A living theory: the north east notch case

One of the great strengths of Jean-Pierre Houdin's theory is that it's alive. In fact, Jean-Pierre is always ready to refine it on the basis of new information that he have gathered in the field. Of course, the flexibility and power of Dassault Systems' PLM Solutions are then major assets in his deliberations, which may well lead to new working methods in archaeology and Egyptology.

At the end of the "Khufu revealed" documentary we saw the Egyptologist Bob Brier climbing the pyramid as far as the famous northeast notch, which is one of the reference points that could support Jean–Pierre's theory. On instructions from Jean-Pierre, Bob brought back numerous photographs and measurements from his climb, to say nothing of the images filmed by the cameraman accompanying him. Surprisingly, this visit enabled the existence of a specially constructed room to be revealed, just behind the walls of this notch.

All this information has been used to recreate the notch and its adjoining room in 3 dimensions. CATIA enabled the entire layout to be modelled using the pictures and measurements taken by the Egyptologist, while DELMIA enabled virtual reconstruction of Bob's visit, with even Bob himself transformed into a virtual figure. This reconstruction, reproducing the Egyptologist's movements in the room behind the notch, meant the model could be verified by confirming the consistency between the visit as it was filmed and the 3D model. The exact parallel between the filmed image and the virtual visit using DELMIA can be seen very clearly in the documentary.

The advantage of using 3D scientific solutions to model these field observations is obvious. By integrating this new information into his deliberations, Jean-Pierre is currently working to refine his theory, naturally using Dassault Systems' PLM Solutions. Of course, we will keep you informed.