During the Eighties Bauval was working on a big construction project in Saudi Arabia in his other guise as an engineer. In the evenings he was in the habit of taking his family and friends out into the desert for a barbecue. Late one night when the family had all gone to sleep Bauval and a friend sat talking around the fire. His friend, also an engineer but an amateur astronomer, pointed out the constellation of Orion rising over the dunes. He mentioned in passing that the stars seem to be imperfectly aligned, not forming a straight diagonal, but with one star offset slightly. To the engineer's eye this was merely annoying, but as he explained Bauval felt a jolt through his spine -- the star's alignment almost matched the Pyramids at Giza!