its having been built where it is 1 in 3 billion (Seiss, 1981).Like 20th century bridges designs, the Pyramids cornerstones have balls and sockets built into them. Several football fields long, the Pyramid is subject to expansion and contraction movements from heat and cold, as well as earthquakes, settling, and other such phenomena. After 4,600 years its structure would have been significantly damaged without such construction (Siess, 1981).While the bulk of the Pyramids core was constructed of 4,000-40,000 pound blocks of soft limestone, the outer layer of the Pyramid was made of a beautiful bright, protective layer of polished stone. These outer casing stones are missing today because about 600 years ago they were stolen by Arabs, (this accounts for the very worn appearance of the Pyramids today, since the inner limestone blocks are not immune to attack by the elements-wind, rain, and sandstorm.) This protective covering was made up of 100-inch-thick, 20-ton block of hard, white limestone, similar to marble but superior in hardness and in durability against the elements. The Great Pyramid did not always look as rough as it does today. Originally it was encased with a layer of tight-fitting, highly polished 20-ton stone slabs (Seiss, 1981)The casing stones, 144,000 in all, were so brilliant that they could literally be seen from the mountains of Israel hundreds of miles away. On bright mornings and late afternoons, sunlight reflected by the vast mirrored surface of 5-1/4 acres distinguished the Pyramid as the only single structure that has ever been visible from the moon (Seiss, 1981).The people of the area had viewed the Pyramid and its polished stones with awe for centuries. But when a 13th century earthquake loosened some of the casing stones, the Arabs recognized a great quarry of precut stones that could casing stones were used to rebuild the new city of El Kaherah plus Cairo mosques and palaces, including the Mosque of...
