THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Chapter 13 How the 33,600 litres of water of the Great Pyramid's inclined well have been drained through the Al-Ma'mun glory hole spillway to the subterranean chamber in an instant

It is through the so-called cavity of Al-Ma'mun in the Great Pyramid of Khufu that all the 33,600 litres of water of the inclined well have been drained, probably in a matter of a couple minutes, before being redirected towards the subterranean chamber for evacuation. [the cavity of Al-Ma'mun]: "Great Pyramid Passages", Volume 1, by John and Morton Edgar, 1910: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n293/mode/thumb

"Brian Hollis rappels into Gibson Dam glory hole spillway". Joe Rohde: flickr.com/photos/usbr/11356922433/

THE PYRAMIDS of the COLD • Study written by Bruno COURSOL (January 2021 to September 2025)

Section B • The inclined well of the Great Pyramid and the so-called ascending passage

It was because of the pressurization of the waters of the inclined well that the fog of microdroplets could be produced

Chapter 13 • The draining of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid through the glory hole spillway of Al-Ma'mun

In summary: at the end of the period of operation of the Great Pyramid and the shutdown procedure, the inclined well had to be drained out of its water because all the equipment like the copper plate cold exchanger from the Queen's chamber, the fog nozzle, the Bastet and Sekhmet check valve, the pipes, the hauling Beetle, the impactor and the central wooden Djed caisson, they all had to be taken out of the pyramid. Even if during its operation time, the elevation of the Great Pyramid wasn't finished and the structure would have looked like any other mastaba, the easiest way of getting everything out was to use the inclined well as a passage out of the pyramid, and for that to happen, they had to drain the well: they had to remove the water, and redirect it towards the subterranean chamber, passing through the cavity supposedly digged by Al-Ma'mun.

The draining of the well was triggered when extra pressure was applied to the Bes and Beset anchor block, most probably by filling up the central wooden Djed caisson with water, until its upper part Bes finally broke. The granite plug of the well Taweret which had sealed the well during the entire operating time of the Pyramid, then got released and propelled onto the intermediate granite block of what we call today the granite plug of the ascending passage. This intermediate granite block was nothing but a shock absorber block for Taweret to be immobilized, again.

The most remarkable, yet still uncertain part of the draining procedure of the well, is that it had most probably actually been triggered from the grotto of the pyramid. As incredible as it sounds, the only purpose of the grotto was to provide shelter to a designated man or a volunteer who would probably have released the waters of the King's chamber from the shelter of that grotto.

Spillway on the Monticello Dam, Lake Berryessa, Napa County California after heavy rains, March 2017, thanks to Phoebe: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monticello_Dam,_Lake_Berryessa_spillway.jpg

Operating diagram of the Great Pyramid of Khufu, showing the mostly flooded inclined well and its fortified lower part that was only intended for the pyrotechnic-like procedure of the draining of its waters.

13.01  Because of the 7,000 jugs of false blood that Sekhmet had to 'gorge on', we know that the inclined well of the Great Pyramid contained exactly 33.600 liters of water

And now, there is something very cool. Even if it will be very difficult to know exactly the amount of water that was inside the inclined well, by only taking into consideration the dimensions of the structure, because of my limited access to information I cannot really estimate the exact volume of the well that was flooded (knowing that the bottom of the well was the upper part of the block known as the upper granite plug in the ascending passage, this is Taweret, and because it is almost impossible to know how deep the central wooden caisson got into the well and how thick were the wooden boards constituting the caisson).

In short, there are many unknown data to be precise. But lets try to do an estimate. The ascending passage is about 38 meters long, 1.09 meter wide and 1.20 meter high.

Lets take arbitrarily 5 meters out of this passage to take into consideration the original location of the Taweret plug (that can be exactly determined by the location of the little granite Bes wedging block still in the floor of the passage today), and lets use a flooded section of 1 meter by 1 meter. That would make 33x1x1= 33 m³ = 33,000 litres of water.

And now is the cool part: in the chapter about Sekhmet, we've already seen that it was 7,000 jugs of fake blood that was offered to the goddess; and 7,000 jugs of beer is exactly 33,600 litres.

According to the next excerpt : 7,000 jugs of beer = 7,000 x 4.8 litres (1 hekat = 4.8 litres) = 33,600 litres

“So Ra poured 7,000 jugs of beer and pomegranate juice (which stained the beer blood red) in her path. She [Sekhmet] gorged on the “blood” and became so drunk she slept for three days. When she awoke, her blood lust had dissipated, and humanity was saved.” https://ancientegyptonline.co.uk/sekhmet/

“To evaluate and calculate the density of beers, the Egyptian scribe needs three units: the hekat, which measures a volume of grain, the dś-jar, which gives a volume of beer, and the pefsu, which gives the mathematical relationship between these two values. The hekat (or heqat) is the Egyptian unit of volume used to gauge quantities of grain or beer. It is worth 4.8 litres” https://beer-studies.com/en/Advanced-studies/Brewing-ratios/Egyptian-brewing-ratios

"The ascending corridor begins from a point in the descending corridor located 18 meters from the original entrance of the pyramid; it is 38 meters long, 1.20 meters high and 1.09 meters wide": https://www.aly-abbara.com/voyages_personnels/egypte/monuments_traditions/pages/caire_gizeh_pyramide_cheops.html

[Pectoral of Tutankhamun] here represented between Sekhmet and Ptah [edited]: https://i0.wp.com/egypt-museum.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Pectoral-of-King-Tutankhamun-between-Ptah-and-Sekhmet.jpg?ssl=1

Diagram showing the layout of the girdle stones in the 'ascending passage' of the Great Pyramid of Khufu. The 'passage' was actually mostly flooded and functioned as an inclined well. Photograph from tomb KV 11 of Ramesses III, side chamber, image # 21076 by Matjaz Kacicnik, courtesy of ARCE, American Research Center in Egypt in partnership with the American University in Cairo Egyptology Department: https://thebanmappingproject.com/images/21076jpg

During the entire operating period of the pyramid, the bottom of the inclined well was sealed by the Taweret plug: the block known today as the upper granite plug. Taweret was maintained in position by an anchor block that had been designed with a very thin and easy to break upper part, and a heavy and massive lower part that anchored the block into the floor. The breaking-off of that fragile upper part then released the Taweret block and the waters of the well were drained through the dormant breach, between the Girdle Stones G8 and G9 where the orientations of the girdles diverge.

13.02  The lower end-to-end girdles are arranged in two sets, each one with a different orientation

When you look attentively to the drawing of the Edgar brothers (plate CXXVIII), showing the girdle imprints on the floor of the passage (red and green short lines), you can see something absolutely amazing: these girdle stones were arranged in two sets of girdles, and that these two sets were positioned at a different angle to the vertical axis. This particular layout reveals a dormant breach, just waiting to be opened up, and it is located right where the Al Ma'mun cavity has been found.

The release of the Taweret granite plug had as only goal to allow the water of the inclined well to have access to the drain hole that was set right above the so-called cavity of Al-Ma'mun. That cavity was nothing but a 'glory hole' spillway.

13.03  The breach opening for the shutdown procedure of the pyramid

Not only by having these two sets of girdles with different orientations we also have the opening that reveals a dormant breach, but more amazingly at this exact location in the ascending passage we can find a tiny squared imprint in the floor with a granite plug still stuck inside. And of course, this is also at this very location in the Great Pyramid that you can find what is called today 'the cavity of Al-Ma'mun' that leads to the subterranean part of the Great Pyramid.

I guess I'm not the first one to be intrigued by all these structural particularities, and if you don't consider adding water to them, you simply cannot understand any of them. What is striking is to see how everybody is trying to hide the real shape of the cavity of Al-Ma'mun: it has a perfect funnel-like shape, so why isn't that discussed by anybody? It's not I desperately want to flatter myself, it's just that I want to demonstrate one very disturbing understanding: people actually didn't really want to understand what happened. Certainly you guys should really interest yourself about these gigantic girdle stones that transform the entire lower part of the ascending passage into some kind of fortified bunker.

13.04  The Al-Ma'mun cavity was a glory hole spillway for collecting the waters of the Great Pyramid's incined well 

This is what Morton Edgar wrote about the cavity of Al-Ma'mun, in 1910:

"Another good job completed yesterday, was the cutting of notches for the feet and hands in the part by which one climbs alongside the Granite Plug up to the First Ascending Passage. When we desire to ascend this passage, -we leave the Descending Passage by the hole forced on its right or west side by Caliph Al Mamoun, about ninety feet down from the Entrance. This hole is in line with the front of the granite stone which lies on the floor of the Descending Passage, The limestone block, "which now rests against the upper end of the granite stone (Plate IX), forms a convenient step by which to gain entrance, for the lower edge of the hole is about two feet up from the floor of the Descending Passage. From here the forced hole tends upward and west- ward Into a large cavernous space about twelve feet in height. Communicating with this space at the upper portion of its north-westward side is the inner or southern extremity of the long passage which Al Mamoun caused to be excavated from the north face of the Pyramid Plate V. In order to reach the upper end of the Granite Plug, and so ascend the First Ascending Passage, we require to scale the south-east wall of this cavernous space. During my first week here, I secured two photographs showing Hadji Ali Gabri climbing this wall — Plates LXIV and LXV. In both of these he is seen standing "with one foot on a ledge which is situated about three feet above the loose, sandy floor of the space, and the other in a notch. By taking advantage of this ledge and of the notches, we made the ascent at that time without undue difficulty. But now that we have had fresh notches cut, and the old ones deepened, the ascent and descent are much easier. One of the photographs (Plate LXV) presents a near view of the ledge, and also shows the lower end of the First Ascending Passage to better advantage than the other."

Excerpt from Morton Edgar, in "Great Pyramid Passages, Volume 1", by John and Morton Edgar, 1910, paragraph ref. 328, page 167: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n175/mode/1up

[illustration] The cavity of Al-Ma'mun only served the purpose of collecting the inclined well waters for the shutdown procedure of the pyramid. The draining of the well was triggered by the breaking of the wedging block (represented in the Bes deity) that was supporting what is now known as the upper granite plug of the ascending passage, and that was represented in the Taweret hippopotamus deity. [Photograph of the cavity of Al-Ma'mun] "Great Pyramid Passages, Volume 1, by John and Morton Edgar, 1910" : Plate LXIV, page 166: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n174/mode/1up

The little passage connecting the lower end of the 'ascending passage' to the descending passage has been made by ancient Egyptians when it was time to drain the inclined well and evacuate its waters towards the subterranean chamber.

13.05  Once out of the inclined well and in the Al-Ma'mun spillway, the water has then been redirected towards the subterranean chamber through the connecting section that arrives above the metal grid in the descending passage

At this point, I have no other purpose for the subterranean chamber, but it is highly probable this chamber had a real main function during the operation of the Great Pyramid, before it served to swallow the 33,600 litres of water of the inclined well. 

 This is the connecting part that comes from the cavity of Al-Ma'mun and joins the descending passage (here, blocked by a metal grid). The photograph is taken from above, looking down directly at the grid). Unknown photographer.

Photograph of the cavity of Al-Ma'mun: "Great Pyramid Passages, Volume 1, by John and Morton Edgar, 1910":   https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n293/mode/thumb

The spillway "Glory Hole" at Monticello Dam, Lake Berryessa, in operation, February 19, 2017, California. Photograph by Jeremybrooks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monticello_Dam

"The upper south end of the west side of the granite plug which completely blocks the lower end of the ascending passage in the Great Pyramid of Khufu. The photograph is showing two of the series of three great granite stones." From "Great Pyramid Passages", Volume 1, page 173 of the book by John and Morton Edgar, 1910".

13.06  Why isn't there anybody to talk about the pleated stone around the granite plugs?

Sometimes I try to imagine what an extraordinary almost pyrotechnical sequence could have been the release of the Taweret plug (block A on the above edited image) and the colossal shock and noise made when Taweret get stopped both by the shock absorber block (block B) and the structure of the lower part of the inclined well itself. Remember that everything here in this part of the ‘ascending passage’ is supposed to be 100% girdle stones. But when you look at the weird pleated stone on left of the above image, it almost looks like some very particular stone has been used, precisely to absorb part of the energy of Taweret.

Remember that if I’m right about the guy who triggered the draining of the well from the grotto, this guy had to get out of the Pyramid through the descending passage. It means that under no circumstance the very bottom part of the ascending passage could have been damaged during the draining procedure. Anyway, I’m curious to know if some people had already studied these pleated stone.

"Besides these photographs of the lower end of the Granite Plug, I developed a number which had been taken at the upper end. One shows John stooping in the First Ascending Passage, and leaning with his right-hand on the fractured upper end of the Plug. He holds a candle in his left hand, and is looking downward along the west side of the Granite Plug where it has been exposed by Al-Mamoun's excavation. His head is nearly in contact with the roof of the First Ascending Passage. Two of the three great granite blocks which together form the Plug, can be distinctly seen in this photograph, the third being, with the exception of a little part of its upper end, hidden in the surrounding masonry. Some previous investigator has chipped away sufficient of the uppermost granite stone, to expose a portion of the smooth flat upper end of the second." 

"Great Pyramid Passages", Volume 1, by John and Morton Edgar, 1910. Text on pages 171 and 175 of the book, section 333: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n179/mode/1up

13.07  Could the pressure wave resulting of the shock between the Taweret/Opet plug and its shock absorber block be responsible for the obvious presence of folds in the rock just below where these two blocks are today?

If you look closely at the rock with the red arrows, next to the intermediate granite block B ‘the shock absorber’ block, there is something striking: it really looks like there are folds in the rock; and of course the question is to know what caused this particularity. Knowing that this exact location served as absorbing the enormous pressure of the Taweret plug propelled at high velocity by the waters of the well, could this entire part of the well been designed with some kind of ‘bendable’ rock or other material?

We know that there is one type of rock that is indeed bendable, that is the itacolumite sandstone, but apparently such a stone can’t be found anywhere near Egypt. So, what really are these folds, still remains a total mystery. But it certainly has to do with the release of the Taweret block and the intervention of the shock absorber block.

Itacolumite “The World's Most Bendable Rock!” by The Action Lab: youtube.com/watch?v=SYnwOU97EvU

One of my favorite photographs of all: John Edgar, with a candle in the left hand, looking at the Taweret plug, asking to himself what the hell was this thing about, and how did it get there in the first place. Photograph taken by his brother Morton Edgar. Original image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pyramid_of_Giza#/media/File:49_edgar.jpg

Vertical section, looking West, of the Great Pyramid of Giza, in the plane of its passages, by Manly Palmer Hall: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Secret_Teaching_of_All_Ages_-_Chapter_6_-_Pyramid.jpg

13.08  The 'grotto' of the Great Pyramid was involved in triggering the draining of the inclined well

Now, the problem is to understand how was triggered the flooding of the central wooden Djed caisson; because even if we've already seen that during the entire operating period of the Great Pyramid (when flash-evaporative cold was created), the Pyramid's elevation had stopped at the level of the Gantenbrink's 'doors', it wouldn't have been easy do the job anyway. But there is a very weird place in the Great Pyramid, that very well may be the solution to the question of how did ancient Egyptians trigger the complete flooding of the Djed caisson that led to the release of the Taweret plug, and that place is what has been called the 'grotto'.

The shelter in the grotto of the Great Pyramid of Giza. "Great Pyramid Passages", Volume 1, by John and Morton Edgar 1910, page 276: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n285/mode/2up

13.09  The shelter in the grotto from where the draining of the inclined well was triggered

Maybe you need to be completely crazy to come up with the idea of triggering the draining of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid from the place known as 'the grotto'. I agree, but when you think it through, what the hell could be this little room of 'the grotto'; and if you look at this grotto with a complete open mind, what is striking is that everything looks like it has been designed so that one person could find a shelter in this grotto:

• a protecting shelter with a floor surelevated from the entry of the grotto

• a shelter protected by the Deep hole of the grotto

• a shelter at the opposite of the entry, and completely protected from the masonry

So yes, it may be completely crazy, but everything looks like the grotto has been designed fearing water: the grotto is a shelter from water coming down the vertical well shaft. This is the reason why there is a deep hole in the floor to accumulate the water and preserve the upper part of the grotto and its shelter. This upper part has another particular design: its end part has been set the further away to the doorway as possible. This is a perfect design for a shelter, the further away from the doorway and in an elevated section with a protective retention basin at the entrance.

What would be the reason for this shelter if it wasn't for protecting someone from water? There is even a "deep hole" that would have worked as a protective basin for when water would have got in; a basin which would have slowly emptied itself because it has been dug into natural rock: the 'deep hole' in the grotto isn't part of the built pyramid.

And if this shelter was meant to protect someone from water getting in the grotto, would it be because of any other reason than for the draining of the well procedure? I seriously doubt it. In my opinion, someone had to stay inside the Great Pyramid in order to trigger the draining of the well, and that is what the famous scene of the Dendera ceiling is all about.

“Grotto (left) accessed through the broken wall of the Well Shaft (right)”. Photograph by John and Morton Edgar, 1910: https://archive.org/details/GreatPyramidPassagesVol11910Edition/page/n287/mode/1up

The representation of the draining of the inclined well. [illustration] Burial chamber relief, tomb of Seti I, KV17 in the Valley of the Kings. Photograph thanks to kairoinfo4u: https://www.flickr.com/photos/manna4u/36500349182/

13.10  The falcon-headed man pulling the rope and triggering the draining of the well

The above relief from the KV17 tomb of Seti I is one of the most iconic reliefs from ancient Egypt, and because of Taweret we perfectly know that the whole scene is about the plug of the inclined well of the Great Pyramid. But there is something very unusual about that scene: it is all these ropes ‘flying’ all around, these two guys laying horizontally and these two ropes connected to what we know now to be the Bes and Beset anchor block. There is also the Apis bull, blocked in his progression by what looks like some kind of a paper clip: the bull's third hoof is stuck by this paper clip like element.

But this situation is not permanent: if the falcon headed man pulls down the rope he is holding to, then we can easily imagine that the paper clip thing flattens itself… and the Apis bull gets released. But now that the bull has been released, the ropes connected to the Bes and Beset anchor block can finally haul back that block, and that is the moment when Bes gets broken and the Taweret plug is released. So, I know my English isn't perfect, but I hope I've convinced you that this wonderful scene is nothing but the representation of how the ancient Egyptians did trigger the breaking of Bes and the release of the Taweret plug.

What's new here, is that everything seems to be triggered by the falcon-headed man, laying on the ground, and it almost looks like he is inside some kind of very little place. So, what I think is that the falcon-headed man is the guy who triggered the flooding of the central wooden Djed caisson, and that he did it from the grotto, protected from any water gushing out in the grotto by being safely in his little shelter. I'm not completely sure of this scenario, but I would say it's a solid guess.

13.11  The extra crocodile on Taweret's back is about the extra pressure needed to release the plug of the inclined well

Remember that the only way the Egyptians could have broken the Bes part of the Bes and Beset anchor block, would have been by increasing the water height, hence pressure, above the Taweret plug; in other words they simply added pressure on top of the pre-existing pressure the Taweret plug had to sustain. Remember also that we've already seen that the crocodile part on the back of the representations of Taweret was to depict the fact that Taweret had to resist to pressure as the plug of the operating inclined well; the crocodile being the animal able to create the most important pressure of all animals.

So, because Egyptians simply added more water to create more pressure on Taweret when it was time to trigger the draining of the well, here on this relief that is partly or entirely about the draining of the well, they've represented this very idea of increasing pressure, by adding a full crocodile to Taweret's back, which already is part crocodile.

After ancient Egyptians had operated the Great Pyramid, they started to dig through the structure so that both the water of the inclined well could have been evacuated towards the subterranean chamber and all the equipment could have been evacuated to the exterior of the Great Pyramid. So additionally to the digging of the so-called cavity of Al-Ma'mun (the spillway that collected the waters of the well), and the little passage connecting the spillway of Al-Ma'mun to the descending passage, Egyptians also digged their way out of the Pyramid to evacuate all the valuable equipment. This is what the 'forced entry tunnel' supposedly digged by the caliph Al-Ma'mun is really all about.

13.12  The so-called 'Robbers Tunnel' supposedly digged by the caliph Al-Ma'mun... and the road signs-like walls

The so-called ‘robbers tunnel’ used today to access the inside of the Great Pyramid, is a perfect ‘cas d’école' demonstrating the power of tradition and legend, the weakness of the mind and the temptation of throwing out of the window every piece of information we have if it does get things easier to handle. Everybody knows that this ‘robbers tunnel’ pre-existed Al-Ma’mun, because of the testimony of patriarch Dionysius I Telmaharoyo, so why the hell are we still talking about Al-Ma’mun? And how the hell would anyone have been able to dig a tunnel that would have directly led to the granite stones that are today at the bottom of the ‘ascending passage’? What is unbearable to my eyes, is that just like the vertical expansion joints of the flash-evaporative cooling passage, and the massive salt deposit of the Queen’s chamber, all the clues are here, under everybody’s eyes, and it’s just that nobody wants to look at them. t

You want to know how this tunnel had been digged? Well, just look at the walls of that tunnel! Isn’t there something weird? Don’t you see that the builders have kind of inscribed in these walls the exact location where to dig? Don’t you see that this tunnel is literally outlined by the association of large light colored blocks framed or encased inbetween two layers of thin dark colored blocks? Don’t you see that Egyptians had simply marked the passage with preexisting blocks, just like they would have used road signs?

The 'road signs-like' layout of the blocks inside the 'robbers tunner' of the caliph Al-Ma'mun. Photographs of the 'forced entry tunnel' of Al-Ma'mun, thanks to Mike Dash in his blog "A Blast from the Past": https://mikedashhistory.com/2011/09/01/inside-the-great-pyramid/ 

Road markings at Achnacloich Rail Bridge, thanks to Bear Scotland (Perth): https://www.bearscot.com/new-road-markings-at-achnacloich...

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Table of contents

Operating diagrams of the Great Pyramid

Timelines

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