Khufu's Great Pyramid Inheritance-Integration Hypothesis: Technological and Ritual Continuity from Earlier Royal Tombs and the Internal Configuration as a Comparative Archaeological Working Hypothesis

This paper presents Version 6.0 of the “Khufu’s Great Pyramid Inheritance-Integration Hypothesis,” revised following an independent audit conducted after the publication of Version 5.0. It examines the internal configuration of the Great Pyramid not as a single fixed design or as a collection of isolated mysteries, but through comparison with architectural technology, construction experience, and the multifunctionality of royal funerary complexes inherited from the periods of Djoser and Sneferu. Version 6.0 re-separates observed evidence, architectural inference, interpretations proposed by researchers, hypotheses proposed in this study, and matters that remain unknown. The unfinished South Passage, the Queen’s Chamber and its north–south shafts, the Grand Gallery, the King’s Chamber and sarcophagus, and the Well Shaft are reassessed in comparison with competing models, including the single-plan model, the proposed southern crypt, contingency-burial interpretations, and symbolic or ritual interpretations. This paper presents “inheritance-integration” as a comparative archaeological working hypothesis. It does not treat as established the direct causal relationship between Khufu’s death and the cessation of subterranean work, the contingency-burial function of the Queen’s Chamber, or the construction sequence and functional transformation of the individual internal spaces. This hypothesis was developed through a dialogic collaborative research process between Shun Ichida and AI “Che” (OpenAI ChatGPT). AI outputs themselves are not treated as historical sources or evidence; the study relies on externally verifiable materials. The authoritative original is the Japanese Version 6.0:DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22916965 Version 5.0 is retained as part of the public history of the research.