Great Pyramid contains elaborate system to prevent looting, but did it really work?

Great Pyramid was carefully built, but looters still managed to steal the treasure.

The Great Pyramid of Giza had an elaborate system to prevent looting, archaeologists say.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Dr. Mark Lehner of the Giza Plateau Mapping Project says the Great Pyramid contains a primitive machine to prevent looting. He has identified grooves in the wall that would have channeled granite blocks to protect the king's chamber.

The granite blocks were likely positioned during construction, then dropped into place later. Once priests sealed the pharaoh's sarcophagus and exited the burial chamber, workers would have lowered the block.

The blocks would have followed their grooved channels into place. At least six granite blocks were used to block the way for looters. Three were lowered just outside the burial chamber, and another three at the entrance to the passage leading to the chamber.

However, the machine isn't an actual contraption, but rather a basic system that simply relied on gravity to work. It was intricate in design, though and required tremendous care to execute without killing anyone.

Despite the tremendous effort, it is unlikely the blocks protected the tomb for long. According to archaeologists, the tomb, like most others, was looted shortly after the burial of the pharaoh. Neither curses nor mechanical contrivances could protect the pharaoh or his treasures.

The pyramids were built around 2,500 years before Christ and were already ancient in His time. There is less time between the time of Christ and today than there is between the time of Christ and the construction of the pyramids.

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