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Plotting the pyramids

There is no evidence in ancient texts that Egyptians used astronomical knowledge in building the pyramids. But analysis of the night sky in 2500 bc could help explain how the pyramid builders knew the direction of true north.

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Figure 1: The night sky in ancient Egypt.

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Correspondence to Owen Gingerich.

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Gingerich, O. Plotting the pyramids. Nature 408, 297–298 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35042648

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