Pyramids of Snefru: Seila, Maidum, Bent, Subsidiary, Red Pyramids
The 4,600-Year-Old Story of Snefru and His Five Pyramids. The first book that integrates all five of Snefru’s pyramids into a single “Story” pulled from the archaeological record. Snefru ruled during a time of transition from the step pyramids with north-south oriented large enclosures of the previous rulers…..to the inclined sided pyramids with the east-west oriented more compact enclosures of the rulers which followed. And during this transition, pyramid size grew by almost 600% when each pyramid was in-turn the largest manmade structure on Earth. The transition and growth in pyramid size was not without major issues which the architects and builders had to solve. And all of this was necessary for the perfection that was Khufu’s Great Pyramid.
The Complete Ellora Caves: World's greatest rock-cut Temples.
The Ellora Caves are the largest group of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain rock-cut monuments in all of India. They comprise over 34 caves, ranging from huge pillared halls to massive free standing monuments like the gigantic Kailasha Temple, the largest monolithic structure in the world. It is estimated that between 1 and 6 million tons of basalt had to be removed for the construction of this wonder of ancient engineering, the same as the Great Pyramid of Giza. There are many mysteries surrounding these caves, beginning with the tools and technologies employed for their construction, the true age of the caves, and their exact sequence. Generally dated between the 6th and the 10th century CE, many believe that the caves may be in fact thousands of years older.
