Abstract:
Some of the largest and best known pyramids from the ancient world have
been shown recently to share a common association with underground chambers and water sources. This combination of themes
simultaneously evokes memories of both the 'primal mound' and the
underworld, representing the cycles of life and death in the same
structures. It is proposed that these similar features between
otherwise unconnected pyramids represent the fusion of a set of
ancient ideas with newer ones in which the pyramid (primal-mound)
becomes a representation of the unification of the underworld
(afterlife), cosmology, and the living earth-mother.
It is a curious fact that some of the earliest written descriptions of the Great
Pyramid make mention of water
in or under it. Pliny said that he believed the
Pyramid was attached to the Nile via a 'Well-shaft', and
a Herodotus text included a clear
reference to underground cavities and water. In it he stated that Khufu, to whom the
pyramid is attributed, was buried on an island surrounded by water.
Quote from Herodotus: (Histories
2.124) "For the underground chambers
on the heights upon which the pyramids stand, which he [Cheops]
caused to made as sepulchral chambers for himself an island, having
conducted a channel from the Nile"
Such a
sarcophagus has in fact been discovered at Giza, although not
underneath the Great Pyramid but rather 90ft beneath the causeway
that leads to the central pyramid of Khafre. There seems little
doubt, however, that
at the time of Herodotus it was known that there were both underground
chambers and water beneath the Giza plateau.
Giza
was once known as 'The House of Osiris',
the god of
the afterlife and the underworld and the dead
(9).
In southern Egypt, Osiris' home was the underground chamber called
the 'Osirion' at Abydoss. This is identical in design to the Valley
temple at Giza which is still connected to the Nile. As a result the
underground chamber contains an island permanently surrounded by water. The
theme of a watery underground grotto or 'womb of the earth' is
to be found around the ancient world.
Perhaps the tradition of
Giza as being an entrance to the underworld will one day be shown to
have more substance than we currently credit it with.
It is now recognised that the whole Giza
plateau is undercut by a network of natural cavities in the
limestone. Some of these catacombs were explored by Salt and Caviglia
in 1817 and were found to extend for hundreds of metres in the
general direction of the central pyramid. The entrance to this
system was recently rediscovered (2010) and tentatively explored by
Andrew Collins
(5),
and it now falls to the Egyptian authorities to explore this
completely. The Photo (above right) shows a natural
underground cavity directly in front of the Great pyramid. The fact
that these cavities were covered over with the limestone paving before
the pyramid was built demonstrates that the builders were aware of
the porous nature of the rock.
It is perhaps worth reminding
ourselves
that the Great Pyramid and all the large early (2nd-5th) dynastic
pyramids were constructed to include long tunnels that descended beneath them into underground chambers. In addition, the Great
Pyramid
also possesses a natural chamber within it in the shape of the 'Grotto'. This small
unsuspecting cavity is often called the 'escape shaft' in today's literature, but there are several features
in it
that nullify this idea and it is equally possible that this small
chamber and shaft may have been the original reason for the pyramids location
and arguably its very existence. Even though it is a natural underground cavity, it still sits 25ft higher than the pyramids base
and is formed
within an area of naturally raised bedrock directly beneath the pyramid.
We know for a fact that the grotto existed long before the pyramid and that it
was built over. The tunnel walls to the chamber were first bricked around then
the whole shaft and passage covered over
as the pyramid was being constructed. This supports Borchardt's hypothesis
that the pyramid was constructed in two or three distinct stages. The significance of the grotto is
further demonstrated by the fact that the original entrance to the chamber
sits at the exact junction that connects the
lower passages to the upper parts, as well as its being at the junction
of the passage leading to the 'Queens' chamber and at a drastic
change in
internal architectural style. Although it has not been determined
why, Lepre
(10),
also noted that
inside the grotto:
'The ceiling
is unusually damp to the point where there is actually a perceptible
coating - like a light frost - over the pebbles themselves. This
unusual composition naturally tempts one to speculate about the
existence of a nearby water source'.
Knowing that the Great Pyramid was
built over an existing mound, and one which had a chamber in it,
raises several questions in relation to the original function of the
grotto, and the reason why such a vast edifice was subsequently
raised over it. Although suggestions have been put forward that this
grotto may have been the actual burial place of the Pharaoh, these
are entirely unsubstantiated, as are those that it may once have
been an actual well shaft (it is noted that the grotto lies above a
naturally deep fissure in the bedrock), and we are left with the unsatisfying
realisation that the exact connection between the grotto and the
pyramid may already be lost to us. We are fortunate therefore that
similar combinations of architecture and symbolism have been
reported at other pyramids around the world and it is to these that we
now turn our attention.
In South America, the pyramid building cultures also incorporated cave and tunnel
systems into their structures. These include a strong suggestion of
water through the associated arts. At Teotihuacan in Mexico, one of
the most conspicuous pre-Columbian capital cities, named 'The
Place where men became gods', both tunnel and cave systems have
been found under more than one pyramid. The largest, the 'Pyramid of
the Sun' which has been known since the 1970's to have a cave shaped like a 'flower
with petals' and a tunnel system
under it, was recently re-opened and was found to
have had offerings placed at the end of it as 'part of the
construction process' (2).
The cove area which lies
directly under the pyramid was naturally formed from a flow of volcanic lava, a process which produces bubble-shaped caves which 'often serve as outlets
for springs' (4)
This would certainly have been known
about when the pyramid was constructed. In addition, the smaller
nearby pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, which is covered with images of
Conches, scallops and other sea shells between the protruding
carvings, has been found to have a long sealed tunnel
leading to a series of galleries and a tomb chamber directly under
it and filled with thousands of objects of stone, jade, shell and
pottery'. Researchers
believe that the tunnel was deliberately closed off, between A.D.
200 and 250 and was a central element around which the rest of the
ceremonial complex was built. This makes it 'the most sacred aspect of
the ruins'. (3)
Cave tunnels were also built into an
earlier Puebla pyramid at Totimehuacan ante-dating the pyramid of the
sun and its cave by hundreds of years. Frogs ornamenting the sides
of a stone basin inside the chamber at the end of the tunnel refer
generally to watery imagery
(1). The remains at Tiahuanaco
suggest that the complex was intimately integrated with water.
There are still conduits and drainage pipes at the bottom of what
was once the great pyramid there, and although their function remains unknown,
it is apparent that at both the pyramid itself and the complex in
general water played an integral role perhaps similar to the temple
complex at Ankor Wat.
Other Pre-Columbian discoveries
testify to the strong link
between water and the underworld. There have been several recent discoveries of cave systems
with temples built underwater in the caves
themselves. This has greatly enhanced our understanding of the Mayan
concept of the underworld. In 2008 in one
cave, researchers discovered a nearly 300-foot (90-meter) road that
led down to a column standing in front of a body of water. "We have
this pattern now of finding temples close to the water�or under the
water"
(11).
The Chitzen Itza complex was built beside two water
filled 'cenotes', now considered the very reason for the location of
the temple
complex itself. The numerous discoveries of worship, sacrifice,
blessings and incense at cenotes leave little doubt as to their
having been considered as entrances to the underworld
(12).
Entering the underworld by crossing water, or passing through it is
a common ancient theme in human cultures. In Greece, one had to
cross the River Styx to enter the Greek underworld and in Egypt the
dead crossed over to their underworld in a 'sun-boat. In both the
Egyptian and Mexican mythologies, these waters are typified by the
Milky way in their cosmologies which was the path one followed after
death in order to reach the underworld. The same theme is repeated
in Babylonian myth where the matriarchal Goddess Tiamat was the goddess of Babylon before Marduk. Her image was watery, in the mixture of two currents,
and
there is reason to believe that 'the two currents were actually in
the sky: the two sides of the Milky Way'. (13)
The
'watery chaos' from which a 'world-mountain' or 'primal-mound' first
emerged is described in several mythologies. In
Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Sumerian mythologies, 'Mount Meru'
was considered a world axis and was said to extend as
far below into the nether regions as above.
(6)
In Europe,
the Primal Mound was
architecturally represented
by structures known as 'Passage Mounds' or 'Goddess mounds',
which although smaller than the pyramids of Egypt, share several
similarities in having passages and chambers, celestial orientations and
a strong association with the afterlife. Certain European passage mounds also
share a close association with water, such as the Boyne Valley
Mounds in Ireland, Maes Howe on the Orkneys, and Gavrinis in France,
all being effectively surrounding by water, while the Spanish
passage mound 'Cueva de Menga' has an actual well shaft in the
central chamber. There
are also various reports from dowsers and earth energy groups that
megaliths (especially passage mounds) were built over blind-springs,
a statement which remains to be satisfactorily proven.
In terms of pyramid structures in
Europe, the largest and
best known is that of Silbury
Hill, which perfectly typifies the representation of the
'Primal mound' on the Prehistoric British landscape. Silbury Hill, which is unique in
prehistoric British architecture was built in the same way as the 7-stepped-pyramids
or ziggurats of the middle east, its roundness
being simply a reflection for the
preference for 'circular' design in prehistoric British cultures. It
is a fact that no burials have been determined from under it, and as
yet, there is no definitive explanation for its existence. The most recent survey
of the structure (2007) revealed that the pyramid structure was built over
a pre-existing 'turf mound'
(14)
and we know that it was almost certainly designed so as to
be surrounded by water from underground springs. This
curious
piece of architecture takes on a completely different
aspect when confronted with the evidence of pyramid building in
other cultures, especially in relation to the underworld. It should
be remembered that Silbury is but a single component of a larger
'ceremonial' landscape that was closely linked with death and the
afterlife as represented by the several long-barrows, 'tumuli' and
numerous important funerary remains that scatter the landscape
between Avebury and Stonehenge. Silbury Hill, it should also be remembered, lies along the path of the St.
Michael's Leyline, which itself is composed of a series of natural
and man-made 'primal-mounds' (not least of all Glastonbury Tor,
which was itself historically surrounded by water) and
having an
orientation which suggests a solar connection. In Britain one
doesn't have to go far to find the same theme repeated in one shape
or form. Wulaud's Bank, a Henge which also lies along the St. Michael's Leyline, was
also built around the source of
several underground springs.
The theme of a world mountain rising from the 'watery chaos' is
represented in flood mythologies throughout the world. In Europe, we
are taught the biblical flood myth of Noah and the Ark. But this
same myth re-occurs, with specific details around the ancient
world. The earliest known written version is in Sumerian, where Noah
is represented by Ziususdra (Utnapishtim). In each case,
following the flood, a 'primal-mound' is represented as the landing
place for the Ark. The two commonly mentioned primal-mounds in
Middle-eastern/Mediterranean mythologies following the great
deluge are the Greek Mt. Parnassus (by Dodona), and the Turkish Mt. Ararat. Both
of these lie on the same latitude as each other, and both of which
are equidistant from Karnak in
Egypt. The reason we know this curious fact is that
Livvio Stecchini
(7),
has already researched a connection in terms of the geodetic
relationship between oracle centres and geodesy, and in doing so offers several examples to support the association between
navel-stones and �the flood� by referring to their function as
�plugs�; an idea typified by the following phrase �The opening of
the navel brings the deluge�. The same subject has also been
approached in Santillano's �Hamlet�s Mill�
(8)
through the medium of mythology. The following is from Hamlets Mill:
In
the Sumerian myth of Utnapishtim (Noah), we are told that the first
ark was �a cube measuring 60x60x60 fathoms�,
which represents the unit in sexagesimal system (where 60 is written
as 1 or 1� ). In one version, we are told that �there is no ark,
just a cubic stone, which rests on a pillar which reaches from earth
to heaven�. In the Old Testament, these elements are repeated,
when we learn that Noah�s ark was also a cube, whose landing
symbolised the end of the great flood. In Jewish legends, it is said
that �since the ark disappeared there was a stone in its
place�which was called the foundation stone��and it is said to
lie above the waters that are below the Holy of Holies. In Mecca,
the navel of the Islam faith, there stands the Holy stone of the
Ka�aba, which is also a cube, and we are told that even Christ is
compared to �a cube shaped mountain�. But why a cube?
Apart from the obvious fact that a cube represents a single unit (the
unit 1), it is recalled that the cube was also the shape designated for the planet Saturn,
in accordance with the Platonic solids, the Harmony of the spheres,
and as
illustrated in Keplers �Mysterium Cosmographicum�. To support
this idea Santillana reminds us that in this group of stories, the
figure (power) who warns �Noah� of the impending flood, (and
suggests the dimensions of the Ark), is ��Saturn, as Jehovah, as
Enki, as Tane, etc��. The antiquity of these traditions is shown
by the fact that In pre-Islamic days, before the Ka�aba was
constructed, there was a well on the site, which had a statue of the
�God�� Hubal, across the opening �to prevent the waters from
rising�. Hildegard Levy points out that, in pre-Islamic days,
the god Hubal was Saturn, and that the Holy stone of the Ka�aba
served the same symbolic function
(8).
In conclusion, the association with
pyramids and water would appear to suggest a relationship to the
cycle of life and death, being both a metaphor for the amniotic
waters of the earth-mother and the celestial waters of the deep that
lead the dead to the underworld (the Milky way and the mystical
bridge to planet earth). The pyramid
surrounded is likened to the primal mound upon which all life
originally sprang into creation, and/or the mound from which the
world was repopulated following the great mythological flood. In
many cases these mounds of creation are physically revitalised each
year by the suns rays, which penetrate into the inner chamber for a
few moments reminding us that both life and death are irrevocably
connected through the same cycle. For people living in the
mythological age of prehistory such ideas were tangibly real, as
demonstrated by the development of preparation for the afterlife in
funerary rites and associated rituals. In addition, French
caves with Palaeolithic art in them have recently been shown to have
a preference for entrances with an orientation to extreme moments of
the solar cycle, such as the solstices
(15)
when the suns rays on the longest day, would have come in
and left its stamp for a moment on a wall. Perhaps it is only through this early realisation
of the annual
penetration into the already sacred living-earth-mother (from which
we ourselves pass from and back into) that we can begin to
understand the origin of such ideas of birth, death and
rebirth.
