It's precisely the “agreed-upon” part of “agreed-upon chronologies” that causes me such anxious exertion.
These buildings were pretty much the apparent apex of their purported builders’ architectural capability, and yet somehow sit right at the beginning of that civilisation's timeline. They're supposedly funerary but no bodies were ever found inside. Ancient Egyptians are renown for using decorating internal surfaces with hieroglyphs and yet the inside of the pyramids is almost devoid of them (save for, as far as I know, two counter-examples: one at the apex of the relieving chamber, with a possibility that it was a later addition, and one on the far side of the Queen's Chamber's shaft's door, which is definitely original to the time of construction). Meanwhile nearby the Sphinx has its oddly disproportionate human head (that might be a successive re-carving of a properly-proportioned lion head) and there's signs that at least some geologists reckon is water erosion, pushing the dates back significantly.
Of course, this is very much the domain of conspiracy theories and alternative histories, but I'd very much appreciate a definitive, non-self-referential answer to the question, something along the lines of “this piece of wood that has been trapped in here since the time this monument was built is N thousand years old” without any chance for debating the facts. The theories that do not accomodate for that demonstrable fact will finally be required to be revised or will fall by the wayside.
I’m always excited when something, particularly a prevalent opinion, can be put to a definitive test. I'm always excited by which new explanations might be required if the prevalent opinion is found wanting.
These buildings were pretty much the apparent apex of their purported builders’ architectural capability, and yet somehow sit right at the beginning of that civilisation's timeline. They're supposedly funerary but no bodies were ever found inside. Ancient Egyptians are renown for using decorating internal surfaces with hieroglyphs and yet the inside of the pyramids is almost devoid of them (save for, as far as I know, two counter-examples: one at the apex of the relieving chamber, with a possibility that it was a later addition, and one on the far side of the Queen's Chamber's shaft's door, which is definitely original to the time of construction). Meanwhile nearby the Sphinx has its oddly disproportionate human head (that might be a successive re-carving of a properly-proportioned lion head) and there's signs that at least some geologists reckon is water erosion, pushing the dates back significantly.
Of course, this is very much the domain of conspiracy theories and alternative histories, but I'd very much appreciate a definitive, non-self-referential answer to the question, something along the lines of “this piece of wood that has been trapped in here since the time this monument was built is N thousand years old” without any chance for debating the facts. The theories that do not accomodate for that demonstrable fact will finally be required to be revised or will fall by the wayside.
I’m always excited when something, particularly a prevalent opinion, can be put to a definitive test. I'm always excited by which new explanations might be required if the prevalent opinion is found wanting.