pyramid in Egypt.

Contrary to the widespread belief that the pyramids were built by slaves, excavations have shown that the builders lived in good conditions with decent food.

Pyramids of Dahshur and Saqqara

Extensive pyramid building at Dahshur occurred during the succession of the 3rd and 4th dynasties. Pharaoh Huni was the first to build a pyramid of the correct form, taking as a basis step structures from Meidum. This pyramid was supposed to be the tomb for his son - Snorfu (2613-2589 BC).

Although Snorfu finished his father's work, he built his pyramid in steps. However, it had to be abandoned, since changing the angle of inclination of the lateral plane led to a change in the angle of inclination. This pyramid has survived to this day and is called Broken.

Pyramids of Giza

On the banks of the Nile, 20 km. from Cairo stands the wonder of the world - the pyramid of Cheops. The great pyramids of ancient Egypt were built in 2500 BC.

Rice. 3. Pyramid of Cheops.

It still remains a mystery how the Egyptians managed to make a huge technological breakthrough in the short 200 years that is equal to the time between the construction of the Loman and the Great Pyramids. After all, for a breakthrough in construction, other spheres of human activity had to be affected, but this was not observed in those years.

It is noteworthy that in addition to a strict orientation to the cardinal points and the ideal side faces of the pyramids of Giza, they are all oriented to the stars. The pyramid of Cheops consists of 2.3 million stone blocks weighing from 2 to 15 tons.

Much about the construction of the pyramids has come down to our days thanks to Herodotus, who visited there. According to his records, the pyramid of Cheops was built by 400,000 people over 20 years. But these data are considered increased and scientists believe that about 20,000 workers were involved in the construction.

What have we learned?

According to the official version, the pyramids had a religious purpose and were built during the lifetime of the pharaohs for their eternal stay there. This is a unique monument of an ancient civilization, which bears information that has yet to be fully received.

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The construction of the Egyptian pyramids to this day remains one of the most mysterious topics for mankind. There is a lot of controversy about who and how built these beautiful structures. So, on the issue of the origin of objects, several assumptions can be distinguished at once:

The first and most common version is based on the thesis that numerous slaves were involved in the construction of the pyramids. They were forced to lift the blocks to the top along specially constructed ramps. At the same time, according to the theory, the stones were processed with copper tools, and lifts were also used for transportation;
The second version, like all subsequent theories, is an assumption with a fantastic bias. We are talking about the fact that the pyramids are the result of the influence of the energy of the Atlanteans, who forced the stones to move only by the power of thought;
The third hypothesis is connected, of course, with the activities of aliens who, in ancient times, built pyramids for their specific purposes;
They also say that at the time of the construction of the pyramids there was a special human civilization in which all people were at least 2.5 m tall.

These are far from all existing assumptions, but the essence of the rest is not much different from those given above.

As you can see, one can almost endlessly talk about the origin of the pyramids, since specific evidence in favor of one particular theory has not yet been presented. However, no less interesting and controversial is the question of the construction technology of the Egyptian pyramids. There is also a certain discussion here, but all hypotheses are justified exclusively from a technical point of view, which makes it possible, at least, not to doubt the possibility of their real existence.

In this article, we will consider the main technologies for building pyramids in Ancient Egypt, noting the arguments in their favor, as well as the existing shortcomings. But first, we note the main features common to the vast majority of assumptions about a particular technology:

It is an indisputable fact that the technology of the Egyptians improved over time. This is confirmed by real facts obtained during the study of the pyramids of various years of construction. It has been established that later designs are characterized by a different, improved technology;
The bulk of theories are based on the fact that the Egyptians cut blocks in quarries for construction. In this case, mainly copper tools were used, for example, chisels, chisels, punches, etc.

In view of the latter circumstance, significant differences between theories are observed in matters of transportation of blocks and methods of their installation.

Now let us consider in detail the specific technologies, in accordance with which, perhaps, the pyramids of Egypt were built.

From Herodotus to the present day

The only source that contains at least some information about the construction of the pyramids in Ancient Egypt are the descriptions of Herodotus. Actually, the first theory is based on these descriptions. So, the main provisions of this technology:

Stones for construction were quarried, where they were hollowed out with tools;
The transportation of stones to the construction site was carried out with the help of the manual power of slaves, having previously laid a wide, solid road to the destination;
The actual construction of the pyramid was carried out in stages, with ledges. Initially, the lowest stones were laid, which could be done without any additional devices. For all subsequent steps of the pyramid, wooden platforms were used. Moreover, the same platform, upon completion of the construction of one stage, was simply transferred to the next stage.

Now let's take a closer look at each of the stages of construction. First of all, let's talk about the material used.

About stones

So, in accordance with the most common opinion about the technology of building pyramids, stones mined in quarries served as the material. By their composition, the blocks were predominantly limestone, and, consequently, were quite soft. This allowed them to be processed with copper tools.

Simultaneously with limestone materials, harder stones were also used: from basalt, quartzite, granite. They were processed by more powerful tools. So, the sawing of such stones and their drilling were carried out using abrasives (for example, quartz sand). And the hieroglyphs were applied by using quartz cutters. Interestingly, granite, which is the most durable, was split using thermal shock. This happened as follows: a natural crack was found in the rock, the area around which was heated, and then abruptly cooled. As a result, the breed split.

In favor of this theory, its supporters refer to the mass of stones from which the pyramids are built. The fact is that their weight, as a rule, is no more than a few tons. And this allows us to talk about a high level of their transportability.

By the way, adherents of the classical theory also substantiate the reasons for choosing the shape and size of the blocks for the pyramids. In their opinion, reducing the size would significantly complicate the processing process.
However, the assumption about this technology also has a significant drawback: if we agree that the construction of the pyramids was carried out in this way, then it is impossible to imagine how laborious the whole process was. However, the timing of the construction of the Egyptian pyramids was really impressive: according to the same Herodotus, only the road for transporting stone blocks was built over 10 years.

About delivery

The fact of the incredible difficulty of delivering building material directly to the site of the future pyramid is generally recognized. And it is precisely according to the methods of delivering stones that separate areas of the classical theory of construction technology differ from each other:

1. The first assumption is based on frescoes, often found in ancient Egyptian temples. They usually depict people dragging huge statues of various rulers behind them. In accordance with this, some researchers have calculated the possibility of moving stone blocks in this way. The essence of this method is as follows: several people (the number depended on the mass of the stone) pull a large sled behind them, on which a block (or several blocks) is placed. It is believed that the Egyptians poured water on the runners of such sledges to ensure sufficient glide.

In parallel with this, according to the followers of the hypothesis, a technique based on the use of rollers was also used. In Egypt, paved brick roads were quite developed, along which it was more convenient not to drag a sled with blocks, but to roll the blocks themselves on rollers.

In principle, such assumptions are quite real and feasible from the point of view of physics. However, there is one nuance that researchers do not take into account: in some pyramids there are huge, powerful and massive stones, the mass of which reaches 300 tons. It is absolutely impossible to move them by dragging;

2. The following block delivery method was proposed relatively recently. It is based on cradle mechanisms found during excavations of some later sanctuaries. It has been experimentally proved that it is possible to move a block placed on four mechanisms by rolling.

However, no concrete evidence has yet been found that the Egyptians used cradle mechanisms specifically for blocks. In addition, this hypothesis is characterized by the same drawback as the previous one: blocks that are large in mass cannot be moved using such mechanisms. In addition, even the lightest (compared to other stones) block cannot be rolled over the sand, and, meanwhile, the road did not lead directly to the construction sites;

3. Finally, there is another point of view on one of the components of the process of building the pyramids - the delivery of materials. So, a number of experts believe that the stone blocks were moved by means of special platforms from which the road was built. These scaffolds were a quarter of a circle, due to which the center of gravity of the block is kept at the same level. This design makes it easy to transport even fairly heavy stones, especially when it comes to lowering them from a slope, for example, from a quarry.

About construction

How did the pyramids of Egypt appear: was the construction carried out exclusively at the expense of slaves or not? How did the Egyptians raise the blocks to such a height? And in these issues today there is no unity, even within the framework of the classical approach.

Taking into account the fact that the people of Ancient Egypt did not have all the modern means for lifting stones to the appropriate height, the most optimal way, according to most researchers, was to make a ramp. Of course, objectively this was not the easiest method, since the ramp needed to be long and high.

However, a few years ago, a different option for building a ramp was proposed - inside the pyramid, which caused lively discussions. The essence of this method lies in the fact that during the construction of the pyramid, an internal ramp was used, installed along its edges and gently sloping enough to allow the blocks to be lifted. The internal design of the pyramids is such that such a method could well be used, but a number of important reservations should be made:

inside, only one ramp can be made, which means that the construction time of the pyramids should have been simply huge, because the blocks would have had to be lifted sequentially one after another, in a chain;
the use of an internal ramp makes it impossible to push the block from behind, only by pulling behind you, and this is very difficult when cornering;
the ramp creates the so-called tunnel effect, that is, in the event of an emergency, all the people inside the pyramid would be doomed to certain death;
such a design requires sufficient lighting, and for this either windows were needed, or torches were required. But there are no windows in the Egyptian pyramids, and the use of torches in the absence of proper ventilation is impossible in practice;
finally, a significant drawback of the theory of the internal ramp is that it is impossible to make it at the very top, therefore, the last blocks were raised in some other way.

Taking into account these shortcomings, the already mentioned technology for the use of semicircular platforms was proposed. In accordance with it, to lift the block, it was enough just to pull it up on a rope, and he himself, rolling along the platform, rose to the required height. After completing one level, the platforms were moved to the next and so on to the very top.

It was concrete!

But we have considered only one hypothetical construction technology. It is not by chance that it is called classical, since it prevails among researchers. But we were able to make sure that the classical hypothesis about the construction of the pyramids in itself is not holistic, it consists of many divergent theories and ideas.

In contrast to the first technology, about 40 years ago, another hypothesis was put forward, the main thesis of which was the statement about a completely different composition of stones: it was assumed that they consist of concrete (made on the basis of limestone) and stone chips.

With this in mind, the construction technology changes significantly: for example, on the very first tier, a rectangular formwork is constructed, into which a kind of concrete is poured. The frozen blocks of the lower row act as formwork for the blocks of the upper row.

Such a theory actually demonstrates the possibility of creating pyramids of such dimensions, and also explains why the individual blocks fit so perfectly to each other.

However, this theory has many weaknesses:

first of all, the very fact of the possibility of making concrete by the Egyptians is called into question, since they knew mainly gypsum mortar;
quarries have been discovered in which traces of block cutting work have been preserved;
Finally, in the very structure of the pyramid, there are still only external flaws that are unacceptable when using concrete.

Conclusion

Of course, there are numerous other assumptions, but they mainly concern certain aspects of construction, for example, issues of stone finishing or masonry features. In relation to the whole process, today there are two main and competing technologies, each of which explains some secrets of the construction of the pyramids, but does not correlate with others at all. Whether a third technology will appear or whether one of the existing ones will be finally proven is a matter of time.

There are less and less unsolved mysteries on our planet every year. The constant improvement of technology, the cooperation of scientists from various fields of science reveals to us the secrets and mysteries of history. But the secrets of the pyramids still defy understanding - all discoveries give scientists only tentative answers to many questions. Who built the Egyptian pyramids, what was the construction technology, whether there is a curse of the pharaohs - these and many other questions still remain without an exact answer.

Description of the Egyptian pyramids

Archaeologists talk about 118 pyramids in Egypt, partially or completely preserved to our time. Their age is from 4 to 10 thousand years. One of them - Cheops - is the only surviving "miracle" from the "Seven Wonders of the World". The complex called "The Great Pyramids of Giza", which includes and, was also considered as a participant in the New Seven Wonders of the World competition, but it was withdrawn from participation, since these majestic structures are actually the "wonder of the world" in the ancient list.

These pyramids have become the most visited sightseeing objects in Egypt. They are perfectly preserved, which cannot be said about many other structures - time did not spare them. Yes, and local residents contributed to the destruction of the majestic necropolises, removing the lining and breaking out stones from the walls to build their houses.

The Egyptian pyramids were built by pharaohs ruling from the 27th century BC. e. and later. They were intended for the repose of the rulers. The huge scale of the tombs (some up to almost 150 m high) should have testified to the greatness of the buried pharaohs, things that the ruler loved during his lifetime and which would be useful to him in the afterlife were also placed here.

For the construction, stone blocks of various sizes were used, which were hollowed out of the rocks, and later brick began to serve as the material for the walls. Stone blocks were turned and adjusted so that a knife blade could not slip between them. Blocks were stacked on top of each other with an offset of several centimeters, which formed a stepped surface of the structure. Almost all Egyptian pyramids have a square base, the sides of which are oriented strictly to the cardinal points.

Since the pyramids performed the same function, that is, they served as the burial place of the pharaohs, their structure and decoration are similar inside. The main component is the burial hall, where the ruler's sarcophagus was installed. The entrance was arranged not at ground level, but several meters higher, and was masked by facing slabs. Stairs and corridors led from the entrance to the inner hall, which sometimes narrowed so much that they could only be walked on squatting or crawling.

In most necropolises, burial chambers (chambers) are below ground level. Ventilation was carried out through narrow shaft-channels, which penetrated the walls. Rock paintings and ancient religious texts are found on the walls of many pyramids - in fact, scientists draw some of the information about the construction and owners of the burials from them.

The main mysteries of the pyramids

The list of unsolved mysteries begins with the shape of necropolises. Why was the shape of the pyramid chosen, which is translated from Greek as “polyhedron”? Why were the edges located clearly on the cardinal points? How did the huge stone blocks move from the place of development and how were they raised to a great height? Were the buildings erected by aliens or people who own a magic crystal?

Scientists even argue over the question of who built such tall monumental structures that stood for millennia. Some believe they were built by slaves who died in the hundreds of thousands building each. However, new discoveries of archaeologists and anthropologists convince us that the builders were free people who received good food and medical care. They made such conclusions based on the composition of the bones, the structure of the skeletons and the healed injuries of the buried builders.

All cases of death and death of people involved in the study of the Egyptian pyramids were attributed to mystical coincidences, which provoked rumors and talk about the curse of the pharaohs. There is no scientific evidence for this. Perhaps the rumors were spread to scare off thieves and marauders who want to find valuables and jewelry in the graves.

The mysterious interesting facts include the short time frame for the construction of the Egyptian pyramids. According to calculations, large necropolises with that level of technology should have been erected in at least a century. How, for example, was the pyramid of Cheops built in just 20 years?

Great Pyramids

This is the name of the burial complex near the city of Giza, consisting of three large pyramids, a huge statue of the Sphinx and small satellite pyramids, probably intended for the wives of the rulers.

The initial height of the pyramid of Cheops was 146 m, the length of the side was 230 m. It was built in 20 years in the 26th century BC. e. The largest of Egyptian landmarks has not one, but three funerary halls. One of them is below ground level, and two are above the base line. Intertwining corridors lead to the burial chambers. On them you can go to the chamber of the pharaoh (king), to the chamber of the queen and to the lower hall. The chamber of the pharaoh is a chamber made of pink granite, has dimensions of 10x5 m. A granite sarcophagus without a lid is installed in it. Not a single report of scientists contained information about the mummies found, so it is not known whether Cheops was buried here. By the way, the mummy of Cheops was not found in other tombs either.

It still remains a mystery whether the Cheops pyramid was used for its intended purpose, and if so, then apparently it was plundered by looters in the past centuries. The name of the ruler, by whose order and project this tomb was built, was learned from the drawings and hieroglyphs above the burial chamber. All other Egyptian pyramids, with the exception of Djoser, have a simpler engineering device.

Two other necropolises in Giza, built for the heirs of Cheops, are somewhat more modest in size:

Tourists travel to Giza from all over Egypt, because this city is actually a suburb of Cairo, and all transport interchanges lead to it. Travelers from Russia usually go to Giza as part of excursion groups from Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. The trip is long, 6-8 hours one way, so the tour is usually designed for 2 days.

The great buildings are available for visiting only during working hours, usually until 17:00, in the month of Ramadan - until 15:00. It is not recommended to enter inside for asthmatics, as well as for people suffering from claustrophobia, nervous and cardiovascular diseases. Be sure to take drinking water and hats with you on the tour. The tour fee consists of several parts:

Entrance to the complex.
Entrance inside the pyramid of Cheops or Khafre.
Entrance to the Museum of the Solar boat, on which the body of the pharaoh was transported across the Nile.

Against the backdrop of the Egyptian pyramids, many people like to take photos while sitting on camels. You can bargain with camel owners.

Pyramid of Djoser

The first pyramid in the world is located in Saqqara, not far from Memphis, the former capital of Ancient Egypt. Today, the pyramid of Djoser is not as attractive to tourists as the Cheops necropolis, but at one time it was the largest in the country and the most complex in terms of engineering.

The burial complex included chapels, courtyards, and storage facilities. The six-step pyramid itself does not have a square base, but a rectangular one, with sides of 125x110 m. The height of the structure itself is 60 m, inside it there are 12 burial chambers, where Djoser himself and members of his family were supposedly buried. The mummy of the pharaoh was not found during the excavations. The entire territory of the complex of 15 hectares was surrounded by a stone wall 10 m high. Currently, part of the wall and other buildings have been restored, and the pyramid, whose age is approaching 4700 years, has been preserved quite well.

The Americans achieved quite a lot of success in reading Soviet cipher correspondence, and one of the cornerstones of this success was exactly those documents that were provided by the Finns.

Finnish radio intelligence, which played an important role in the victories of the Finnish army in the Winter War and in 1941, after the signing of a truce between the USSR and Finland in September 1944, was, in fact, defeated. However, in the 50s, the Finns restored it, and it continued its work against the USSR, and later against Russia.

Petersburg historian Vyacheslav Nikitin conducted a study of the history of Finnish radio intelligence, in which he touched, among other things, on the issues of the post-war activities of this special service. These little-studied topics will be devoted to his monograph “Competition with the storm. Finnish radio intelligence against the USSR”, which should be published this spring.

Nikitin is the author of books and the blog-page "Competition with the Storm" in the social network "VKontakte", dedicated to the history of the Soviet-Finnish wars. He told the Krasnaya Vesna news agency correspondent about the post-war fate of Finnish radio intelligence, about the role of its developments in the Cold War against our country, and about what this special service is currently doing.

IA Red Spring: Vyacheslav Vyacheslavovich, last time we talked about the successes of Finnish radio intelligence in the war against the Soviet Union. What are her biggest failures?

Vyacheslav Nikitin: The biggest failure of Finnish radio intelligence, in my opinion, was the notorious Operation Stella Polaris. When an armistice agreement was signed with the Soviet Union, it was decided to evacuate to Sweden the best personnel of Finnish intelligence, along with equipment, in order to carry out subversive work against our country already from the territory of Sweden.

Sweden allowed the evacuation of Finnish citizens to its territory as refugees, but, of course, there could be no talk of activity from the territory of a neutral state.

In fact, this operation led to the defeat of the special services as such. All archives and all equipment remained in Sweden. Most of the employees then returned back to Finland, but the best personnel went to work in the Swedish radio intelligence and worked there for many years.

Vyacheslav Nikitin: This question is very interesting, and it has not yet been declassified to the end. It is known that during the operation "Stella Polaris" the Finns managed to bring to Sweden almost all the main secret service documents describing Soviet encryption systems, and they launched a brisk trade in these documents.

Copies of the documents were sold to the intelligence agencies of the United States, Japan and Sweden, and a fairly significant amount of money was received for them. A fairly large amount of data on Soviet codes and ciphers turned out to be in the hands of American specialists.

Already in 1945, the Americans began to consider the USSR as a potential adversary. A very large secret project to decrypt Soviet traffic began to be implemented in the United States.

The latest documents on this issue were partially declassified in 2017. They clearly show that the Americans have achieved quite a lot of success in reading Soviet cipher correspondence, and one of the cornerstones of this success was precisely those documents that were provided by the Finns.

The proceeds went to the salaries of Finnish radio intelligence workers and to the return of part of the personnel back to Finland. A secret fund was formed from part of the money, for which the rescue of Finnish intelligence leaders was organized, including the head of the Stavka intelligence department, Aladar Paasonen, and the head of radio intelligence, Reino Hallamaa.

Major Reino Hallamaa in Helsinki (Winter War)
Finnish War Museum (SA-kuva)

When the Allied Control Commission arrived in Finland after the armistice, it demanded that both Paasonen and Hallamaa be extradited for interrogation. It was clear to them that they would be immediately extradited to Moscow, because they were key figures not only in Finnish intelligence, but also in the entire system of interaction between the special services of the imperialist states opposing the USSR.

Paasonen and Hallamaa were provided with forged passports and smuggled out of Finland, first to Sweden and then to France, where they collaborated with French intelligence.

Then, when the Soviet Union began to seek their extradition from France, Paasonen was transferred to the French zone of occupation in Germany. The USSR was given an official answer that these citizens do not live in France. And then from the western zone of Germany, Paasonen went to Switzerland, and from there to the USA, and Hallamaa to Spain.

Paasonen then worked for the CIA for many years and worked at the European headquarters of this special service.

Hallamaa eventually retired from intelligence activities and set up a carnation business in Spain. In 1945, he received a passport in the name of the Danish citizen Richard Palma, in Spain he was called in the Spanish way - Ricardo Palma. He lived the rest of his life in Spain, was a prosperous businessman (in addition to trading flowers, he had a construction business) and received his colonel's pension from Finland.

IA Red Spring: The main specialists of Finnish radio intelligence - who are they? You have already spoken about the creator and head of this special service, Reino Hallamaa, when talking about its creation. Tell us about some of the other brightest characters.

Vyacheslav Nikitin: Radio intelligence is associated with highly intellectual activities, so the characters there were very interesting. Both future famous linguists and future famous mathematicians, scientists of world renown, and cultural figures worked there.

Quite a lot of work was done in the radio intelligence of ethnic Russians, since intelligence needed native Russian speakers. And I will tell you more about one of them.

This is a former native of St. Petersburg Yuri Polyakov. He was born in 1902 and at the age of 16 he was imbued with white ideas, went to fight in the White Guard, participated in the Olonets campaign of Finnish nationalists in Soviet Karelia in 1919.

After that, he ended up in Finland, took Finnish citizenship and connected his life with the Finnish army. Polyakov changed his first and last name and became Yuri Palko. After that, he served in Vyborg in the Vyborg Field Artillery Regiment.

In 1937 he went to work in intelligence as a native speaker of Russian and became a successful cryptanalyst. Thanks to cooperation with the Finnish historian K. F. Geust, I managed to get his personal card.

Radio interception operator at work
(from the personal archive of V. Nikitin)

From 1941 to 1943, Palko headed the radio interception center, which was located in Sortavala, and then led the intelligence school, which trained intelligence officers in Petrozavodsk, occupied by the Finns. After the war, Palko-Polyakov played a big role in restoring the activity of Finnish radio intelligence, and for this he was awarded the Order of the Lion in 1951.

Palko was also awarded orders from Germany, Hungary and Japan (for his contribution to Japanese cryptanalysts). He died in 1961, and at his funeral there were representatives of the Japanese embassy with a wreath from the Land of the Rising Sun.

IA Red Spring: What is known about the activities of Finnish radio intelligence in the 21st century? What is her role?

Vyacheslav Nikitin: In the 1950s, the Finns made an attempt to revive radio intelligence. Until 1960, several radio direction finding points and a radio interception center, called the "Research Communications Center", were deployed. For many years, an information vacuum was created around his activities, but in 2017 a big spy scandal erupted.

Two Finnish journalists received several secret documents that were dated 1999 at their disposal. The documents were published in Finland's largest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat and revealed the mechanism of the Finnish radio intelligence at the present time.

Publication in the newspaper Нelsingin Sanomat about Finnish radio intelligence today. Title - "The most secret place in Finland"
Photo by Vyacheslav Nikitin

Currently, the radio intelligence center is located in the town of Tikkakoski near Jyväskylä, and it employs about 150 employees. This state is approximately 40% of all Finnish intelligence. Know what he does. Naturally, the main object of intelligence is the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

The Finns still continue to trade in intelligence materials. In the published secret documents, it is casually said that the Finns are creating data banks on radio interception and libraries of signals from sources of electromagnetic radiation of potential adversaries. They are necessary to form a list of potential targets in preparation for the conduct of hostilities. This information is highly demanded in a very specific international market.

It is clear that this information is not exhaustive, but in my future book I will try to give as much information as possible about the post-war activities of Finnish radio intelligence.

Publications in Helsingin Sanomat led to a scandal. Naturally, the Finnish public was excited not by conducting radio interception against Russia, but by the fact that special services could carry out radio interception in Finland and intrude into the privacy of citizens.

The consequence of this was the adoption last year of a law on intelligence, where a separate paragraph spelled out the rights and obligations of Finnish radio intelligence. It clearly states that radio intelligence can only be conducted against potential opponents of Finland and only against state structures, and cannot be conducted against private citizens, including those outside Finland.

IA Red Spring: Vyacheslav Vyacheslavovich, thanks for the interesting story! We look forward to the release of your book.

The pyramids are the tombs of the kings, the buildings are so magnificent and monumental, because. The Great Pyramids at Giza were built between the 27th and 25th centuries BC. The problem of building pyramids is complex, I will only note some findings that provide new important details.

There are few ancient Egyptian sources about how the pyramids were built: all traces of activity were carefully removed around the finished structure. We get much more information from unfinished pyramids (for example, in): next to them, possible remains of auxiliary structures, tools are found, and the technical problems of construction are better seen there.

It is sometimes believed that the pyramid is large regular cubes, neatly folded in rows. But in the break of the pyramid, made in the Middle Ages by Arabs looking for treasures, it is clear that the masonry is irregular: stones of different sizes, in some places you can see the solution. Large blocks lie at the base, and towards the top they become smaller. There are several hypotheses regarding the technique of erecting the pyramids (for example, Mark Lehner's assumption about the ramps "encircling" the pyramid). To a modern person, the construction of such huge structures in such extreme antiquity seems like a miracle, possibly carried out by an extraterrestrial civilization, but the pyramids fit very harmoniously into the context of the amazing culture of Ancient Egypt.

Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara

// wikipedia.org

The construction of the pyramids was not done by slaves, but by the main population of the country - this was their labor service for the benefit of the king. People were called to work in seasons when it was not necessary to do agricultural work. The construction itself was carried out by highly qualified specialists: architects, foremen. The largest number of not so qualified people were involved in quarries and in the delivery of stone. It is estimated that 20-30 thousand people were employed at the construction site.

Next to the three pyramids in Giza, archaeologists have found a settlement for builders - excavations have been underway there since the 60s of the XX century. A necropolis was also found, where the tombs of architects, foremen are located, there are very poor burials of workers who died during the construction. The American expedition of Mark Lehner in Giza at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century uncovered the production complexes that served the great construction site. Copper-smelting workshops were found in which they made tools for building pyramids. A huge industrial complex was directed to the manufacture of food to feed the masses of workers: bakery shops (beer was brewed there), pantries for drying fish. Lehner also found places where sacrifices were made to the late kings. This material told about the wealth of society in the heyday of pyramid building, since young, not old animals were sacrificed.

It is difficult to say how long the construction took. Herodotus, an ancient Greek author of the 5th century BC, wrote that it took 20 years to build the road to the pyramid (perhaps it is a ramp) and 10 years to build the pyramid itself. But it is known that Herodotus did not know the Egyptian language, and therefore could misunderstand what he was told, especially since two millennia had already passed since the time of construction. More reliable information is the ancient Egyptian inscriptions on the stone blocks from which the pyramids were built. But most of these inscriptions are hidden in the thickness of the pyramids, because these are the working notes of ancient foremen. In unfinished structures, such marks are sometimes found that recorded the name of the construction team and the date when the work was completed (perhaps the teams competed with each other).

In 2011, on the shores of the Red Sea (Wadi al-Jarf), French archaeologists found a port during the construction of the great pyramids. From this harbor, the Egyptians sailed to Sinai in Wadi Maghara and Serabit al-Khadim, where they mined copper ore (there are traces of copper tools on the blocks of the pyramids). The papyri from Wadi al-Jarf contain very interesting data on the construction of the pyramid of Cheops, but they have not yet been fully published. In particular, a working diary of a man who led a team that delivered high-quality limestone from Tura for facing the pyramid was found. Today we see "undressed" (as if stepped) pyramids, but initially the buildings were perfectly smooth, lined with white limestone from Tura. It was delivered from the other side of the Nile, channels were laid from the river to bring the stone closer to the pyramids (the expedition of Mark Lehner also found the harbor near the pyramids). The lining of the pyramids of Giza was removed during the Arab period, it was used to build medieval Cairo mosques.

The inscriptions on the blocks of the pyramids provide reliable information about who owned the buildings. So it was established that the pyramid of Cheops really belonged to him. Above the burial chamber of the king there are low rooms, which were intended so that the top of the pyramid would not press on the burial chamber (the so-called "unloading chambers"). On the ceiling of one of these rooms, hieroglyphs were painted with paint - “Horizon of Khufu” (the name of the pyramid), we know them from other sources, in particular now from the papyri of Wadi el-Jarf (Herodotus calls the king Cheops, and the Egyptians called him Khufu ).

Pyramid of Cheops at Giza. Observation of the concavity of the sides at the end of the 19th century

// wikipedia.org

The pyramids were built from local limestone. In Giza, the expedition of Mark Lehner showed that the quarries were located no further than 300 meters from the construction site. Giza was chosen as a place with enough limestone for construction. For some works, materials were brought from afar. The burial chamber inside the pyramid of Cheops is lined with huge granite slabs. They were transported almost a thousand kilometers from the south from Aswan, where there were granite quarries. In Aswan, the details were rough processed, they were marked, and already on the spot, granite slabs were polished with dolerite tools. The nobles who supervised the work, in the inscriptions in their tombs, proudly reported that the king had sent them for material for the pyramid. The officials coped with the task, and the king praised them. The reward could also be the permission to build a tomb closer to the king's pyramid.