Synthèse sur l'art des bâtisseurs romains d'un point de vue archéologique et ethnographique présentant le cycle de réalisations des constructions romaines, de l'étude des sites et matériaux aux techniques et gestes de ceux qui bâtirent Pompéi. ©Electre 2022

Recounts the fascinating discoveries made by explorers, adventurers, and scientists about the Great Pyramid of Cheops, including the stunning recent assertions that the ancient structure was used as a geometric tool to measure the outside world.

The Old Kingdom of Egypt (Dynasties 4-6, c. 2600-2180 BC) is famous as a period of the builders of the largest Egyptian pyramids. It is generally accepted that the evidence on the use of copper alloy tools from this era is meagre. Martin Odler gathers the textual, iconographic and palaeographic evidence and examines Old Kingdom artefacts in order to revise this view on the use of copper alloy tools and model tools. Furthermore, he provides updated definitions of tool classes and tool kits, together with the context of their use.

During the Egyptian Old Kingdom (2650-2135 BC), the most impressive of all monuments were built in the form of the pyramids and their associated temples. The provision of enormous quantities of stone from suitable quarries was the most important requirement for their construction. This volume comprises short archaeological descriptions of the pyramids and their enclosures and determines the exact origin of the building material (above all limestone) from a total of 26 pyramids through a petrographic and geochemical comparison with samples from other quarries.

Lorsque ce livre a été publié pour la première fois en 1930, les excellents livres traitant des styles architecturaux de l'Égypte ancienne ne manquaient pas. aucun livre d'importance, cependant, n'a discuté en détail des méthodes de construction réelles utilisées pour ériger certaines des structures les plus colossales et les plus durables du monde.

Between 1999 and 2010 over one hundred replica and reconstructed ancient Egyptian tools were transported to Egypt, being rigorously further tested, and analysed, under local conditions at sites relevant to the tools' ancient uses. For example, the surfaces of some blocks in the Great Pyramid at Giza, and the top surface of the Unfinished Obelisk at Aswan, were tested for accuracy with calibrated replica tools: other experiments at Luxor investigated the fitting of stone column segments in Karnak Temple, using experimentally manufactured stone segments.