The blocks of limestone constituting the body of the pyramid, according
to our postulate, are taken from the plateau of Giza, at the closest, by
directly exploiting the horizontal stratums of the plateau,
- The verification of the conformability of the stone from the plateau of
Giza with the three Great Pyramids, and the spotting by aerial views
of the exploited areas can easily be performed.

FIG:remains
of the quarries at the foot of Kephren, and at the N.W. corner of Mykerinos
(covered in sand)
- The remains of the quarries are visible by the foot of Khephren and
Mykerinos (18)
(covered in sand). From a geological standpoint, the plateau of Giza
constitutes of specific limestone - medium-eocene, Nummulitic - and is, by
tectonic deformation, a slight anticlinal fold that has obviously caused an
easily analysable (double) system of fracturing of the natural rock (19):
- a first system of large fractures (open diaclases and faults, very easy
to find) that are parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the tectonic
fold and caused by the compression.
- a second system of sub-orthogonal, tight fractures (closed diaclases,
denser and thinner, less visible) that are diagonal, on the left and on the
right, to the axis of the fold and are also caused by compression. Nowadays
like in the old days, no one can ignore the orientation, the geometry, and
the frequency of this fracturing system at the risk of only extracting
dog-eared, deformed or cracked blocks from the quarry, that would be
difficult, if not to say impossible, to use.
- The geologic map of Cairo and the area around Cairo shows the NE-SW
orientation of the tectonic folding and of the faults at the edge of the
plateau of Giza. As a result, the Pyramids of Giza are placed and orientated
according to the geology and the rock natural fracturing :
a) they are lined up along the top of the fold, parallel to the axis,
where the stratums are quasi-horizontal, and therefore much easier to
exploit.
b) they are orientated N-E and E-W according to the fracturing - the
thinnest - the metrical diaclases, themselves diagonal to the fold axis;

FIG: schema of the system
of the natural double fracturing of the rock on the Giza plateau
Nowadays like in the old days, no one can ignore the orientation, the
geometry, and the frequency of this fracturing system at the risk of only
extracting dog-eared, deformed or cracked blocks from the quarry, that would
be difficult, if not to say impossible, to use.
-The extraction of the blocks, in a horizontal open-cast quarry, will be
accomplished gradually depending on the needs, from the nearest and the most
accessible places. Stratums are then cut up following a grid of trenches (of
a man's width and orientated according to the thinner, diagonal fracturing
system) that dictate massifs to be lift off: the "démisage". The notches
made in order to lift off the massifs are still visible on the ground of the
quarries around the pyramids, on the remaining stratums and on some of the
used blocks.
This extracted massif will have to be cut once again (according to the
fracturing system) in order to be moved and used, blocks being so to speak
"pre-cut" in the quarries, they won't therefore require much trimming work
afterward.

FIG:Aerial shot of
Cheops' "temenos", showing the primary transversal fracturing (perpendicular
to the axis of the fold) and the quarry exploitation of the blocks according
to the secondary fracturing (diagonal to the axis of the fold)
The rhomboidal shape of the Dashour-South pyramid doesn't come from a
concern for making it lighter in order for it not to sink into the plateau,
its construction follows the same system of "pyramidal growth" which allows
to generate this shape. Couldn't the visible depression (20)
around the pyramid be the remains of the area of extraction (the quarry) of
the same materials it is made of ? (This hypothesis
needs to be verified.)
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