Architectural Significance of Granite and Other Durable Rocks in the Context of India – An Analytical Study

Architectures created through the cutting of naturally occurred massive rocks include different structures, buildings, tombs, monuments, caves and sculptures. On account of hard and tough property, the granite is considered as strong construction stone in human history. Granite is very common in the continental crust of our mother earth. It is characterised as coarse grained plutonic intrusive igneous rock and is composed of quartz, alkali feldspar and plagioclase. Typical mineralogical character and textural varieties of granite facilitates to develop a wide range of colours, which include white, pink and grey etc. Granite rocks established itself as praiseworthy architecture stone since historical past because of its distinctive character like durability, appreciable finishing, fascinating polish nature and above all its magnificent colour diversities. As architectural stone, the granitic rocks demand attraction owing to the combination of style and elegance. The application of granitic rocks is witnessed in the ancient world through the mesmerising major architectures in India and around the world like Mount Rushmore, Washington Monument, Great Pyramid of Giza; Ajanta and Ellora caves, monolithic structure in the Zagwe-built Lalibela in Ethiopia along with in most of the long-lived old Indian temples, old forts and monuments etc. The monolithic free-standing architecture is generally rock-cut structures as depicted in the Ellora Kailasanathar Temple. The biggest monolithic statue in world, the Gommateshwara statue of Bahubali at Shravanabelagola present in the Indian state at Karnataka was carved in the 983 CE from a single block of granite rock. The radioactivity stuff in the granite is an important concern to the people in recent world. Even though the impact of radioactivity is proved mostly very less harmful to mankind, current research indicates that few granite products are showing radioactive substance index beyond permissible limit of the specified standard, which is responsible for environmental pollution during the use for long. Therefore, due attention is required towards the pertinent issue of radioactivity in the granite stones. Apart from granite, many of the architectures in India are created by the other rock types that include rocks like sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks.

Characterisation of materials and techniques in first archaeological findings of Nasca wall paintings

The pre-Colombian wall paintings in Peru were already known from north and central coast sites, but little information exists on the southern coast corresponding to the Nasca region. The recent excavations on Cahuachi site provided fragments of plaster with paint layers found near Great Pyramid, corresponding to phases III and IV of the construction of the site, and dating back to the Early Intermediate Period (from 200 BC to 350 AD). A series of fragments from three locations from these two respective periods were transferred directly from the excavation to the laboratory and analyzed. A panel of observation and analysis methods was applied in order to describe the stratigraphy and materials used for these paintings, with special attention to the paint layer. The stratigraphy was observed by optical and electron microscopies and X-ray fluorescence, Raman and infrared spectroscopies were employed for elemental and molecular characterization of the plaster and paintings. The obtained results show the large presence in painting layers of iron oxides and copper based pigments, as well as calcium sulfate, siliceous clay materials and graphite. Although most of these pigments could be provided by local deposits, the detection of graphite is probably linked to the use of charcoal. The variety of painting materials between phases III and IV are related to the palette of colours and pigments. The colours for phase III seem limited to the red and yellow ochre pigments, and unidentified black and gypsum white. During phase IV, additional pigments were identified such as: paratacamite, malachite and chrysocolla for greens, hematite for purple, charcoal and siliceous white, which replaced gypsum white. The paintings were sometimes applied in several layers and occasionally separated by a white coating layer. The painting materials and techniques identified on Cahuachi site, and especially the differences between the phases observed, constitute a new insight into the knowledge of wall painting tradition in Southern Peru.

The Pyramid – Resonator of waves

The Great Pyramid of Giza has fascinated us all as it encodes enormous amount of numerical coincidences such as dimensional precision, movement of our planet, speed of light, the golden ratio of Pi & Phi, etc.Studies have reasoned that the great pyramid of Giza has expressed the key ratio of an AC voltage sine wave as well as the ratios of Fibonacci number in developing the pyramidal design. Therefore in this study, the pyramid structure is considered as a resonator of waves where reflection of waves is an obvious phenomenon. The waves entering the pyramidal resonator will be reflected inward as they reflect from a curved surface according to the law of reflection. Since, a reflecting wave involves the energy-transport process, it determines our main objective to review and internalize the energy caused by reflection of the waves which occurs inside the pyramidal resonator. It is assumed that there is a strength point of such energy due to a higher volume of reflected waves to a single point. According to the law of reflection, when reflection occurs through a curved surface, it focuses incoming parallel waves to a convergence spot. This project is subjected to study the pyramid as a resonator of waves and aims to detect, observationally, the strength point of energy assumed to be caused by maximum number of reflected waves.

The Pyramid – Resonator of waves

The Great Pyramid of Giza has fascinated us all as it encodes enormous amount of numerical coincidences such as dimensional precision, movement of our planet, speed of light, the golden ratio of Pi & Phi, etc.Studies have reasoned that the great pyramid of Giza has expressed the key ratio of an AC voltage sine wave as well as the ratios of Fibonacci number in developing the pyramidal design. Therefore in this study, the pyramid structure is considered as a resonator of waves where reflection of waves is an obvious phenomenon. The waves entering the pyramidal resonator will be reflected inward as they reflect from a curved surface according to the law of reflection. Since, a reflecting wave involves the energy-transport process, it determines our main objective to review and internalize the energy caused by reflection of the waves which occurs inside the pyramidal resonator. It is assumed that there is a strength point of such energy due to a higher volume of reflected waves to a single point. According to the law of reflection, when reflection occurs through a curved surface, it focuses incoming parallel waves to a convergence spot. This project is subjected to study the pyramid as a resonator of waves and aims to detect, observationally, the strength point of energy assumed to be caused by maximum number of reflected waves.

A proposed radar method for non-destructive investigation of Egyptian pyramids

The study of ancient Egyptian monuments attracts the attention of experts from around the world. A recent event that confirms this is the discovery, using muon sensors, of previously unknown cavities in the Great Pyramid of Giza (or Khufu's Pyramid). Since it is unfeasible to directly confirm this discovery by drilling, another independent non-destructive method is necessary to confirm this discovery and provide accurate determination of the locations and shapes of the cavities. Following a literature review of the different methods used in evaluating cultural objects, this paper analyses a possible framework for simulation of a holographic radar for detecting openings or other unknown structures of interest to archaeologists/Egyptologists and the public.