KHUFUS

COUNTERWEIGHTS!
BUILDING PYRAMIDS THROUGH
DOCUMENTARIES
KURT BURNUM

COPYWRIGHT 2015
KURT BURNUM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
ISBN-13:978-1489576682
ISBN-10:1489576681

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTERVIEW JEAN-PIERRE HOUDIN................... 6

LOGISTICS AND STRUCTURE............................. 12

CONFIGURATIONS................................................ 17

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS........................... 23

TWO DEMINTIONAL DRAWING....................... 29

BIRDS EYE VIEW THE CENTER TOWER.......... 34

ABOUT THE AUTHOR...........................................38

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated exclusively to my one and only big

brother, Donald Burnum. A man who after serving 23 years with
The West Wendover Nevada Police Force committed suicide in
the early morning hours of July 2nd, 2015.
My thoughts and prayers along with all of his family will be there
for him in all of his endeavors regardless. Forever, and in all ways.
As for the many people whose lives that have been touched by
him along the way, he will always be remembered by us for that.
That means that this book, Khufus Counterweights! is
dedicated by me solely as a memorial to him. Maybe now he will
rest with the knowledge of being ever so loved? Even up until
this very day. We will carry his memories with us forever, and he
will always be missed and never forgotten by us. His friends and
family of whom he so hastily has left behind.
And, for whatever reason he deemed necessary to take his own
life, one that was so dear and precious to all of us, and to so many
others regardless of what their needs mayve been at that time. I
hope that all of this has the same meaning to us as it does to all of
them, and that whatever pain he mayve been in is now over
with.
But, I will miss you until the day I see you again Big Brother. But,
until that day comes, please carry on in good faith and in good
hope for the future. Whatever, and however you see fit for it to be.
What-ever it is that God still holds in store for all of us we will
be well. But until then, in good faith and in good time until the
day that I can see you again! May the Blessings Be?

THE KINGS BURIAL CHAMBER

INTERVIEW JEAN-PIERRE HOUDIN

At the very beginning Jean-Pierre said, There were

two stages of construction that the Ancient Egyptian
workers wouldve used during construction of the five
different relieving chambers built directly above The Kings
Burial Chamber located in the very heart of Khufu.
The Ancient Egyptian workers who had built this
ancient monument wouldve used two stages of
construction to raise gigantic beams and rafters that were
needed to support the tremendous amount of weight above
the flat ceiling. The same one that still rests above this
incredible chamber up until this very day! In turn, these
granite beams and rafters have supported the flat ceiling
that is constructed directly above The Kings Burial
Chamber for four thousand five hundred years now.
In order for them to have done this, The Ancient
Egyptian stone haulers of the day wouldve had to move
each and every beam or rafter for The Kings Chamber
upwards from the port on The Nile River to the top of The
Kings Burial Chamber in a single trip! All the way up from

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
where they were stored down at the trade port on the
pyramid building site resting on The Nile.
So, for the Great Egyptian Architect of that time, Hemiunu
who designed and oversaw the construction of the great
pyramid to complete such a remarkable stone hauling task
in time for the pharaohs funeral, he mustve given his best
workers the full use of two separate counterweight lifting
systems. According to their rope configurations they
wouldve been made to be readily available at the disposal of
the workers at any time during the day, or night. One of
these counterweight systems was dug into the surface of
the Giza Plateau at the top of the port ramp. Later on there
wouldve been two more counterweight systems that were
used by the stone haulers of the day.
One of these counterweights systems was made to be
located inside a trench that was built to be inside south side
of the unfinished pyramid itself at a forty-three-meter level.
Another one of these counterweights was designed to
operate inside The Grand Gallery itself. Which even up
until this very day is still located in the very heart of The
Great Pyramid. Both powerful counterweight systems were
readily used to lift the beams and rafters to the top of the
higher levels of the unfinished relieving chambers.
All of these separate counterweights wouldve had
the same length in their glide path of forty-seven meters for
a counterweight run of about forty meters. While at the
same time, once the beams and rafters had been stored
safely on the 43rd meter level the counterweight sliding in
the port ramp trench with all its materials, and devices
linked to it. After that, it was dismantled and used again in
the second stages of raising the beams and rafters up from
the forty-third-meter level storage area into their

KURT BURNUM
respective places in the ceiling above The Kings Burial
Chamber!
Jean-Pierre says, The first of these two stages was
divided into two secondary steps. Two secondary steps
consisted of moving sixty-five beams and rafters in an
upwards, and westerly direction from the shipping port on
The Nile River, (Which was located at the foot of The Great
Pyramid.) all the way to the top of the port ramp, (Which
was located at the base of the external pyramid ramp.)
From the foot of the external pyramid ramp the beams and
rafters were then going to be moved upwards in a northerly
direction to the top of the external pyramid ramp. They
were then stored at the forty-third- meter level on the
pyramid itself! Two secondary stages were successive.
All the beams and rafters had to travel upwards from
the port on The Nile River to the top of the forty-third-meter
level in one trip. Once all the beams and rafters had been
stored there the second stage could follow. The
construction of the ceiling above The Kings Burial Chamber.
At the same time when the stone haulers working above the
trenches were still using counterweights to help them
move the monolith beams and rafters up to the higher levels
of this unfinished pyramids construction.
The Egyptians also wanted slow momentum of the
counterweight loads. The ones that weighed over fifty tons!
And on the way back down to the bottom of the slopes
again, they did do this for the safety of the workers, but also
because of the fact that they didnt want to have any
damage done to the pyramid either. The beams and rafters
that weighed more than fifty tons were pulled upwards by
the counterweights directly and by the stone haulers
themselves.

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
Jean-Pierre said,
A traction of a load is equal to a counterweight run
in its glide path. It wouldve been around forty meters in
its glide path then the counterweights wouldve been
reloaded.
Then he talked about the rope configurations. In
the first stage of construction and that there were three
separate sets of ropes that The Ancient Egyptian workers
wouldve used to operate the counterweights in the port
ramp trench, and in The Grand Gallery. All of these ropes
would have worked independently of one another.
Although all of the ropes were about an inch and a half
wide and didnt stretch very much they were all twisted
before each traction to get tension.
After that, Jean-Pierre went on to say that, These
granite beams and rafters The Ancient Egyptian workers
wouldve needed to support the tremendous weight of the
pyramid above The Kings Burial Chamber quarried in
Asuan which was located over eight hundred kilometers to
the south of The Giza Plateau on the Nile River. These
same beams and rafters were all transported to their final
destination on the grounds of the pyramids building site
by way of wooden barges that sailed south using The Nile.
These large vessels were made up of cloth sails and wooden
planks that were tied together with ropes, and knots.
The Ancient Egyptian ship builders wouldve tied
barges together like this because they didnt have nails to
hold them together. On their way down The Nile to the
working port at the pyramid construction site at Giza, the
captains of these barges wouldve used the downward
current of The Nile to sail north and complete their final
journey back to the building complex. Once the beams and

KURT BURNUM
rafters had all been delivered to the building site they were
stored at the port until workers were able to raise them up
to their final places in the five relieving chambers built
above The Kings Burial Chamber. The second stage of the
ceilings construction involved transporting sixty-five of
the beams and rafters directly above the flat ceiling made
inside The Kings Burial Chamber. In doing so, they were
utilizing a brand new type of pyramid architectural design.
One that wouldve involved the use of a room with a
flat ceiling, and at the time it had never been used before
nor has it ever been used since. The new type of burial
chamber was used singly, standing by itself and wouldve
been built into the center of The Khufus Pyramid itself in
order for it to be used half way up in the pyramid which at
the same time it wouldve started out at the base of the
forty-third-meter level storage area until they were able to
be lifted up and put into place in the ceiling above the
constructions five different relieving chambers. At the top
of the final relieving chamber, the pyramid rose up to be at
the height of a sixty-fourth- meter level. The last level in
the construction of the rooms ceiling above the relieving
chambers, the rafters, and the roof. While at the time the
stone haulers of the day were working on the ceilings
relieving chambers that day, they also wouldve wanted to
implement a brand new type of a counterweight system.
A counterweight system that standing alone
wouldve been made completely of the reused trolley,
building materials, and devices of the former counterweight
that was previously located in The Port Ramp Trench. This
second stage Counterweight system was able to raise a
monolith beam or rafter anywhere from between ten to
forty meters above the forty-third-meter level storage area

10

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
all the way up to the sixty-fourth-meter level located at the
level of the 22, 21 ton rafters that would cover the ceiling
and its relieving chambers. Only this time the new
counterweight wouldve sat directly across from The Grand
Gallery itself a hundred and eighty-degree angle facing The
South Side Slide Lifting Platform to the north in order for it
to have raised them to the higher levels of this newly built
Egyptian Pyramid.

11

KURT BURNUM

LOGISTICS AND STRUCTURE

Jean-Pierre says, All of these beams and rafters

were raised up in one run of the counterweights pull, but
not all in one traction. They were raised in several split up
tractions. Meaning that the counterweights in The Grand
Gallery only had to be lowered just enough to raise one of
the beams or rafters on the other end of the ropes on the
south side slide up to the level in the ceiling where it was
going to be used.
So, they raised them on the south side slide lifting platform
anywhere between ten, and forty meters and the more they
needed to rise the deeper the split up tractions became. The
extra effort to raise a beam or rafter could be diluted on a
full day and the haulers would have time to breathe.
Jean-Pierre says, On a fifty percent slope, you need
575kg/if to pull one ton. The weight of the beams, and
rafters for The Kings Burial Chamber ranged from
twenty-seven to sixty-three tons. You have sixty-five beams
and rafters in all, but fifty-four weigh less than fifty tons. So
the counterweight was calculated depending on the ratio of
weight and slope!

12

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
Once the stone haulers had successfully completed a
traction or a full contraction of the counterweights load.
That would mean that the Architectural Engineers of the day
who designed The Great Pyramid on The Giza Plateau
wouldve had to come up with a good, real world
solution to this brand new engineering problem. How
were they going to reset the powerful monolith stone lifting
counterweights once they were located back down at the
bottom of the twenty-eight percent grade of the
counterweight slopes again? While working without
assistance of the full strength of a forty-ton counterweight
to back up the stone haulers logistically! An engineering feat
thats gone unbeknownst even up until this very day but
still, The Ancient Egyptians had an answer with a good
solution to fit this problem!
During this same time period when the stone
haulers were busy working on the flat ceiling above The
Kings Burial Chamber, any one of the pyramids three
counterweight trenches that needed a full counterweight
reset there wouldve been two more secondary steps that
the workers wouldve used. First the pyramid workers
wouldve used a technique to cut force completely in half.
In order for them to have implemented this new technique
for pyramid construction there were six ropes anchored to
the top of each one of the slides. In the trench above the
port ramp they were anchored in the bed rock, and in The
Grand Gallery anchored into the portcullis Chamber.
Which was located at the upper corner at the top of The
Grand Gallery counterweight slope.
From that anchor these ropes would have traveled
down the slides, taken a U turn on the front of their
respective counterweights, and from that counterweight

13

KURT BURNUM
the ropes wouldve traveled backwards up, and out of their
slides to workers facing west in front of the trench above the
port ramp, and to the south of The Grand Gallery facing to
the north. The workers wouldve then pulled on these
ropes while the counterweights rose in their slide. The port
ramp workers had to pull south, while the workers above
The Grand Gallery would pull to the west.
Jean-Pierre commented about this again saying that,
To be more efficient the stone haulers wouldve leaned
backwards using their own weight like fishermen on a
beach pulling a net. Because of that, the counterweight
stopped after each pull on the ropes and thanks to the
ratchets in the slides this is a fractional reloading pull. To
move just one Beam or rafter from the port on The Nile to
the top of the port ramp that beam or rafter needed to travel
six hundred and fifty meters with sixteen tractions and
sixteen reloads. Moving them from the top of the port ramp
up the external pyramid ramp up to the forty-third-meter
level storage area on the pyramid itself that beam or rafter
wouldve had to travel three hundred and twenty meters
requiring eight tractions and eight reloads.
That comes out to be somewhere around a
thousand meters for each lift or the equivalent of moving
them to a distance of nine football fields from the Port on
The Nile to the top of The Kings Burial Chamber! During
the second stage of construction, in order for the pyramid
workers to reset the system so that they could use the
lifting platform once again. They anchored a set of six ropes
indirectly around the front of the south side lifting platform
and then routed them back over to the top of The Kings
Burial Chamber directly to the back of The Grand Gallery
Trolley. During the second stage of construction there was

14

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
no need for ropes to be anchored in the portcullis chamber
of The Grand Gallery anymore.
Because when the stone haulers of the day had
needed complete reset of The Grand Gallery counterweight
they just indirectly connecting the ropes around the front of
The Grand Gallery Trolley. After that, they connected the
ropes directly to the back of the south side lifting platform
instead. These workers wouldve connected the ropes
indirectly to the front of the south side lifting platform.
Once the pyramid workers had done all of that the only
thing left to do next was to use the south side lifting
platform as a counterweight to The Grand Gallery
counterweight.
Jean-Pierre went on to say, During the second
stage of the ceilings construction the workers wouldve
also used the same technique they had used to halve the
amount of force needed to raise the beams and rafters as
they did in the first stage of construction. When lifting, a
third set of ropes, they wouldve also added directly onto
the sledge or sledges that were carrying the beams and
rafters that weighed over fifty tons. About the same lifting
technique that the Ancient Egyptians had found of using a
counterweight to help pull the beams and rafters upwards.
Jean-Pierre also commented, The force resulting
from the weight of the Counterweight, and the slope of the
slide on which the trolley runs along with the friction from
the sleds on rollers, and the Ropes a one-ton load will give
only around a 575kg/f Restitution force when the slope of
the slide is 50% =26.57. The logs below the sleds of the
counterweight were lowering the friction. That said, when
you pull a sixty-ton beam or rafter on a sloping ramp, the
Force needed depends on the slope on which the beam is

15

KURT BURNUM
pulled. You have five slopes on the pyramid building site.
The first slope was a twenty- six degree angled slope facing
the port ramp at a hundred and eighty- degree angle which
was located inside a trench that was dug into the Giza
Plateau beneath Kafres Pyramid.
The second was the port ramp of 8.5% (4.87) to
the west. The third was the external pyramid ramp which
was also an 8.5 (4.87) slope, but to the north. The fourth
slope was in The Grand Gallery itself with a
twenty-six-degree angle slope to the south, and in the
second stage there was a fifth slope also at a
twenty-six-degree angle, but this time facing to the north at
a hundred and eighty degree angle to The Grand Gallery.
On a 4.87 degree (Or 8.5%) slope, you need 320kg/f to pull
one ton. Jean-Pierre says, The great advantage of
controlled traction of the load is that workers were able to
easily slide rollers under the sleds, and the sledges while
moving at low speed.
The counterweight that was still located inside The
Grand Gallery wouldve been reset after each time one of the
beams or rafters had traveled up the south side slide and had
been unloaded at the same level in the pyramids ceilings
construction.

16

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!

CONFIGURATIONS

Jean-Pierre says, Its possible to raise these gigantic

granite beams and rafters up to the higher levels of the
pyramid using a wooden portico, because the counterweight
blocks were small granite blocks supplied a forty-ton
counterweight. Enough weight to reload the counterweight
in the Grand Gallery one time.
So loading the south side slide lifting platform with
sixteen two-and-a-half-ton granite blocks was enough
weight to reload the twenty-five-ton counterweight
located inside The Grand Gallery on its trolley, and the
south side slide lifting platforms run downward wouldve
been slowed just enough by haulers from above.
Jean-Pierre went on to say, Everything was just a
question of balance.
In the Meantime, at the rear of the trolley there
were wooden pieces that were connected as a brake that
they wouldve used to stop the trolley when necessary.
When the trolley ran up, a brake wouldve followed the
ratcheted guide beams that lined the walls of the slides and
the driver wouldve stood ready to stop the trolley at any
given moment. In the event that something should go
wrong like a rope should break.

17

KURT BURNUM
When the trolley ran down the driver at the front of
the trolley would have kept the brake up. If you take notice
there are two sets of ropes that are on the back side of the
trolley running from the front to the rear, and the command
or wooden piece on the front of the trolley that could be
depicted on the front of the trolley. In the event that
something shouldve happened, the driver of the trolley
would release the command, and the wooden brake would
fall down into the wooden ratchets of the lateral guide beams,
and that wouldve stopped the Grand Gallery Trolley from
going any further.
And during the second stage of the ceilings
construction, when the twenty-five-ton counterweight
blocks in The Grand Gallery were reset by the sixteen
two-and-a-half-ton counterweights that were used on the
south side slide lifting platform to reset the Grand Gallery
trolley as it was left standing there in its place because the
counterweights on the south side slide lifting platform
wouldve just kept it standing there in its place.
Jean-Pierre says, You have to imagine that on the
other side there were the same wooden devices. Wooden
lateral pieces with ratchets, a roller train, a platform, a
brake, and a command with a driver. After each traction the
brake would have fallen down into the ratchets so the
platform wouldve been blocked from running downward
any further.
When workers pulled on the ropes for a new
traction the platform wouldve run upward, and so on.
During this stage in the construction of The Great Pyramid,
people who were in charge of the workers actually building
the Great Pyramid wouldve probably needed about a
hundred or so workers to reload the counterweights in the

18

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
port ramp trench, and in The Grand Gallery counterweight
trench when they were lifting a beam, a set of beams, or
some rafters.
They wouldve done this so that they could once
again start to move the construction beams and rafters up to
the top of the forty- third-meter storage area. So, for them
to reset it in second stages of construction so that the
pyramid workers who operated the counterweight lifts
which wouldve had a maximum weight limit of two
hundred workers in a team. These men just pulled gently
for the lightest beams and the rafters and then used more
and more force as the beams grew heavier. All the way up to
the maximum weight limits of 63 tons for the heaviest
loads. So, with the two counterweight system using around
two hundred workers in a team for the heaviest of loads,
these workers were able to set beams and rafters up to
sixty-three tons in place all the way up to a hundred and
four meters above the last level of the shipping port for the
last part of ceiling construction at the sixty-fourth-meter
level on The Great Pyramid itself.
Jean-Pierre had said earlier that The Number of
workers that were needed was ultimately decided by The
Operating Chief Officer on the site.
Jean-Pierre continued on and saying that, Two
hundred workers was a big team, but we have a drawing
from a temple in Deir ElBersheh showing a team of a
hundred seventy-two men pulling a heavy statue so were in
range.
Meanwhile, for the platform counterweight system,
another rope measuring about sixty meters long, and one
and a half inches wide worked independently of the other
ropes which were all attached directly to the front of the

19

KURT BURNUM
roller train itself. In the case of the counterweight that was
running in the Grand Gallery the roller train itself took up
about half of the length of about Twenty meters or so plus
the length of the trolley of six meters making it about
twenty-six meters long. The trolley rested on this roller
train. The other end of the rope was actually looped around
a log located in the upper corner of the floor in The Grand
Gallery.
From there the rope was routed back down at a
hundred and eighty-degree angle under the roller train
before being fastened to the round weight that was behind
the roller train called a ballast weight. The ballast weights
glide path was equal to the same amount of space left over
from between the front of the roller train all the way up to
where this rope was routed back downward to the bottom
of The Grand Gallerys 47-foot slope. That wouldve been
somewhere around thirty meters from one end of the roller
train down under it at 180 degree turn and then connected
directly to the ballast weight. This line maintained tension
pulling on The top of this roller train from above. The
ballast weight itself which in and of itself weighed in at
approximately the same amount of weight as the roller
train had weighed itself.
Jean-Pierre Says, While running up or running
down the trolley ran at twice the speed of the roller train,
because it also ran on top of the roller train itself which was
already in motion.
So, due to the amount of friction between the rolling
logs, and the trolley while the trolley was being pulled
forward on top of the roller train, the rolling logs wouldve
rotated under its weight three hundred and sixty degrees at
a time. While at the same time, the ballast weight was

20

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
connected to the top of the roller train keeping tension on
that rope, and the roller train on line. The wooden frame of
the roller train helped keep the rolling logs parallel to each
other with a permanent spacing and the ratcheted guide
beams also helped to keep the rolling logs inline. To sum it
up, there were five separate components that made up The
Grand Gallery lift inside The Great Pyramid of Khufu.
Those five components were the ratcheted guide
beams that lined the adjacent walls of The Grand Gallery,
(Which also wouldve helped keep the roller train, and the
trolley inline.) The other components were the trolley, the
lifting platforms, and the roller trains. The ballast weights
also wouldve helped to keep tension on the top of the
roller trains, and the last components that wouldve been
used were the ropes. All of these components moved except
for one, that one thing being The Grand Gallery itself.
Along with the ratcheted guide beams that had lined the
walls of the trenches. Other than that, the other four
components all moved. Them being the ballast weight, and
the trolley. Along with the lifting platforms, and the roller
train including the ropes.
While the trolley was being pulled forward on top
of the roller train, the trolleys friction rolled the logs
underneath it three hundred and sixty degrees moving the
roller train along with it. This roller train was made up of
twenty-eight rolling logs of about thirty centimeters in
diameter that were made out of a very hard cedar wood
imported from Lebanon. The roller train was also made up
of two parallel wooden beams that ran on top, and also on
the bottom of the rolling logs vertically that had wooden
dowels connecting them together in the middle of the
roller train.

21

KURT BURNUM
At the same time, the ballast stone kept tension on
the rope that was indirectly connected to the front of The
Grand Gallerys roller train keeping it inline in its glide slope.
As we can see, the roller train had moved upwards to the
ballast weights roller train which moved downward under
and in line with The Grand Gallery. That wouldve moved
it back up once again. It did this, because it was looped
around a rolling log positioned in the top floor of The
Grand Gallery where the ballast weights rope was strung
at a hundred and eighty-degree angle from the top of the
roller train, and then around the rolling log at the top of
The Grand Gallery. After that, it was routed right back
down again into where the ballast weight resided below
the roller train while the driver and command operated the
brake which followed the ratchet guides beams supporting
heavy loads.

22

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS

Khufus Counterweights! in and of itself is a

book about the inner construction of the interior rooms
built inside The Great Pyramid of Khufu. Thats not to
mention that practically all popular suppositions on The
Great Pyramid are only formed out of conjecture from
people that look at the substructure of the pyramid from
the outside in. Which when in all actuality, after youve
done the math, and once youve considered that the same
inner chambers of The Great Pyramid are made into the
exact same size and shape that they exist in all the way
up into this very day?
The reason why? Because, the interior chambers of
The Great Pyramid are in essence, the same size, shape
and weight that is directly relate to the size of the beams
and rafters that rest above The Kings Burial Chamber.
Once you stop and consider that the measurements that
are directly related to the facts you will find the reason
why the inner chambers of The Great Pyramid were built
the way they were in the first place.
Which is now based solely on the facts of the
exact specifications and the lifting abilities of the
counterweight. I say this because of what the weight is

23

KURT BURNUM
that needs to be lifted according to what lifting abilities at
hand is. Namely, they used the weight of about 2.5 tons at
any given time to construct the pyramid that you see
today!
The same size as the interior/exterior 26-degree
construction ramps that stretched from ground level
inside The Great Pyramid all the way up to the very top
layer of The Kings Burial Chamber. All five relieving
chambers and their ceiling were built in a manner that it
is directly relating to, and exists there only because of the
fact that the same shape and size of the interior chambers
walls, ceilings, and floors are still located inside The
Great Pyramid of Khufu. All of which had to do with just
how big they could make the beams and rafters that were
going to hold up the five relieving chambers built above
Kings Burial Chamber. With enough support to hold up
the entire weight of the pyramid above it.
This included not only the beams and rafters put
into place over The Kings Burial Chamber, the ones that
are in place above The Queens Chamber now, but the
ones covering the main entrance on the east side of the
pyramid too! This means the 26-degree angle and the
47-meter-long Grand Gallery glide slope, counterweight
lift, and lifting abilities that are still located inside The
Great Pyramid up to this very day. And when I say,
The inner tower had spanned the length of the
pyramid from one side to the other
I mean down to the foot. The Ancient Egyptians
needed to build the interior of the pyramid before the
slope of the 51 degree angle of the outside of the pyramid. The
angle that constitutes a slope of the outer shell. The
relieving chambers couldve only supported the exact

24

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
amount of weight that The Ancient Egyptians had in
mind as far as how much they wanted to move around.
Which was somewhere around 2.5 tons at any given time.
The outer stones of the pyramid would weigh about that
much. This wouldve directly related to the lifting ability of
the 26-degree counterweight slope in a mathematical
way. These counterweight slopes where directly related
to one another and coincide directly with all five levels of
the vertical construction of the 64-meter high tower.
What we are talking about here is the Ground level and
the, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Levels.
Each level is approximately 16 meters taller than
the other, and co-inside with the width of the
tower and starting off at ground level. The beams and
rafters were then moved upward to level 3 using what
I call The Single Rope and Double Pulley Configuration
or Lifting Method. The same level as The Queens
Chamber is built at too, I might add, (Which was
constructed last! Not first!) and we must consider that
they used the same amount of weight on either end to
raise the counterweight blocks that were used so
extensively in the construction of the flat ceiling located
inside of The Kings Burial Chamber at that time...
Because they could only lift 2.5 tons at a time they
needed to move 16 ton counterweight stones upwards to
level 3. They did this by using The Single Rope and
Double Pulley Configuration, or Method. They needed to
start this out with smaller counterweight blocks before
they could lift the heavy stuff. So, secondly, I would like
to explain to you just exactly what a Single Rope and
Double Pulley system is. It starts out with two 26 degree
slopes facing off against one other and utilizing just half

25

KURT BURNUM
the wight of the beam or rafter on one end, and the full
weight of 63 ton beam, or combination of beams and
rafters on the other. This method cut the weight of the
counterweight load by halve and then by halve again.
Due to the two pulley mechanisms involved. Considering
that they wanted the use of the total amount of a 63-ton
load using Hemiunus Counterweight Reset Method, or
The Single Rope and Double Pulley Mechanism..
That being said, if we wanted to lift the full 128.8%
of something in order to reset a 63-ton counterweight as
it descends two levels allowing for two 63 ton lifts from
the 32nd meter storage level. Then, to get them up to the
48 meter or 4th level of construction by traveling through
The Grand Gallery itself!
And then all the way up to the 64 th meter level on
the west side of the pyramid or the 5th level by
utilizing another 26 degree counterweight slope opposite
that one. One that stretched upward from Ground level
all the way to the 5th level of construction on the east side
of the pyramid. It did this by riding downwards, Piggy
Back on The Grand Gallery. This would lift the beam or
rafter into position from the counterweight lift located on
the west side of the pyramid to over The Kings Burial
Chamber for the last time.
To do this, you must first divide 128.8% by 4
because of the two different pulleys being used and you
get 32.2%. Again 71.2% subtract 32.2% is 39% of 128.8%
or another way of saying it is 39% of 81.1 tons and you get
somewhere around 31.6 or in this case 32 tons or two 16
ton weights.

26

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
Now consider that 32 tons means that you could
lift a 63-ton counterweight in one pass over and over
again by using two 16 ton counterweights. This would
be called The Cantilever Lifting System once again. So,
they could lift a 48-ton rafter alongside another 16-ton
counterweight beams to provide for a counterweight
reset after two pulls on the lift. That would mean that
there could now be a lift of 3 16-ton counterweight to the
32nd meter storage level. Just enough to reset the full
weight of the 63- ton counterweight inside The Grand
Gallery twice.
The counterweight configuration they needed to
use in order to raise smaller 16-ton counterweight blocks
upwards wouldve used a 16 ton counterweight to lift
the 27, 48, and 63 ton beams and rafters up to the 32nd
meter or 3rd level storage area. Not to mention the 22, 21
ton rafters that needed to be installed at the very top of
the relieving chambers. The same ones that form a slanted
roof above the Queens Chamber.
Mathematically, that means the 128 percent grade
of a 26 degree slope means that a 16 ton weight would now
weigh 20 tons instead of 16. Now, considering that the
26-degree grade of the counterweight lift is now divided
in half and then in half again by The Single Rope and
Double Pulley configuration. This meant that 5 tons of
weight was then left to be lifted up by the workers alone.
Then, considering that the workers needed to lift
16-ton counterweight blocks one at a time up to the top
of the storage area before they could lift the heavy stuff
using The Cantilever Lifting Technique. The blocks were
then raised upwards one at a time to the 32nd meter level,
(Or 3rd level storage area.) They were then used as

27

KURT BURNUM
counterweights. Forming the 32 tons or half the weight of
the 63 ton rafter or any weight combination there in, and
moving the smaller beams and rafters up to the level that
the workers were working at.
They didnt have to continue on doing it this way
though. They only needed to raise 16 ton counterweight
blocks upward to the 32nd meter level once while still
using The Single Rope and Double Pulley Configuration.
When they were lifting 63 ton beams though, they used
The Cantilever Lifting Technique.
One at a time. The inner chambers of The Great
Pyramid of Giza were all constructed centuries ago and
why had all the rooms and walk ways inside the pyramid
all of them have taken on the same exact look, size, form,
and shape as they have up until this very day! The same
way described in the final architecture, and infrastructure
of the pyramid by looking at them in the same light as they
did so long ago.
There are reasons why all the rooms are laid out for
us the way they are. The answer for the reason why is,
Because of the way its all laid out for us even up until this
very day! The same way that theyre still accomplished
by looking at them in this new light! The way they are in
the exact same way as they were inside the pyramid as
they were when it was constructed so long ago! They
wouldve had to build it from the ground up forming a
tower of sorts without using external ramp of any
kind!Just the 26 degree slopes that we see here today on
this very same diagram.

28

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!

TWO DEMINTIONAL DRAWING

Now, you may notice when looking at this diagram that

the beams and rafters shouldnt be able to cross from one
side of the pyramid to the other? Well, what makes this
happen is by examining this chart of the inside of the
pyramid out. Once you realize that the beams and rafters
raised from the ground level up used counterweight lifting
system of equal size, and proportion to go up the slope and
slide on the other side of the hill. This mainly constitutes

29

KURT BURNUM
the inner make up of the pyramid and The Cantilever
Lifting System or Method. The Cantilever Technique, and
Hemiunus Counterweight Reset, and Lifting Method are
the same ones that can lift any amount of weight that is
either 4 or 5% of the actual weight of the block that they
needed to lift up a 26 degree counterweight slope.
After you do the math and you find out thats how
the percentage of something that you can lift when using
anyone of these counterweight lifting configurations. So
if 4% or 5% is all you can move of something then you
must consider that times 4.5%. So say they could lift 2.7 of
something whatever that may be by using brute strength
alone. Whatever that lift might be. It could be 2.7 pounds,
it could be ounces, and it could even be tons after youve
done the math cantilever lifting technique and found that
you can lift all but 4.28% of what? In this case 2.7. So 2.7
is 4.28% of what? The answer is 63, or in this case 63 tons.
It works with any denomination. In order to find out
how much the workers wouldve needed to lift they
wouldve needed to start out with 128.8% of the slope of
the slide.
Now, due to the indirect rope configuration
linked together from one counterweight lift to the other
and another set of ropes connected directly to the back
of each sides counterweight lift. So know we cut the
weight of 128.8% or 81 tons in half giving us 54.4%.
Subtract the 35.4% of the positive weight resting on the
other halve of the counterweight lift. Subtract one from
the other giving you 18.2% and divide that into the
original 54.3 negative counterweights weight. That
comes out to be 33.4%. Subtract that from the original

30

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
128.8% and you get 95.4% is all the workers had to do
which comes roughly to 2.5 tons.
Anyway, back to the math at hand. First we should go
over how to properly use the single rope and double
pulley system. This rope configuration actually lessened
the load needed to be lifted by the pyramid workers
when resetting 4 times or when lifting a beam that
weighs around 63 tons down to 16-ton negative force
which could only be lifted by the workers using the
single rope and double pulley system to get things started.
So in order to find out how much weight is needed with
the rope configuration and the weight of the load that
you wanted to lift.
That would be using a single counterweight lift
of 48 tons along with a single 16-ton counterweight lifts
couldve been used in a sing pull. Starting from the
ground up which could be used side by side in one single
counterweight lift of 32 tons up to the 32 nd meter
storage level using the counterweight lifted on the lower
right hand side of the constructions 26-degree slope. Then
they would cantilever the full weight of the 63 ton beams
up The Grand Gallery giving them a positive force of
71.2% on the lower left hand side of the counterweight
lift that they could use twice.
So, that wouldve given them 71.2% of the weight
of the beam or rafter over to the positive weight category.
This wouldve given them two lifts from the descending
counterweight One down to the 16th level, and another.
Once again. Down to the ground level. Giving The Grand
Gallery lift two counterweight lifts up to level 4. So
because of that they wouldve added on 128.8% of the
weight of the beam or rafter in The Grand Gallery over to

31

KURT BURNUM
the negative weight category. After that, they wouldve
been able to attach their ropes indirectly around the
front of both of the counterweights and then pull on
them in either direction which was effectively cutting the
weight in the negative weight category by half or 64.5%
of the weight of that beam or rafter.
That would make a difference of 6.8% multiply
that by the original 64.5% of the weight in the negative
weight category and you get 4.3% or 95.7% of the weight of
the beams and rafters being lifted by the counterweight
and the indirect rope and pulley con figuration. The
Cantilever Lifting Technique. Thats 2.7 tons that still
needed to be lifted using this method to lift in order for
the beams and rafters to be pulled on by the workers from
between the two rope towers that rested above the lifts.
So, just how much weight will the single rope and
double pulley system require the workers to lift when
resetting the lower left hand counterweight lift by using
32 ton counterweights, or a 2 16 ton counterweights to
raise 63 tons? Well, we just consider like we always did
that the full 128.8% divided by 4 because of the rope
configuration comes to 32.2% of half the weight in the
positive category of 71.2% leaving the same 35.5%
subtract the two and you have 3.4% of the negative
32.2% for a total of 95.7% of the weight of the 81-ton
weight of the 63-ton beam on its 26-degree vertical slope.
The 16 ton beams couldve still been lifted in a cycle of
their own. Same as before.
So they would have started out at the ground level
moving the rafters up to the 3rd level storage area at that
level in construction of the pyramid before they could
even start to raise the beams up to the higher levels of the

32

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
construction. After completing The Grand Gallery, they
wouldve cantilevered these beams using the 3rd level
working plat form up to The Kings Burial Chambers
relieving chambers that would be located above The
Kings Burial Chamber at the 64-meter level after that,
they would have lowered the south side lifting platform
twice moving two beams up to the 48 th meter level. Also
known as the 4th level working platform.
All the way to the ground level and then scooping
up a 16- ton beam twice in order for them to get the 2
16-ton counterweight blocks that they needed to raise the
beams and rafters upwards to the 32nd meter level. This
is where they could be used to Cantilever the heavier
beams and 3 21 ton rafters to the storage level 3 up to the
4th level. Thats half as much as a 63-ton beam. It seems
kind of funny how everything adds up to 63 tons doesnt it?
There were 3 21 ton rafters, 48 ton beams with one 16-ton
counterweight block, and 4 16 ton blocks all add up to 63.
A perfect balance between the two halves of Khufus
Counterweights.

33

KURT BURNUM

BIRDS EYE VIEW THE CENTER TOWER

Here is a diagram where, RED represents the

counterweight glide path. 4 of them altogether. The two
represented at the bottom of the diagram depicting two
counterweights faced off against one another. One facing
right and the other facing left. Together they are able to
accommodate a lift on rollers and ropes using The Single
Rope and Double Pulley configuration powered by a
counterweight on each end in an attempt at getting these
very large and necessary granite beams and rafters up to
their perch in anyone of the five relieving chambers there in.

34

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
After the counterweight blocks were successfully placed on
the upper tier of level 3 storage area they could start lifting
the heavy stuff of around 63 tons or so up to that level of
construction.
Same goes for the two construction ramps that
you see in the middle of the diagram extending outward to
the edges of the pyramid represented here in WHITE.
BROWN, or TAN constitute the 3rd level storage area that
was used to move blocks into place on to The Grand
Gallery lift which fed and lifted two counterweight blocks
at a time to level 4. Also, for moving counterweights
opposite to the beams and rafters that were raised in The
Grand Gallery on the center right by placing these blocks
on the same positioned counterweight lift and allowing
them to descend two separate levels in a single pass.
Moving two separate beams, rafters, or counterweights,
and any variation that could be made as long as the total
was 63 tons. This allowed them to use The Cantilever
Lifting Technique and lift the stone structures into their
place in the relieving chambers built above The Kings
Burial Chamber. Located at the top of level 4.
GRAY represents the working space of level 4.
Used to transport the monoliths one more level to level 5.
Their final resting place above The Kings Burial Chamber.
To do this they moved the two monoliths into place in the
left hand side they would then be placed on the center left
counterweight slope described in the diagram of the
interior, tower if you will. The other would be carted off
behind The Grand Gallery lift and then placed neatly on
this descending counterweight ramp that stretched from
the very top of level 4 down to ground level. Level 4 blocks
were placed there in order to lift they giant monolith stones
that were placed on the left had side of the center

35

KURT BURNUM
counterweight and hoisted into position. And finally
settling at ground level once again after pulling the beam or
rafter across the top for the walls of The Kings Burial
Chamber labeled in BLUE and into place there above.
There are forty three different beams that support
and segregate all of the five relieving chambers that are
all located above The Kings Burial Chamber, and starting
out at the top rung one of the pyramid and while working
their way downwards from the first tier all the way down
to where the rafters were at constitute the fifth level that
the relieving chambers started out at, and listed from left
to right there are eight beams that are all stacked neatly
against one another stretching 10 meters from one side to
the ceiling to the next.
The first beams weigh around 63.2 tons continuing
on from left to right the next beam is 36.1, 55.6, 38.8, 40.6,
31.6, 24.8, and 63.6 tons in that order. Below that we have
nine more starting out on the left with a beam that is 37.3,
33.9, 33.9, 51, 46.2, 51, 27.01, 28.4, and rounding off the
fourth row would be the last one on the right hand side
of 55.3 tons. Traveling downwards once again we start
out from the left with 463.5,51, 31.6, 43.4 47.4, 47.4, 47.4
and 56 tons. The second row from the bottom starts out
with 47.9, 40.2, 39.5, 51.5, 47.4, 49.7, 43.4, and 44.3 tons
allowing plenty enough room for nine more beams that
form the actual ceiling inside The Kings Burial Chamber
starting out with the one on the left as being 51, 61, 55.6,
36.1, 45.2, 51, 52.8, 40.6, and 36.1 tons. All of them come in
a variety of shapes and sizes and only being chiseled into
a flat side on three sides. The top of them are rounded and
unfinished because what wouldve been the point in
flattening them? The Kings Chamber itself measures

36

KHUFUS COUNTERWEIGHTS!
roughly 5.8 meters high, by 5.3 meters wide, by 10.5
meters long. There are 22 rafters used by The Egyptians.

37

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Ely, Nevada, Kurt Burnum grew up in a small town
not far from Salt Lake City, Utah. Graduating from White
Pine High School in 2002 he led the life of a blackjack dealer
in the northeastern Nevada Casinos such as the Hotel
Nevada and ambling Hall in downtown Ely. Currently
living in the high desert of southern California he resides
with his wife and lifelong partner, Celeste, and their
six-year-old cat, Gabriel.