The Secret Chamber of Osiris: Lost Knowledge of the Sixteen Pyramids (16 page)

Figure 6.4. Khufu cartouches (with hatched disc) from the Tomb of the
Trades. Image from Vyse, “Operations,” Vol. II, 7–8.

Why did Vyse not simply accept Mr. Perring’s drawings of these Khufu cartouches sent to him on June 2nd? Did Vyse perhaps think that Perring had made a mistake in his drawings thereby forcing Vyse to go to this tomb to verify these cartouches for himself? Whatever his motivation, Vyse now learns of the difference in spelling between the different Khufu cartouches and makes a note of this in his journal: “Cartouches in tomb to the W. [west] of first pyramid are different than Suphis.” The Suphis/Khufu cartouche being referred to here would obviously be the cartouche that was in Campbell’s Chamber at that time, with only the plain disc, just as he had drawn it in his journal. Logically then, were the cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber to have contained a hatched disc at that time then Vyse would not have written that the cartouches in the Tomb of the Trades were
different
from Suphis/Khufu but that they were the
same.

And so it is that this casual remark made by Vyse in his journal belies the truth of the situation—if the cartouches in this tomb contained hatched discs and were described by Vyse as “different,” it implies, logically, that the disc of the Khufu cartouche in the Great Pyramid must, at this time, have been
blank
.

And so
,
having now observed and verified the spelling of the cartouches in the Tomb of the Trades for himself, armed with this new information, Vyse now acts—he sets about making the necessary changes. His deliberations over these changes can clearly be observed in his journal, as I will demonstrate step by step in figures 6.5–6.9 (see pages 126–27).

First Vyse would have drawn onto this June 16th entry of his journal the original Khufu cartouche (from his secret source) with just the plain disc. He writes alongside this: “cartouche in Campbell’s” (for this is how he
originally
had it inscribed in the chamber; that is, with a blank disc). This is his
master copy
.

Next he creates an enlarged
working copy
of his master cartouche in the space at the bottom-left of the page—this will receive his revisions. At this point he copies the disc in the working copy
exactly
as it is in the master; that is,
without
any hatched lines. Underneath the working copy he writes: “Cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber.” So, at this point there is no contradiction between the two cartouches on the page as one is merely an enlarged working copy of the other (master), and, at this point in his deliberations, this
was
the cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber, with just a plain disc.

But now, armed with his new information from the Tomb of the Trades, Vyse then places an “X” under his working copy (see figure 6.5 on p. 126) at the bottom of the page, marking it “wrong.”

More specifically, however, Vyse then places a small “X” above each of the plain discs of the master and working copy of the cartouche—they are both “wrong” (see figure 6.6).

Next Vyse draws another circle within the plain circle of his working copy cartouche and within this inner circle, he places three hatched lines (figure 6.7).

Figure 6.5. Reproduction of
Vyse’s June 16, 1837, journal
entry showing the working copy
cartouche (with blank disc)
crossed through with an X,
indicating that it is “wrong.”

Figure 6.6. Reproduction of Vyse’s June 16th, 1837, journal entry in which Vyse
has placed an “X” (“wrong”) above the plain discs of both cartouches on the page.

Figure 6.7. Reproduction
of Vyse’s June 16th, 1837,
journal entry showing where
Vyse inserts a hatched disc
inside the plain disc of his
working copy cartouche.

This is why, if we look closely at this page (figure 6.8), all other
discs on the page are drawn with a
single
outline but the disc in the
enlarged cartouche is drawn with a
double
outline—this hatched disc is
essentially a composite image, a hatched disc on top of (or inserted into)
what was once a plain disc—a disc within a disc.

Figure 6.8. Reproduction of Vyse’s June 16, 1837, journal entry showing how all
discs on the page are drawn with a single outline except the disc in the working
copy cartouche (bottom left), which has a double outline. This is the result of the
hatched disc inserted into the hitherto plain disc—a composite disc within a disc.

Finally, Vyse cross-references his change by placing a small vertical stroke
above each of the two hatched discs (figure 6.9).

The revised cartouche is now ready to be placed in Campbell’s
Chamber; that is, three lines would now be added to the blank disc
in the chamber cartouche (and, of course, a small update made also to
Mr. Hill’s facsimile drawing of the cartouche from May 30th before it
is sent to London).

Having now made all the necessary changes and cross-references,
Vyse neglects to remove the legacy and now redundant X marks on the journal page. He also neglects to remove or strike out the comment: “in Campbell’s Chamber” from his master cartouche for this is no longer what is actually now in Campbell’s Chamber—after Vyse’s edit the original comment here now becomes a contradiction. But these are merely legacy marks and comments of a work in progress. No one except Vyse was ever meant to see this journal page and learn the truth of his last-minute edits, so there was little imperative for him to remove the contradictions this page of his journal now presents.

Figure 6.9. The small
hatched disc inserted on the
page above the cartouche
is cross-referenced with the
hatched disc in the revised
cartouche using a small
vertical stroke.

There is, however, something of an irony to all of this. Had Vyse simply kept the plain disc in the cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber (instead of believing it was an unfinished hatched disc), his deception would actually have been far more convincing, because, as stated, Egyptology now knows that the plain disc
can
in fact render the name Khufu. But, as stated earlier in this chapter, no one in 1837 fully understood that; and so Vyse, in his ignorance, felt compelled to make absolutely certain of the name by adding the three lines into the disc. He overegged the pudding.

But who would actually place the markings in Campbell’s Chamber and where would they be placed? Once again, Vyse’s journal seems reasonably clear on the matter. In his May 27th entry—the day he first opened and inspected Campbell’s Chamber—he writes:

For Raven & Hill. These were my [?] marks from cartouche [image of cartouche with plain disc] to inscribe over any plain low [?] trussing.
⁷

It is perhaps worth mentioning here that a trussing is a triangular support for holding up a structure. The triangular gabled roof of Campbell’s Chamber supports the weight of the pyramid above and, in this regard, could be considered a “trussing.” And it is a fact that the Khufu cartouche (and crew name) is to be found, painted vertically, on a low part of the gabled roof trussing.

It must be reiterated here, however, that Vyse’s handwriting, for the most part, is sorely difficult to comprehend and that the above transcript from his journal is the result of many weeks of studying and analyzing that piece of text by myself, my wife, a number of family members, work colleagues, and close friends, as well as a couple of handwriting experts. While it was impossible for anyone to be absolutely certain that the transcription presented above is entirely accurate, most agreed that it is a fair and reasonable transcription of this particular passage from Vyse’s journal. In fairness, though, and just to be perfectly clear, the difficulty in reading Vyse’s handwriting obviously means that this transcription may not be perfectly accurate and will most likely require other handwriting experts to study the material to determine the matter conclusively.

If, however, this transcription does accurately reflect Vyse’s May 27 journal entry (and, given the analysis of Vyse’s June 16 journal entry, I personally have little reason to think otherwise), then what we have here is essentially an explicit instruction from Vyse to his assistants, Raven and Hill, to render a cartouche of Khufu (with plain disc) onto a low part of the gabled roof within Campbell’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid—precisely where it is to be found today. As such this passage may well provide corroboration of Walter Allen’s account of his great-grandfather, Humphries Brewer, who, in 1837, had argued with Raven and Hill about painting marks in the pyramid. Accepting that it has been transcribed accurately, this passage then represents incontrovertible proof that the Khufu cartouche in Campbell’s Chamber of the Great Pyramid is a fake, placed there by Vyse and his team in 1837.