An analysis of the private journal entries made by Col. Howard Vyse on 14-17th June, 1837

at the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Howard Vyse Journal © Howard Vyse Estate

Relevant journal page reproduced here under ‘Fair Use’

Analysis © Scott Creighton 2014

The private journal of Col. Howard Vyse, 1837.The Vyse journal can be viewed at the Centre for

Buckinghamshire Studies, Aylesbury, England

The Great Pyramid Hoax

Reconstructing the sequence of entries Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17th June, 1837.

The Great Pyramid Hoax

Reconstructing the sequence of entries Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17th June, 1837.

This sequence shows how Vyse comes to realise that the Khufu cartouche (with blank disc) he believed was the correct spelling and thus had fraudulently placed in Campbell’s Chamber 3 weeks earlier, around 27th May, needed to be changed.

The Great Pyramid Hoax

Reconstructing the sequence of entries Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17th June, 1837.

This sequence shows how Vyse comes to realise that the Khufu cartouche (with blank disc) he believed was the correct spelling and thus had fraudulently placed in Campbell’s Chamber 3 weeks earlier, around 27th May, needed to be changed.

This is a suggested sequence only, following thenatural flow of time and the logical flow of textwrapping around graphics etc. Some parts of thesequence may not be exactly correct but do notalter the end outcome or conclusion.

The Great Pyramid Hoax

Reconstructing the sequence of entries Col. Howard Vyse made in his private journal on 14-17th June, 1837.

This sequence shows how Vyse comes to realise that the Khufu cartouche (with blank disc) he believed was the correct spelling and thus had fraudulently placed in Campbell’s Chamber 3 weeks earlier, around 27th May, needed to be changed.

This is a suggested sequence only, following thenatural flow of time and the logical flow of textwrapping around graphics etc. Some parts of thesequence may not be exactly correct but do notalter the end outcome or conclusion.

(Note: it is not essential in this reconstructionto be able to read Vyse’s actual handwritingwhich is extremely difficult to read.

Where any actual handwriting is being quoted fromVyse’s journal it will appear in yellow. All othercomments in white are my own ).

The Great Pyramid Hoax

Let us begin….Let us begin….

The Great Pyramid Hoax

First of all it is important to know that thehieroglyphs under examination in this presentation are to be found in Campbell’s Chamber of the GreatPyramid. These chambers had beensealed from the time of their construction until 1837 when Col. Vyseopened them with explosive charges.

First of all it is important to know that thehieroglyphs under examination in this presentation are to be found in Campbell’s Chamber of the GreatPyramid. These chambers had beensealed from the time of their construction until 1837 when Col. Vyseopened them with explosive charges.

In the upper-most chamber which Vysenamed ‘Campbell’s Chamber’ there wasfound a cartouche bearing the name‘Khufu’ (along with many other glyphs), aking of the 4th dynasty whom Egyptologists believe was the builder ofthe Great Pyramid.

First of all it is important to know that thehieroglyphs under examination in this presentation are to be found in Campbell’s Chamber of the GreatPyramid. These chambers had beensealed from the time of their construction until 1837 when Col. Vyseopened them with explosive charges.

In the upper-most chamber which Vysenamed ‘Campbell’s Chamber’ there wasfound a cartouche bearing the name‘Khufu’ (along with many other glyphs), aking of the 4th dynasty whom Egyptologists believe was the builder ofthe Great Pyramid.

For a number of reasons which need notbe repeated here, many believe that itwas Vyse himself who placed theseglyphs into this chamber (and others).

Khufu Cartouche as seen today, vertically aligned, in the Great Pyramid.

(Note the disc with 3 lines at the foot of the image)

This page from Col. Howard Vyse’s journal covers the entries of 14-17th June, 1837.

This page presents a contradiction.

Here we see Vyse drawing the disc in the Khufu cartouche without any of the hatched lines we observe in the disc in the actual chamber. Alongside this cartouche Vyse writes “in Campbell’s Chamber”.

Vyse had drawn a similar disc without the hatched lines in his journal entry of 27th May (3 weeks earlier).

Why would Vyse draw a disc twice in his journal without any of the hatched lines we see in the disc today?

And then, at the foot of the same page Vyse then presents the Khufu cartouche with a hatched disc (i.e. with 3 lines) and writes underneath “Cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber”.

And so, on this page of Vyse’s journal,we are presented with a plain disc and hatched disc cartouche of Khufu, both of which Vyse claims to have come from Campbell’s Chamber.

However, they cannot both be right as there is only one Khufu cartouche in this chamber. So how can we explain this apparent contradiction?

Let us now try to reconstructthe sequence of 14-17th June journal entries to see if we can make sense of Vyse’s contradictory drawings and statements.

Vyse journal entry continued from 14th June

Vyse journal entry of 15th June

Vyse journal entry of 16th Juneat Tomb of the Trades.

“Cartouches in tomb to the W.[west] of first pyramid aredifferent than Suphis [Khufu].”

“Cartouches in tomb to the W.[west] of first pyramid aredifferent than Suphis [Khufu].”

With this comment Vyse indicates that he knows (or thinks he knows) how the Suphis [Khufu] cartoucheshould be written.

In what way are the Khufucartouches (plural) in this tombdifferent to how Vyse believes they should be?

The Khufu cartouches (plural) in the Tomb of the Trades actually have hatched lines in the discs, a difference that Vyse notes in his journal page here and will later publish in his finished book (see next slide).

In what way are the Khufucartouches (plural) in this tombdifferent to how Vyse believes they should be?

Khufu cartouches (plural) with hatched discs from Tomb of the Trades

Note: The discs in the above Khufu cartouches arereproduced using a printer’s font and do not reflect the

lines Vyse would have actually seen here.

Since Vyse has drawn the disc ofthe Khufu cartouche twice in hisjournal without the 3 hatchedlines, it seems clear that ishow Vyse believed the discof the Khufu cartouche should,in fact, be written—i.e. with just a plain disc. And why he wouldhave had it written like this inCampbell’s Chamber.

This is to say that, were the disc in Campbell’s Chamber to have had the hatched lines we see in the chamber today, Vyse would have said here the cartouches in this tomb were the same (sincethey have the hatched lines) as Suphis (in Campbell’s Chamber) and not that they were “different”.

And so, after his visit to the Tomb of the Trades around 16th

June where he sees for himselfthe disc of the Khufu cartouche written with hatched lines, Vyse now begins to have doubts about the cartouche with just a plain disc he had earlier placed into Campbell’s Chamber (around May 27th).

Journal entry of 16th June

Around 16th June

Vyse returns from Tomb of theTrades having now verified Perring’s drawings and seen for himself the discs of the Khufu cartouches with hatched lines.

Journal entry of 17th June

Around 17th June.Having mulled things over, Vyse now acts on his newawareness.

Around 17th June.Vyse draws copy of cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber. Notethat the disc in this cartouchehas no hatched lines. This wasplaced by Vyse into Campbell’schamber around 27th May.

Around 17th June.This is his ‘master’, hisreference drawing of what had been placed weeks earlier inCampbell’s Chamber. Vyse has decided it needs to be changed.

Around 17th June.Vyse realises the plain disc in this cartouche is wrong.

Around 17th June.Vyse realises the plain discin this cartouche is wrong.

It requires hatched lines like those he observed in the Tomb of the Trades.

Around 17th June.

He redraws a larger cartouchehere (note: initially with ablank disc as it would have been in Campbell’s Chamberat this time.).

Around 17th June.He writes underneath “Cartouche in Campbell’sChamber”. There is no contradiction at this point asboth cartouches agree witheach other.

Around 17th June.At this point the cartouche atthe foot of the page (left) is simply a working enlargementof Vyse’s ‘master’ cartouche (above).

But Vyse has decided the cartouche with the plain, blankdisc is wrong and he marks his enlarged version with an ‘X’ (wrong) at the foot of the cartouche (see aboveenlargement).

More specifically, Vyse placesan ‘X’ (wrong) above the two blank discs just outside thetwo cartouches on this page.

Vyse now inserts a 3 lined disc inside the (hitherto) plain disc,creating a ‘composite’ double-lined disc (see next slide).

Vyse neglects to remove the (now) redundant and nowcontradictory ‘X’ marks from the corrected disc/cartouche.

The comment “in Campbell’sChamber” is also nowincorrect as there is no longera blank disc in the chamber.

All of these are redundantlegacy marks of Vyse’s thoughtprocess and the edits he hadto make to this cartouche.

Having now completed the change, Vyse now places a small vertical line ‘I’ to cross-reference his edit.

All the page entries are now complete.

Having now decided to change his journal entry, all that is left for Vyse to do now is add 3 lines to the cartouche in the actual chamber and to update Mr. Hill’s facsimile drawing before sending it off to the British Museum in London 2 days later.

Having now decided to change his journal entry, all that is left for Vyse to do now is add 3 lines to the cartouche in the actual chamber and to update Mr. Hill’s facsimile drawing before sending it off to the British Museum in London 2 days later.

The deception is complete.