Kate Spence
Egyptologist, University of Cambridge
- Field
- Egyptian archaeology
- Known for
- 2000 Nature paper on pyramid alignment
- Method
- Simultaneous transit of Kochab and Mizar
- Proposed date
- Great Pyramid begun c. 2467 BCE (±5 years)
An Egyptologist who proposed in 2000 that the pyramid builders found true north by watching two circumpolar stars.
What is Kate Spence known for?
Kate Spence is an Egyptologist at the University of Cambridge. In a 2000 paper in Nature, 'Ancient Egyptian chronology and the astronomical orientation of pyramids', she proposed that Old Kingdom builders aligned pyramids to true north by waiting for two circumpolar stars, Kochab and Mizar, to line up vertically above the horizon.
Because the slow precession of Earth's axis shifts those stars over centuries, small errors in the orientation of successive pyramids follow a pattern that can be used to date them. Her model put the start of the Great Pyramid at about 2467 BCE, plus or minus five years. Other researchers have proposed different star pairs and methods, and the dating is debated.
Proposed in 2000 that the builders found true north using two circumpolar stars.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeThe Imperishable Stars
Sources
- Kate Spence, 'Ancient Egyptian chronology and the astronomical orientation of pyramids', Nature 408 (2000)Primary text
- Wikipedia, 'Great Pyramid of Giza'Reference
Pictures on profile pages are drawn placeholders, not likenesses. Public-domain portraits and photographs will replace them.