Ancient Signal · Field notes · Giza
Giza: aliens, or Egyptians?
Giza Plateau, Egypt · 29.98°N 31.13°E
Blue hour on the plateau. Three pyramids, a Sphinx and a signal your father heard first, on a ham radio in his shed. In Ancient Signal you scan four spots at Giza through two lenses: Believer, for the ancient-astronaut reading, and Sceptic, for what archaeologists found.
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The short answer
No evidence points to aliens at Giza. Egyptologists date the three great pyramids to Egypt's Fourth Dynasty, roughly 2600 to 2500 BC, and have found the builders' town, the workers' own tombs, the quarries and a papyrus logbook kept by a crew shipping limestone for Khufu's pyramid. The alien readings grew out of writers such as Zecharia Sitchin and from ideas like Robert Bauval's Orion correlation theory, which you can test for yourself in the game.
Southern shaft
Great Pyramid of Khufu · south face
Believer lens
Robert Bauval argued that this shaft, running up from the King's Chamber, pointed at Alnitak, the lowest star of Orion's Belt, around 2450 BC. In his Orion correlation theory the three Giza pyramids copy the belt on the ground. Ancient-astronaut writers read that as a map meant to be seen from the sky.
Sceptic lens
Many Egyptologists think the shafts were aimed at the stars for religious reasons: they gave the dead king's soul a path to join the stars. The shafts are only about 20 cm wide, too narrow for any practical use, and star worship is well recorded in Egyptian texts.
Casing stones
Pyramid of Khafre · upper courses
Believer lens
Zecharia Sitchin argued the Giza pyramids were navigation beacons for the Anunnaki's craft, their smooth white casing shining from the air to guide landings at a spaceport in the Sinai. Christopher Dunn later claimed the Great Pyramid worked as a power plant.
Sceptic lens
The casing was fine white limestone from the Tura quarries, polished to a smooth, bright finish. After an earthquake loosened it in 1303, most of it was carted off to build Cairo. Khafre's pyramid still keeps original casing near its top, which is why its peak looks lighter.
Who built it?
Relieving chambers above the King's Chamber
Believer lens
Sitchin claimed the pyramids were far older than Khufu, and that the painted cartouche naming him, found in the hidden chambers above the King's Chamber in 1837, was forged by its discoverer.
Sceptic lens
Archaeologists have excavated the town that fed and housed the builders, with bakeries, probably breweries, and a cemetery of the workers' own tombs. Work gangs painted their names, including Khufu's, inside chambers never meant to be entered, some running into joints no forger in 1837 could reach. Papyri from Wadi al-Jarf record boats carrying limestone for his pyramid.
The Great Sphinx
Sphinx enclosure · facing east
Believer lens
Geologist Robert Schoch, a regular voice on Ancient Aliens, argued the deep weathering on the enclosure walls was caused by heavy rain, which would make the Sphinx thousands of years older than Egypt's pharaohs. Some theorists link that early date to a lost or visiting civilisation.
Sceptic lens
Most Egyptologists and geologists date the Sphinx to Khafre's reign, around 2500 BC. It sits beside his valley temple and causeway, and the weathering can be explained by salt, wind and the soft layers of limestone it was carved from.
The puzzle: Lay the belt on the plateau
At the survey table you drag and turn the three stars of Orion's Belt until each one sits on a pyramid: Alnitak over Khufu, Alnilam over Khafre and the offset Mintaka over Menkaure. Solve it and both lenses have their say.
What the sceptic notices
Notice how far you have to turn the stars. The astronomer Ed Krupp pointed out that the match only works if the map is flipped, laying the top of the sky onto the south of the plateau. Three bright points in a rough line are also easy to match by chance.
Questions people ask
- Who built the pyramids of Giza?
- Egyptian workers under the Fourth Dynasty kings Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure, around 2600 to 2500 BC. Their town, bakeries and tombs have been excavated next to the pyramids.
- What is the Orion correlation theory?
- Robert Bauval's idea that the three Giza pyramids copy the layout of Orion's Belt. Critics point out the match only works if the star map is turned almost upside down.
- How old is the Sphinx?
- Most Egyptologists and geologists date it to Khafre's reign, around 2500 BC. A minority view, argued by Robert Schoch, says rain weathering makes it much older.
Further reading
- Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass, Giza and the Pyramids (2017)
- Pierre Tallet and Mark Lehner, The Red Sea Scrolls (2021), on the Wadi al-Jarf papyri
- E. C. Krupp, 'Pyramid Marketing Schemes', Sky & Telescope (February 1997), on the Orion correlation
Walk the site yourself at Giza Plateau, scan what you find, and file your verdict. Both answers count, and Ruth will hear about it.
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