The Egyptians bequeathed us a cultural heritage of great historical value, but beyond the obelisks, the figures carved in gold and the deciphering of their hieroglyphs, Egyptian culture left us more questions than answers. To this day, great mysteries such as the construction of the majestic Pyramid of Giza remain unsolved, since it is not known exactly what the construction process was like, much less how they achieved an almost perfect alignment with the stars of the celestial vault. . However, some scientists believe they have solved this enigma; According to them, the Egyptians were good readers of the movements of the Sun.
The Pyramids of Giza have enchanted many personalities with their greatness, such as Nikola Tesla, who had an obsession with them, since he considered them to be an unlimited source of energy. But another of the characteristics that has been positioned as a mystery for science is how the Egyptians managed to build the Pyramids of Giza aligned with the belt of the Orion constellation. A feat that seems more like that of the gods themselves than of humans, although science believes that they were rather great observers of the sky.
Why do the pyramids point towards Orion?
The Egyptians believed that the trinity that makes up Orion’s belt, stars that we know today as Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, were the place where one of their most important gods lived: Osiris and Isis. For this reason, they decided that the Pyramids of Giza should point in that direction, because when their pharaohs died and their remains rested in such enormous mausoleums, then they could ascend directly to Osiris, who conducted the Last Judgment in the other world.
Religiously we find here why the Egyptians decided to place their pyramids, but this does not explain to us how they achieved it without having the minimum astronomical technology. According to research published in the Journal of Ancient Egyptian Architecture, in the absence of technology, the Egyptians used their knowledge of the sky and relied on the autumn equinox to achieve a near-perfect alignment.
Connoisseurs of the Sun
Glen Dash, who is an archaeologist at Harvard University and leader of the research, suggests that the trajectory followed by the pyramids coincides with the shadow cast by the sun during the autumn equinoxes on the Earth’s surface.
To test his theory, Dash used what is known as a ‘gnomon stick’, which is a method that uses a stick buried perpendicular to the ground to record patterns in the shadow of the Sun. The archaeologist used this simple but brilliant idea, during an autumn equinox and at the end of the day he noticed that the patterns in the shadows traced a perfect line from east to west.
According to Dash, this is how the Egyptians 4,500 years ago and without having to use complex astronomical technology, were able to masterfully align the Pyramids of Giza with the stars in the sky.