After receiving invitations from top Egyptian officials to visit the pyramid, Elon Musk seemed to have stepped back from his earlier claims when he shared a BBC article of how the pyramids were built.
"This BBC article provides a sensible summary for how it was done," Musk tweeted with a link to an archived story titled "The Private Lives of the Pyramid-builders" that was published in BBC's Ancient History page.
According to Daily Mail, the billionaire shared the link on Twitter on Saturday, August 1, a day after he tweeted that the Pyramids of Giza were built by aliens. Musk said on Twitter that for 3,800 years, the Great Pyramid remained the tallest structure made by humans. He referred to a Wikipedia link about the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The Great Pyramid was the tallest structure made by humans for 3800 years. Three thousand, eight hundred years. https://t.co/6DU46eMbni — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2020
"Aliens built the pyramids obv,' Musk said in Twitter, adding that Ramses II was cool (icon) in a follow-up message. The Twitter thread has now received more than 500,000 and been retweeted for 87,000 times.
One of those who responded to Musk's tweets was Rania al-Mashat who is Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation. She said she follows Musk's works "with a lot of admiration."' She also urged Musk to explore various studies about how the pyramids were constructed as well as to explore the pyramid builders' tombs. "Mr. Musk, we are waiting for you," al-Mashat added.
I follow your work with a lot of admiration. I invite you & Space X to explore the writings about how the pyramids were built and also to check out the tombs of the pyramid builders. Mr. Musk, we are waiting for you . @elonmusk https://t.co/Xlr7EoPXX4 — Rania A. Al Mashat (@RaniaAlMashat) August 1, 2020
According to Live Science, archaeologists further learned that the Great Pyramid was built for the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu about 4,500 years ago as they unearthed a ramp system in an ancient quarry in the Eastern Desert.
Aside from the famous Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt that stands at more than 450 feet, there are over 100 pyramids across the country, which were mostly built as tombs for Egypt's royalty.
Another pyramid gaining popularity nowadays is the Bent Pyramid, which was built in Dahshur near Cairo in about 2,600BC. It was built for pharaoh Snefru and originally designed as a 54-degree angle pyramid. However, since soft and silty clay was used, it had issues with subsidence and stability. The angle was then adjusted to 43 degrees to resolve the issue, so it reached only 147ft.
Archaeologists debunked aliens and pyramids
Despite the seeming retractions, Musk received further comments about his tweet about pyramids and aliens.
In a video message, Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass refuted Musk's claims. "This is a response from Zahi Hawass to American billionaire Elon Musk,' Hawass said in the video as reported by Egypt Today.
He also said Tesla's CEO's comment about the pyramids is "completely hallucination" reiterating that the structures were built by Egyptians thousands of years ago.
However, conspiracy theories credit the aliens for creating the pyramids and ancient structures. One of which is the Nasca Lines found in the deserts of Lima. According to National Geographic, there were more than 800 long, straight white lines as well as 300 geometric shapes and 70 figures of animals drawn in the desert walls. It is still unclear how these huge images were created by ancient people.
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