A new theory by Jalal Jafari, a researcher affiliated with the Laser and Plasma Institute at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, argues that the Great Pyramid of Giza may have been designed as a cosmic-scale communication system or “gravitational beacon.” The paper presenting the theory, "The Pyramids of Giza as Gravitational Beacons: A Theoretical Investigation,” appeared as a non-peer-reviewed preprint on ResearchGate. It was cited by The New York Post and other publications.
The theory focuses on the Pyramid of Khufu’s location, geometry, and alignment. Its most attention-grabbing claim is that the pyramid’s latitude, often given as approximately 29.979234° N, resembles the speed of light, 299,792,458 meters per second, when the decimal point is shifted. Jafari’s argument presents this as a potentially intentional encoding of a universal constant rather than a coincidence.
“Too precise to be accidental”
Jafari argued that the numerical match between the pyramid’s latitude and the speed of light is “too precise to be accidental,” according to the coverage. The Tehran-based researcher presents the resemblance between 29.979234° N and 299,792,458 meters per second as the central clue in his theory that the Great Pyramid may have been deliberately positioned to encode a universal constant.
The theory also points to the pyramid’s alignment with the cardinal directions and the layout of the three major Giza pyramids — Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure — as part of what it describes as a possible long-term signaling arrangement. In this framing, the Earth’s movement through space and the pyramid’s fixed position could supposedly create a detectable gravitational or cosmic signature.
Significant difficulties
The claim poses significant difficulties. It relies on modern coordinate systems and modern units, including decimal latitude and meters per second, neither of which were used by ancient Egyptians. There is also no demonstrated physical mechanism by which a stone monument could transmit gravitational signals.
Mainstream archaeology continues to understand the Giza pyramids as royal funerary monuments of Egypt’s Old Kingdom.