April 01, 2007	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 12, 1428

PARIS, March 31: A French architect said on Friday he had cracked a 4,500-year-old mystery surrounding Egypt’s Great Pyramid, saying it was built from the inside out.

Previous theories have suggested Pharaoh Khufu’s tomb, the last surviving example of the seven great wonders of antiquity, was built using either a vast frontal ramp or a ramp in a corkscrew shape around the exterior to haul up the stonework.

But flouting previous wisdom, Jean-Pierre Houdin said advanced 3D technology had shown the main ramp which was used to haul the massive stones to the apex was contained 10-15 metres beneath the outer skin, tracing a pyramid within a pyramid.

“This is better than the other theories, because it is the only theory that works,” Houdin said after unveiling his hypothesis in a lavish ceremony using 3D computer simulation.

To prove his case, Houdin teamed up with a French company that builds 3D models for auto and airplane design, Dassault Systemes, which put 14 engineers for two years on the project.

Now, an international team is being assembled to probe the pyramid using radars and heat detecting cameras supplied by a French defence firm, as long as Egyptian authorities agree.—Reuters